Flying Colors

My course load has been tremendous lately and I've been lethargic. I keep thinking there is something wrong with me, because I feel so unmotivated and uninspired; tired. Perhaps my younger self brushed off these feelings more easily or, more likely, I'm just not getting enough sleep.

I'm currently enrolled in two classes, Discreet Mathematics (GSP-233) and Data Structures and AI (GSP-290). Being in two four credit courses at DeVry means I'm a full time student. Although I've done this credit load before at DeVry, I was in classes that required very little effort.

Regardless, my math class has been a chore. I'm doing 10+ hrs of homework a week for this class and I still feel confused and dazed. So much so that I was very active in the homework and midterm discussion threads last week. I was trying to find answers, verify my approaches to problems, helping others with their questions, generally wanting confirmation on my solutions. Unfortunately, even though I dominated over 50% of the posts, it wasn't worth the effort, or at least not the intended effort. I suppose I should explain that thought: I mean that although I did a lot of posting, the correspondence I had with other students and/or insight I gained from the posts was little or none. What I did benefit from was the effort of doing it and the formulation required to make sentient and readable descriptions to problems and solutions. Perhaps unlike this paragraph.

Last week was the midterm. Twelve (12) questions in essay format, 3.5 hr time allotted test worth 20% of the course grade. In preparation, I skimmed the book, reviewed all my homework, reviewed the sample exam the professor graciously offered as a study aid, and then some. At 8:30 Sunday night (the last possible moment), I sat down with a cup of coffee and started the test trepidatiously (is that a word). For the following 3.5 hours I did "math". How many possible combination are there if you flip a coin ten times? Put the following set in to set builder notation. What is the probability of... Use Boolean Algebra to prove... Etc. At midnight I was finished and feeling pretty good about the test. I was so wound up afterward though that even after an hour of video games, I didn't get to sleep until around 3:30.

Needless to say, work came a lot quicker Monday than I wanted it to. Ultimately though, Monday disappeared with little acknowledgment from my conscious self. To my surprise on Tuesday my G-Mail inbox bolded a new message from the professor, "Midterm Results" it called from its subject line. I anxiously read the e-mail. The average score from the class of 27 was 137 (68.5%), a D average yikes! Two people got scores above 180. But who I screamed? What was my score? The e-mail didn't tell me my score! Obviously the results were tabulated so I rushed to my DeVry gradebook for the class but the midterm grade isn't posted yet. For the next few hours, I checked the grade book. A day goes by. Another day, and another. Friday morning still no posting. I check again before lunch and behold, my grade has been posted. I got 185! 3 more weeks...