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The midterms are over! |
Monday, October 25, 1999 The Midterms Are Over! I took those two midterms today. And they're over! That's the good news. As for how I did... Well, hey, they're over!
Actually, I may have made it through the 20th Century Literature midterm without too much damage. We'll see how it's graded, I suppose. Three essays; one apiece on Woolf, Dos Passos, and Joyce. 75 minutes. The one on Woolf went a bit long, but was pretty decent, I think. The one on Dos Passos wasn't too bad, although sketchy, and by the time I got to the one on Joyce, I was writing at top speed, just trying to finish the thing before the exam ended. This despite the fact that I didn't much care for the question, which seemed unclear to me. It may turn out that I did fine, or not. We'll see.
I have no such uncertainty about the History of the Indian Subcontinent exam. Nor did I, going into it, as I'd had the exam in advance. See, last Monday, the professor distributed four questions, of which three were actually on the exam. Plus, there was a list of eleven places to be located on a map. All three questions selected by her had to be answered, and, going into it, I knew that I didn't really know the answers to them all. Or to any of them, well enough. (I also forgot that I could bring in a page of notes. Not that it would have mattered much.) I think I did fine on the map section, which wasn't worth much anyway. As for the essays... To make a long story short, I began my blue book with a half-page disclaimer to the effect that I'd been wrong to think that I could handle the course on top of everything else in the first place, that I understood that it was my own fault (and certainly wasn't trying to make excuses for that), and that I expected to pay the price in finally testing my assertion that I don't really care about my GPA. I was saying all this, I wrote, simply to make it clear that the stuff on the following pages wasn't, in fact, up to my standard, and that I didn't consider it acceptable myself. Having said that, salvaging my self-esteem, I was able to move on and give it my best shot. Which was none too great on the first essay, and pretty shaky on the second. And downright awful on the third, which ground to a halt about two-thirds of the way down the page with "Ummm... I fold. Alas." And that, about two and a quarter hours past the start of the exam, was that. Basically, if I get really lucky, and she feels really generous, I might end up with a "C." But I'm not holding my breath.
On the bright side, have I mentioned that they're over? I think I'm now going to take advantage of this rare opportunity to get some rest, for a change. Ummm, right after I eat something; come to think of it, all I had today was a brownie and a slice of cold pizza. And a few caffinated soft drinks. Sugar and caffeine are essential nutrients for people taking exams, you know. G'night!
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