Grades again. So soon....?
This semester just buzzed by, it didn't really feel like 14 weeks at all...
I haven't posted much in the last few weeks, especially about school. Many things haven't been going well, as you'll see in the below table, but I was awarded grades much higher than I was anticipating.
ClassExpected GradeReceived Grade
Survey of English Lit IBishB+
Survey of English Lit IIFailC
Beginner's Japanese ICC
Intro to Phil: Eth, Soc & PolAA+
Intro to Phil: Knwldg & RltyCB+
Survey of English Lit I: I enjoyed this quite a bit. Chaucer, Shakespeare and Milton. I have to admit that I despised Twelfth Night. I appreciate the movie A Knight's Tale a little more, now that I understand the reference to the title and Chaucer being in it (I had thought it was only to name-drop, before). Milton is just fabulous. I enjoyed the class, and had a great prof.
Survey of English Lit II: I can't believe I got a C in this. I (quite literally) threw away the bulk of 70% of the marks of this course. I failed the mid-term we had: it was unclear to me as to what we were being tested on, or what I had to study. Up until the exam, I simply presumed that he had yet to teach it. I scored 11/30 on the mid-term because of this. Ironically: it was an open-book exam. If I had known that what we were to be writing on was in the damn book, I could have read it quickly during the exam, rather than writing "I have no idea, whatsoever, what was 'typical' of this period".
The term paper was then worth 40%. I wrote garbage. Maybe 1000 words. While the prof didn't specify a length, the usual expectation for a 2nd year english class is 2000-2500 words. There's no way I even scored 1/2 marks (20%) on that. I did alright on the final, probably scored 15/20 or so, but even still: I can't see how all this adds up to a C.
Regardless: it's done. It was, I found out recently, a necessary course for my BA. So it's good that it's done.... ;)
Beginner's Japanese I: Good prof. It taught me that I need to work siginificantly harder at vocab memorisation if I want to succeed at this.
Intro to Phil: Eth, Soc & Pol: This was Kurt's class. I was expecting a high mark because I'd done 80% of it twice already, and because I know how he marks. A+ = awesome. :D
Intro to Phil: Knwldg & Rlty: This was another surprise. I *hate* how this prof tests: it's all about definitions. Memorisation and regurgitation. What's worse is that she doesn't give us definitions, and the book isn't entirely clear on things either. So you have to figure out your own definitions, and the apply them to the questions being asked in the exam. Good luck with that... I scored about 11/15 on each of the 4 mid-terms we did. I *bombed* the final. BOMBED. I wrote off 10/30 marks by not answering 3 of the questions. I wrote silly (yet accurate, ish) answers to many of the other questions. I have nothing for disdain for any book that repeats Paley's 'Argument from design' as an explanation of the existance of a god without also repeating one of the several rebuttals to it that have been created over the last 150 years... It makes me so *angry* to have to read this tripe *again*. So my answers may not have been the patient, diligent, passionless regurgitations they should have been... :P
I've emailed the prof to confirm the B+. I'm glad I got it, but... I really don't get the point of testing sometimes, when the prof has cart blanche to give you any mark they feel you "actually" deserve.
I am ridiculously excited about going to UBC in 3 weeks (and counting!).