Grad School: More Commitment

This past week my friends and I here at school all worked hard. We had a final to study for, after only two week of class. Our accelerated ecology course was the first environmental science course I took since graduating college in 2008. Three hours of class every day and a lab after lunch left little time for the information to truly absorb. We were all feeling a little strung out.

The final itself was set up differently from any other final I have ever taken. The professor had at the beginning of the course in his syllabus had 33 different questions all relating to main topics and ideas of the course. On final day each student was going to draw a question at random, it could be any one of the 33 in the bucket. They would then have 5 minutes to answer the question to the best of their ability, making sure to hit on key points presented during lecture. Other students would then be able to add to the discussion, as long as they were keeping on topic and adding positively to final. The final is 75% of your grade, 25% is class participation. That's right, you have ONE SHOT to impress the professor enough to get a good grade.

My friends and I studied hard the week before the final. But keep in mind a week before the final we only had half the information to answer the questions. We would do some alone studying and then get together and study in a group. The group study proved to be very useful. However, it was clear that the reason why it worked so well was because not one of us hadn't studied before hand to get the most information.

On final day I felt that I did pretty well. I got in, answered questions to completion and got out feeling like weight had been lifted off my shoulders. But the coolest thing was that everyone had clearly taken this final seriously and wanted the best grade they could get. The level of commitment from the fellow students made me feel honored and humbled (I know, opposing ideas) to know that I was part of this amazing group. We are all committed to learning and are taking the opportunities we've been given seriously. This makes for a productive learning environment. I couldn't ask for a a more worth while place to go back to school!