Two days ago, I turned in my last final exam; today at 2 p.m. I will give the presentation that will end my practicum experience. At that point, I will be done with the semester, done with my second master’s degree, and all set to take three glorious months off from school before starting the Ph.D. this fall.
My interest in and dedication to my classes has suffered an extreme downturn these last couple of weeks.
My first final project (a library thing) was due April 29, and I’d had the entire month of April to work on it. Nevertheless, I turned it in about two full days late. Final exam score? 95% Final grade for the course: 343 points out of 350, or 98%
My Texas Government class has been laughable from the very beginning. Each week, I’ve read about 20 pages of a textbook that’s written on about a fifth-grade reading level, then answered three or four questions from the end of the chapter. The “final exam” was, in two weeks, completing the last three chapters of the book. (Imagine!) Final exam score? 100% Final grade for the course: 1,193 points out of 1,200, or 99%
Finally, my Law for Women class could have — no, should have — been the thing that kept me interested in school this semester. When I was all by my lonesome, I really did enjoy the topics of the course; when the class had its once-monthly meetings, I thoroughly enjoyed hearing my professor’s lectures. However, the people in my class were stupid, as evidenced by the average midterm grade (after a six-point curve) of 64%. I did the first half of my final over the weekend, and the second half in the 60 minutes or so before it was due. Two of my answers were unimpressively vague — but hell, I reckoned, going into the exam I had 305 of a possible 300 points in the course. Final exam score? 96% Final grade for the course: 401 points out of 400, or 100%
Believe me when I say, I am NOT SUGGESTING I’m a brilliant genius — far from it. This has been very nearly a worthless semester; I learned a few things, but generally feel the level of knowledge attainment I experienced in no way matched the challenge taking three courses plus doing a practicum should have afforded.
I know in three months I’ll probably be lamenting the difficulty of my classes at UTD (and if I’m not, I am going to be extremely disappointed). Still, I cannot imagine I’ll ever look back on these months with fondness or melancholy.
My practicum presentation starts in five hours, I have two meetings between now and then, and I have quite a bit of work left to get the project ready to present. Think I care?