cramming, gradschool-style
this morning i just took my first prelims exam, so i'm giving myself a short break/ reward before i start working again on my students' papers and studying for the next exam.
i'm writing a blog entry to commemorate it because 1) i had only a vague idea of how exams for grad school and for Silliman and for this notoriously difficult professor went, and 2) this was the first time i actually studied for an exam since college (!). i was even afraid i'd forgotten how. i mean as far as i can remember, the only exams i've taken after college are the professional civil service exam and the TOEFL, and THOSE aren't things you study for =P
actually, i think i HAVE forgotten how to study, as in college-style where you focus on all the little details that might come out in trick questions. fortunately, i have the sense now to read for the sake of understanding rather than for getting as many words into my head as possible that i can use in the exam. which means i didn't feel anxious at all about the exam, although i did sort of panic for a moment wondering if i could finish reading all the chapers of a field quite alien to me (systematics!) since i also had to check my students' papers so they could prepare for THEIR exam. (a heartbreaking exercise, by the way, since some of the repeaters-late enrollees obviously did not study and got scores like 15 out of 60!)
by the grace of God, i DID finish reading everything last night--despite the 50c photocopy quality and circa 1960's font, language and lay-out--and even got to cram some names and dates afterwards at around 1 a.m. this morning (college-style, meaning useless names and dates you expect to forget right after the exam but which account for 30% of the total number of items =P). the reading also paid off a lot, because most of the questions were on concepts in the book that weren't discussed at all in class.
my head's still woozy now, though, because even though i stopped studying at 1:30 a.m., my brain was so full of new information that i wasn't able to sleep till past 4 a.m. (of course, there was also the snoring of the caretaker in the living room, all the neighborhood dogs barking all night at some unseen creature, and the next-door neighbors coming home on their motorcycle at 2 a.m. and arguing for about an hour in front of the mother-in-law).
one thing i've come to appreciate about grad school is how i'm forced to read all the technical details of the books--and how i learn a lot more from my readings than from sitting in class. that's what i discovered from a week-long vacation we had when all i did was research for my class requirements.
so even though reading systematics would have felt like a waste of time for me in college, this time i actually enjoyed all the boring definitions because i was reading it for the sake of learning a new field. it's like reading the Bible rather than just taking the preacher's word for it. everything becomes a lot clearer and you get to form your own sytheses, insights, and opinion about the subject.
ten random things i learned from my readings during my week-long vacation:
- Fish urinate, but marine fish less frequently than freshwater fish.
- The purpose of pre-seminal fluid is actually to flush out traces of urine in the urethra that might kill the sperm on their way out.
- Corals are nocturnal! (now why didn't i know that??)
- Coral larvae are programmed to produce different skeletal patterns, which is the basis for distinguishing the different coral species.
- Humid air is less dense than dry air at the same temperature and pressure.
- When a wind blows, the rotation of the Earth causes the sea current to move in a direction perpendicular to the wind direction--to the right in the Northern Hemisphere and to the left in the Southern Hemisphere.
- "Cold-blooded" animals may actually have blood a lot warmer than "warm-blooded" animals. That's why they're more appropriately called "ectothermic".
- All the salt in the ocean comes from rivers and volcanoes.
- The Na and the Cl in the ocean now have been there for more than 100,000,000 years.
- Polar bears have transparent, not white, hair.
grad school can really be a lot more fun than college ;-) this is the only place you get to pick up all sorts of trivia from reading all the time--and get a degree for it =D
=p
ReplyDeletegosh. this makes me so guilty.
ReplyDeleteno wonder i'm in such a sticky situation. i don't know how to study! =)
systematics reminds me of edith tiempo's "bonsai"... all that i love i fold over once and once again and keep in a phylogenetic tree... =) hehehe.
keep trying, neen.
HUGS,
jemi
Sus,chicken lang iyang grad school! Mas enjoy,di ba? Specially if u take it up in the states,kasi the professors don't like to talk a lot-they just give u lots of books to read and u discuss it w ur group.so,practice ka diyan neen,tuloy month dito :)
ReplyDeleteCan I bother u w a phone call now?
Take it from someone who's been through 8 years of college... fight the good fight!
ReplyDeleteand i would like to agree! =P and too, one should be driven by initiative and passion. (^^,) keep going!
ReplyDeleteMy NatGeo readings never emphasized that. That's very useful information for living on this strange island.
ReplyDeleteI've never crammed in my life except once --for my Physio masters orals compre. Won't ever do it again. At least I can say I've done that even just once.
Godspeed, Jeneen. And take care!
whoa! so they, too, sleep? oh. =P
ReplyDeleteto have forgotten means there was a point where you remembered or, in this case, learned. good for you. me? 'bout the only things i got from the time i spent in USC was knowing where the cheapest beerhouses were located.
ReplyDeleteAs long as you're doing the things you love and having fun doing them, you'll be fine.:-)
ReplyDeletegraduate school is an oxymoron, right, jeneen? :-)
ReplyDeleteyes, kat, the clear fluid that can sometimes contain sperm, so...careful, careful =P
ReplyDeletebut really, what fascinates me about all these seemingly random trivia i pick up is how God has designed everything to work so smoothly, each little thing having a specific purpose so that life can exist vibrantly (and yes, multiply =).
hellooo...if YOU don't know how to study, then what does that make ME? =P
ReplyDeleteactually i felt an academic bond with you (if there is such a thing =P) while i was reading my book because it kept saying that systematics is so essential to molecular biology, and i thought-- for once, we're on the same plane! we're part of the same greatc science! =)
yup, isn't it strange to imagine that the dry desert air is heavier to breathe than the humidity that pervades our nights in this country?
ReplyDeletewow, deanna, model student! but very wrong timing to cram for the first time, no? =)
i can't imagine my life without cramming =P i even propose that cramming be a subject in college, since cramming skills are so essential to the workplace, especially in my line of work (and those jobs that are done in high-rise buildings, i'm sure).
presumption made only because i was able to graduate. that must be an indication of SOME studying skills, right? =P or maybe i just used to have a very good memory.
ReplyDeleteand anyway, we all know the essentials are not what we learn inside the school but out ;-) good for you.
haha. such wit ;-) you should write more.
ReplyDeletethanks for all the encouragement, by the way =) hope i live through this decision. to infinity and beyond!
ReplyDeleteum, i don't know about sleeping since they don't have eyes. but it means most of them feed at night. they feed on food produced by the zooxanthellae during the day (because the symbiotic algae need sunlight to produce food), and then they send out their whip-like or dart-like stingers to feed on the zooplankton at night. amazing, huh? such hungry creatures...
ReplyDeletePretty nice post. I just stumbled upon your weblog and wanted to say that I have really enjoyed browsing your blog posts. After all I’ll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you write again soon! assignment help london
ReplyDelete