The Academics Thread

[Bazza]

Need a physics degree to understand Pariah's post. 

[Starlord]

Physics is easier than being Psychic, though.

[Cancer]

Being a psychic might be better for you, however.  Graduate students have depression and anxiety disorders at a rate six times that of the general population.  (Source is this, but that is almost certainly behind a subscriber wall at Nature.)

[Badger]

8 hours ago, Starlord said:

Physics is easier than being Psychic, though.

 

Not by much.  ANd then only if the ghosts are particularly annoying guests.

[Cancer]

On April 3, 2018 at 4:49 AM, Pariah said:

I just awoke from a dream wherein I learned that I had earned a score of 0.86/33 on my first Quantum Mechanics exam. 

It's not quite as bad as it sounds, though, because the class average was only 1.10/33.

 

My first midterm in thermodynamics (this was in 1976) came back with a core of 73 out of 150.  I was demoralized by that, looked over the shoulder of the guy sitting in front of me, saw a 4, which was a reasonable score on the problem on the first page.  Minutes went by as the papers all went back, and then I had a Paradise Regained moment when the instructor announced that scores ranged from a high of 73 to a low of 4.

[Starlord]

I can make toast.

[Old Man]

I got a 13/100 on an electromagnetism midterm once, which was the second lowest score in the class. Even today I can’t really explain what happened—a perfect storm of edge-case problems, grading on formatting, and outright brain farts. It was literally the nightmare we all have, only it was real. It jeopardized my scholarship (which had a GPA requirement) and shattered any confidence I had in my own academic ability. 

 

To get that grade up to a C I had to do a lot of extra credit work on an antiquated PLATO computer system, which only compounded the nightmare. 

[Pariah]

We got our exams back on Thursday night, and I earned a 79%. Turns out the highest score in the class was 84%, and the class average was 72%.

 

I am perfectly happy with my score.

[Badger]

You all do realize, you have made me happy I never attempted to take a Physics class, don't you?

[Pariah]

That's just hurtful.

[Cancer]

I did have a brain fart exam in Differential Equations once.  Got an A on the first one, got an A-minus on the final, and threw a 20% on the second exam.  No idea what happened, because both the night before and the week after I knew how to do everything.  But the morning of?  Complete road apple.

[Badger]

6 hours ago, Pariah said:

That's just hurtful.

 

But, all of you are making out the tests to be an exercise in insanity.  

[Cancer]

No more so than my morning commute when I drive alone in my car to work.  Takes about the same time.  Much greater chance of injury or death on the commute.  Many, many more imbeciles trying to prevent me from doing what I'm supposed to be doing, if not actively hoping I suffer a fatal "accident".

[Old Man]

9 hours ago, Badger said:

 

But, all of you are making out the tests to be an exercise in insanity.  

 

Despite the additional stress I don’t regret my study of physics as it has given me a much better understanding of my environment and occasionally comes in handy when working with vehicles or electricity. I only wish I understood humans half as well. 

[Badger]

7 hours ago, Cancer said:

No more so than my morning commute when I drive alone in my car to work.  Takes about the same time.  Much greater chance of injury or death on the commute.  Many, many more imbeciles trying to prevent me from doing what I'm supposed to be doing, if not actively hoping I suffer a fatal "accident".

 

You got me there.  I drive through the country to work, just to avoid the traffic and lights that are red for seemingly 4 minutes.  My trip takes longer in miles, but shorter in time.

[Old Man]

I do the same, though with an out-of-the-way freeway rather than "the country".  Nothing pisses me off like red lights and idiots at red lights.  It doesn't help that I drive stick.

[Badger]

THough, given a live ina rural area "out of the way freeway"  might be my "city traffic"  

[Ragitsu]

Damn. The majority of participants in this thread are students or teachers of the hard sciences. I feel diminished.

[Starlord]

That's why I always compare myself to people by height and not by accomplishment.  

[Pariah]

chemistry lab \ˈkem-ə-strē lab\ :

 

A place where a chemistry teacher spends 45-50 minutes answering questions that the students wouldn't need to ask if they'd spend two minutes reading the lab procedure that was given to them at the beginning of the period.

 

#RTFM

[Cancer]

"Have you read the handout?"

 

"Well ... I was gonna, but...."

 

"You fail today.  Leave.  Trying to read it on the fly will endanger you and your classmates, and I cannot permit that hazard to the students who actually are trying to learn.  See you next week.  Do it again and you fail the course."

[Starlord]

No such thing as bad student.  Only bad teacher - Mr. Miyagi

[Ragitsu]

I begin my studies on Monday. Wish me competence, patience and humility.

[Cancer]

1 hour ago, Starlord said:

No such thing as bad student.  Only bad teacher - Mr. Miyagi

 

Mr. Miyagi had the unique privilege of being empowered to beat up his students.  Physical pain teaches much faster than the measures at my disposal.

[Pariah]

6 hours ago, Ragitsu said:

I begin my studies on Monday. Wish me competence, patience and humility.

 

In addition to competence, patience, and humility, you also need confidence. There are times when the only way to handle a class or a project or a test is to walk in like you own the damn place.

 

In any case, best of luck to you! You've got this!