Midterms

I've decided that midterms are some sort of hazing ritual that should be made unlawful, just like hazing at fraternities/ sororities. Having every course have exams and papers due at the same time is just mean. People should not be forced to cram study/ write for learning. That is not the best way to learn anything! Plus, since new material was still being taught just last week, there is no way to fully be prepared in advance. 

For me, I have just two courses to worry about, but both midterms are a substantial percentage of my final grades. Other than organizing my notes and knowing my readings for my org theory course, there was no way to prepare for that midterm. Last night the professor posted five questions. My midterm is to choose three and write responses to them - 1700 words per response. It is due Friday. Sounds doable, if my statistics midterm was not smack dab right in the middle of this week...

I've taken statistics before. I've done well in statistics before. Statistics scares me every time I take it! I fully understand about 50% of the content and try my best with the other 50%. There are a lot of stats tests to know, interpret, calculate, differentiate, etc. this stats class bypassed my last stats class by the third week! It goes fast!!! So, for the last week I've studied stats: t-tests, chi-square, hypothesis testing, type I and type II errors, independent and dependent variables, z-scores, normal curves, kurtosis, skewness, binomials, factorials, and more. I can't even imagine what studying for the final will be like!

I love graduate school, but I don't think that rituals such as midterms are necessary for graduate students. Projects that have us synthesize our knowledge and utilize what we are learning are far more valuable. Yes, I will be doing that too. Today I will spend half my day studying, perhaps outlining one of the questions for the org theory midterm as well, and then I will go to work for my afternoon. Tonight, I will come home and have dinner, and then I will once again go back to studying until I can no longer stare at a computer screen.

At least once this week's ritual is complete, the grand ritual of Spring Break will occur and I will have myself a one week break from all of this... Except for my thesis. I have to start my official proposal!