The not so swimmingly semester

The fall 2009 semester is going into it's seventh week at my college, and there has been a drastic reduction in my performance when compared to the results from the previous Spring. The following factors are involved: an overall greater apathy towards the courses; stricter, more rigid courses; seemingly excessive online workload.

I regret to state that I decided to drop the precalculus course on just my second day of that class, as it was simply not advisable to struggle along all the while dealing with a fairly large amount of credits -18 - for the semester. The plan of action will be to instead start at an earlier level of math, and eventually work back up to the pre-cal segment, whereby a higher grade can be achieved.

All four courses that I currently have involve an online element to them. Two are completely online, and they require an elaborate summary to be posted regarding readings assigned. I find these courses to be less than stimulating, and yearn for the actual in-class versions instead. My Spanish and biology courses are on campus, but have an online lab/classroom design to them as well. With the biology, we are able to utilize our textbook and PowerPoint slides when complete a 30 minute 10 question weekly quiz. I've done well on these as you would expect, however, the very information being taught is not registering as it would in a traditional setting. The Spanish class is giving me the most trouble, but I can only blame my lack of focus and studying for the poor grades. I find having to attend the class just once per week leads to a state of apathy, quite similar to last semester's Saturday government class.

Going forward, I will avoid taking online courses altogether if at all possible, as being on campus is simply more appealing as the social structure of being around fellow students cannot be taken for granted. As the next semester approaches, I will have to decide which exact courses I want to sign up for, as essentially I'll be a college sophomore. However, duplicating my 4.0 GPA is looking far from realistic, and I will settle for just passing one course, and B's in the others.

Financial Aid 2009-2010

On this past Thursday my financial aid results were mailed to me. The totals encompassed both fall 2009 and spring 2010 semesters.

The total award for both semesters is $4200. I was awarded $2200 last year, which was changed to about $1500 as I didn't take any classes in fall 2008.

Assuming books don't come to more than $300, I should make out with surplus once the semesters are finished.

Registration for Fall 2009

I signed up for 5 classes on the first day available to do so. I selected the following courses:

Spanish 1
Biology 1
Pre-Calculus
English 2
Philosophy

The total cost came to $850.

Grades are in

I received via mail a formal publication of my grades for the four courses I enrolled in. Now to be clear, the numerical grade is only applicable in a ten point range, ie 90-100, 80-90 and so on. Grades are given in letter format, with an A being the highest for any grade in the 90's range. I scored a grade of A on the four courses.

GPA Explained

We've all heard the GPA numbers thrown around, and I myself wasn't sure how they were construed until later this past semester. Here's the run down:

Take the number of credit hours per class and multiply by the grade you received. The grade of A is worth 4 points. Next divide the total points of all classes by the number of credit hours attempted.

In my case, the four classes were graded identically, which leaves me with a 4.0 GPA at the moment.

Depending on your college, there is recognition awarded to students that hold a high GPA, usually consisting of a 3.5 or higher for the semester. This is referred to as the Dean's List.

First Semester in the books!

As of 6 PM yesterday evening, I'm officially finished with college. My first semester that is. I took my final exams for my four courses on 4 separate days, starting last Tuesday. My English exam was divided into a multiple choice and essay, and given in two class periods. This history and psychology courses were cumulative, while my government exam covered the material since the mid-term test.

I'm still waiting on the results from the government class, but here are the tally's for the other 3:

Psychology - Grade A, 96.25%, 91% on 100 question final (along with 4.5 pts in extra credit.
History - Grade A (no other info provided by instructor)
English - Grade A, 96.15%, Four papers graded 94, 95, 93, and 85. Final exam 92%

More to follow once my last grade comes in.

Tips for registering for classes

The opening day for signing up for classes at my college was April 15. I was advised before hand, and intended to select an English and Spanish course. However, I made a mistake in not calling the registration line as soon as it was available, as the classes were filled just into the afternoon of that day.

Lesson to be learned: Do not delay when the time for registration arrives.

As it stands, I'm still on target to complete my 64 credit associates in 5 semesters, with completion coming in the Spring of 2011.

Mid terms and Spring Break

Let's discuss what a mid term exam entails. I've completed two of these for my History and Government classes, scoring a 96 and 87 respectfully. The tests covered all subjects taught from the first day of class to that point. For the government class, I was given a broad list of bullet points to focus on in my studying, which I used exclusively. As well with the History test, there were a lot of similar questions asked, some verbatim. Additionally, the two tests were considerably longer in form. Using a group study method, I achieved an effective score in History. My other two classes did not require a mid term or was not relevant to the coursework (english).

Our school's spring break period was from March 10 through 13 officially. A snow make up day notwithstanding, that week felt quite different than the previous school-filled weeks - an excellent respite from studying, even with just 12 course hours.

We're now on the backstretch, with just seven weeks until the last day of my first semester in college...at 30 and 1/2 years of age.

Spring Break report

Two months into my first semester of college signifies the longest of any of the three attempts so far. My progress is fairly good in 3 out of the 4 courses I'm taking. I'm suffering in my Saturday class, partly due to the infrequency of meetings, the method of teaching, and my relative apathy towards it. In the psychology and history courses I have, the instructor exclusively spends the entire 75 minutes lecturing in front of the class, while I jot down notes via my laptop. I've score A's on 5 out of 7 quizzes and tests in those two courses. My only English paper thus far has merited me a 94 score.

I must report that the nature of being in a community college program exposes me to a great variation in the academic level of my classmates, and it shows strikingly in the performance of them. It wouldn't be a bad posit to say I'm in the top 2 or 3 students in the 3 classes I'm doing well in. That says a lot when factoring in my advanced age and distance from any previous academic instruction. Of course, this is simply the nature of the concept of two year colleges. The herd is thinned as you go further, I can conclude.

I strongly recommend using a laptop to capture notes in lecture courses. It leads to easily manageable layouts once the studying phase starts. I've purchased a color printer, and can use color coded notes to emphasize points on the notes.

***FINANCIAL AID UPDATE***
On March 12, I received a check for the balance of my unused financial aid, totaling over $1000 (there was a discrepancy related to my returning of a book, however).

One month in

I've been through 7 periods of two classes, 6 on the third, and 2 in my Saturday class, and feel I've gotten into a routine of sorts in my method of preparation and study. I have gone through 2 quizzes and 1 test, with scores ranging from 76(history test) to 100 (2nd Psychology quiz). There has been little if any use of the actual textbook in the history and psychology courses. The instructor simply lectures the entire class period, with intervening class discussions if a curious subject avails itself among the students.

BLACKBOARD
I'd like to report some technological features being utilized, specifically the online website called Blackboard. I had first heard of this from a student back in December of 2008. I've come to understand that various colleges and universities employ Blackboard. Essentially, its an on-line repository for students, designed to communicate with the instructor and other students, access class instructions, view grades, and keep up with any changes in the courses that a student has enrolled in.

STUDYING
I've portioned off 3 days out of the week to spend in the library completing background work. This involves any homework assignments, paper writing (english), and reading assigned text. The last of these takes up the most amount of time. You can get away with showing up in class without even glancing at the chapter to be discussed, but even if you just skim through it, the class lecture will be easier to absorb. This is true especially for history class. I've decided to take notes of important information as a read along outside of class.

The goal of this semester is to not only pass the 4 courses, but to do so with high grades. I've underachieved on my first major test, so I'll be using that a measuring stick on how to score better on the next one. There was another student in the room who score a 96 to my 76, so its certainly possible. Its just finding the right way to study, and doing it effectively.

1st day recap

Today was one of the longest days I've put in in a very long time. By that I mean the amount of time I spent working and in class. From 7 in the morning until 7 at night, I was taking of care of both of the aforementioned. Getting off work at 12:30, I had an hour and 1/2 window to make it to my first class. Fortunately that's plenty of time to do so.

My first class was Western Civilizations, with the instructor being a PHD. The second class English, and the 3rd and final for the day Psychology, also taught by a PHD. The majority of the time was spent going over what to expect from the class. Syllabus's were handed to me outlining the tasks set forth by date. A new website was introduced to me, called Blackboard, which compiles the instructor's various course related material. Two more points - attendance was taken in all three classes, and the textbook was not used in any of them this first day. However, assigned reading was to be completed in two of the classes. I got the notion that note taking was imperative in being successful. The grading was formulated by the respective instructors, and for example, the Psychology course includes multiple quizzes after a particular chapter, and then a final cumulative exam. The English class uses essays and quizzes throughout.

So the real work begins now with continuous reading done out of class. The grades will be meted out gradually, and I'll report my progress as the numbers develop. Just four months left until my transcript becomes active.

Everything is set. $68.09 for 18% of AA degree

Classes registered for; textbooks bought; Ready to roll. I headed up to my college with the intent of enrolling in a fourth class. After missing out on two full classes, I enrolled in the American Government class, to be held on Saturday mornings. My total credit hours are now 12, establishing myself as a full-time student! Doing so gives me full access to my Pell Grant award of $1400 to be used for Spring and Summer 2009, instead of 75% for less than 12 credit hours.

I ordered the book for the Government class online again, and picked up a new book for the English class at the bookstore. Reason being that the English book came together as a bundle, and I didn't want to miss out on the (presumably)helpful attached writings.

So here are the final figures financially for my enrollment:

Four Classes (12 credit hours) = $504 + $40 school fee = $544
Four books (1 new and 3 used) = $264.09
Total = $808.09
Financial Aid = $740
Out of Pocket expense = $68.09

Of Textbook buying

Six days from the 1st day of classes, I headed up to the college for the finalizing of my academic inauguration. I picked up my photo ID and parking pass, and spoke with financial aid group regarding how my payout can be used. The office realized there was an error in the allocation, so in short I was awarded roughly 1400 dollars instead of the original 2200 hundred, to be used for Spring and Summer 2009 semesters.

Secondly, I began the textbook browsing component of my introduction. In the bookstore, there are tags under each section, relaying which classes each book is for, along with both new and used prices for the book. This is where a lot of people become taken aback, as textbooks can reach well over 100 dollars even in used condition. The reasoning behind this is somewhat visceral, and I'll expand on it presently. Back to the book buying - I wrote down the ISBN numbers for the 3 courses I was registered for. At home, I went online and used cheapesttextbooks.com to find links to books sold on various websites. I placed two orders totaling $132 via Amazon. Had I used the bookstore at the college, it would have set me back $208 for used books. The two I ordered online were stated to be in near new condition. The risk I'm taking in my purchase is the books are sight unseen, and the shipping may take me past the 1st or 2nd day of classes. I'll report on both issues when they arrive.

I mentioned earlier the shockingly high prices of textbooks. The reasoning behind this is due in part to the overall usage of the books. To be exact, a student purchases an original brand new book from the bookstore for the retail price. After the class is finished, he has no further use for the book. He has the option to sell it back to the bookstore, or use an online portal to sell to an upcoming student directly. The process can be repeated many times over provided the book remains in usable condition. The publisher of the book loses out on any revenue from those subsequent transactions, as the money is being exchanged from student to student. The mainstay of any profit from the the textbook comes from the initial price, which is raised to a point where it is tangible to the publisher and author. Note: I gleaned this opinion from a blog I read online, and am offering it here as a plausible rationale for textbook pricing.

3 out of 6 on SAT essay?

For those of you out there who are contemplating taking the SAT test, I'd like to provide my essay that resulted in the paltry score of 3 out of a possible 6. The essay is reviewed by two people and the score is combined, so my total score then became 6 out of 12. I'm not sure if the bar is set high, or if my thesis cost me points, but after reading the essay again, I feel I should have been given a higher grade. You be the judge. The question is in bold, followed by my answer:

Should modern society be criticized for being materialistic?

Modern society should not be criticized for being materialistic. Inevitably, the elements that lead to materialism forms the building blocks that stabilize modern living. One may argue that the quest for possessions leads to an unhealthy and selfish desire to propel a person past their peers; however, it is this force that motivates people to strive for excellence in their respective occupations. This not only improves the quality of life overall in a society, but it sets forth the stratification of classes. After all, in our capitalistic environment, there simply must be a hierarchy set in place. Those who are striving for a better life will use the quest for possessions as the proverbial carrot they are chasing.

Sure there are other aspects in life a person will yearn for – family namely; material possessions are available for any person to obtain no matter what their handicap, emotionally or intellectually. Bottom line, society would be in dire need of a transformation if materialism was abolished.