My Mom asked me earlier today why I made the choice to jump into school with three classes all at once – that maybe I should have worked my way up to it. This week has been bad, but really, overall, it has been a great experience. As long as I stay on top of reading, I’m not overwhelmed at all. I love my Chemistry class, and now that I’m getting into the swing of things in Algebra (which started 2 weeks after the other classes), I’m rolling along pretty well in that. Biology has always been somewhat hard for me – or at least certain aspects are, mainly memorizing things like the components of the human cell. Blah.
Part of it is probably a mental block. Part of it is really – he covered *way* too much material on this test. 8 chapters? That is just crazy. I think 4 should be the max. My Algebra test was over 2 chapters; my Chemistry test in a week will be over 3. Not 8. On top of it, this is the guy that basically lectures from the slides, which I realized last night are available online. (We have a class website.)
I think I did ok on the Biology test today – there were some things I definitely knew, so I was feeling good about those questions. I did talk myself out of two answers which I looked up afterwards and my first choice was correct after all. Don’t you hate it when that happens? Instead of one essay worth 20 points, he gave us two essays worth 10 points each. He told us he expected only a 5-10 sentence answer for each. The first one was on enzymes, their structure and how they work. I knew most of that, so all good there. (I may not get all 10 points, but I drew a picture of an enzyme so that should count for something.) The other one was on Darwin. I can totally rock Darwin. Guaranteed 10 points there.
Overall, I think I made a B. I wish I had done better, but really – I only have myself to blame. I feel behind on reading during the whole Hurricane Rita thing, and with our test being bumped back a week and a half, it was a struggle. I didn’t study enough last weekend like I should have. My own fault.
I have a new plan of attack. I’m no longer going to worry so much about writing down what the slides say (I can get them online), but instead I will take notes on what he says. I will make sure I have read ahead – I plan on getting up to chapter 11 this weekend. I will stay on top of my reading. I will do the chapter questions as soon as I finish reading so I can study with them later on. I will stay on top of this.
I have an A in Algebra and Chemistry. I want the A in Biology. I want it bad. I know I can do it – it is just up to me. I’m not giving up. I have a 100 on all of my labs, and he has an extra credit option that we can do, which I will take.
Because, damn it, I’m not letting some silly cell stand in my way of a 4.0. Not going to happen.
(I rocked the Algebra test. It was just like the review, which I made a 100 on. I double checked everything, and I’m pretty confident in the A there. Plus a have a 100 on all of my homework and every quiz so far. It is just the evil Biology standing in my way!)
