Saturday, June 14, 2008
Of Exams, Anxiety and Avocadoes
The week has ended and with it, two papers that have come and gone. I think I did okay, I had relatively more intense and methodical preparation this time around compared to previous seasons semesters. And unlike some people I know, I completed all the questions on either paper... though the extent to which the questions were actually answered accurately is moot. You know how sometimes you don't know the solution to a particular question yet you come up with such a convincing answer that you manage to fool yourself into believing that you were correct? That explains my post-exam calmness ("I believe I did quite alright") which unsurprisingly usually unravels itself when the grades are out ("What the, I got 3 Credits?!" - Me on last semester's results).
The other explanation for the lack of anxiety is due to resignation. The paper's over; what can you do about it? No amount of discussion is going to help your psyche. In fact, it's more likely that you'll worry yourself even more. Take for example a friend of mine who rang me up after our Accounting Information Systems and Financial Modelling (Monash has mouthful subject names) paper:
Friend: Eh, how did you answer question number 3 about the two most important design principles for financial models har?
Zhen: I dunno la, I wrote about separating the spreadsheet into different sections, and then for second principle I wrote about both formula flexibility and formula efficiency.
Zhen: I dunno... 'Cos I saw the same question come out in the sample exam paper but gave 8 marks only... Since this was 10 marks I wrote extra a bit. I really dunno which is the most important.
Friend: Alamak, shit la shit la...
See what I mean? And I wasn't even sure myself if I was correct. It's really silly, methinks. Look at it this way, there's a one out of four (75%) chance that you're fucked if you compare answers with a friend after an exam. Don't believe me, check this simple table out:
Working from left to right, you're more likely to be fucked.
The problem is exacerbated because there's nothing you can do about it until the results are out, especially more so for us because this is our finals. I prefer to worry about the next paper, or if it's already my last paper, worry about how to best spend my holidays, thank you very much.
Regardless, to each his own. I know that there are people out there who discuss exam answers just to gloat about how much they know and how badly their buddies screwed their papers up*.
You, my friends, are fucked up.
Anyway, moving on to funn(i)er things. We all know the controversial games that form the Grand Theft Auto series. Recently, the fourth installment was released, and to rave reviews too; it received a 10/10 rating from at least eight major online gaming sites, as well as turning the best friend into a fan... which, of course, must first be preceded by his purchasing of a PlayStation 3 as well as an original copy of the game.
Ivan is this hooked on the game:
A couple of hours later, he messaged me on MSN, about a lamp post and a tree.
Well, at least I was right about the tree. And the point that I'm trying to make is, in the middle of all this studying, I had to find a release. So, I ended up doing two things; reinstall the four-year-old Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas that I used to play on my roommate's laptop back in Singapore but never got to finish, as well as download and watch Pushing Daisies, of which I have just become a fan and completed the first season (which is only nine episodes long thanks to the bloody WGA strike... Grr). I recommend the latter to anybody who's interested in a Gilmore Girls-meets-CSI-meets-Enchanted kinda show, and the former to closet hitmen/warmongers (I'm looking at you, Suk Yin).
And that's about it for this week's installment of "What's up with our dear friend Zhen now?" Tune in next week for more post-exam antics!
Cheers.
Where everybody knows your naaaaaaaaaaaaame...
*By people who gloat, I'm referring to a very annoying first year (I think) Engineering student who occupies the same spot in the Monash library Reserve and Multimedia section for the past couple of days. He talks real loudly and makes fun of his lesser-prepared classmates even louder-ly. Good thing he's skinny as hell, so if he pisses me off enough in the future I can speak my mind with the knowledge that if he retaliates, I'll have no qualms in punching his smug face in.
Then again, I'm known for being able to tolerate really, really annoying people.
Pointless Fact of the Day:
The word "avocado" comes from the Nahuatl language, the same Aztec language that gave us the word "chocolate". It's meaning? Testicles. I heard it on TV once, I think it was Ripley's Believe it or Not (hosted by TV Superman himself, Dean Cain).
A couple of days ago, Melody said this on her blog:
She even did a mad dance! What a nut (and I mean it in the best way I can!).
The other explanation for the lack of anxiety is due to resignation. The paper's over; what can you do about it? No amount of discussion is going to help your psyche. In fact, it's more likely that you'll worry yourself even more. Take for example a friend of mine who rang me up after our Accounting Information Systems and Financial Modelling (Monash has mouthful subject names) paper:
Friend: Eh, how did you answer question number 3 about the two most important design principles for financial models har?
Zhen: I dunno la, I wrote about separating the spreadsheet into different sections, and then for second principle I wrote about both formula flexibility and formula efficiency.
Zhen: I dunno... 'Cos I saw the same question come out in the sample exam paper but gave 8 marks only... Since this was 10 marks I wrote extra a bit. I really dunno which is the most important.
Friend: Alamak, shit la shit la...
See what I mean? And I wasn't even sure myself if I was correct. It's really silly, methinks. Look at it this way, there's a one out of four (75%) chance that you're fucked if you compare answers with a friend after an exam. Don't believe me, check this simple table out:
Working from left to right, you're more likely to be fucked.The problem is exacerbated because there's nothing you can do about it until the results are out, especially more so for us because this is our finals. I prefer to worry about the next paper, or if it's already my last paper, worry about how to best spend my holidays, thank you very much.
Regardless, to each his own. I know that there are people out there who discuss exam answers just to gloat about how much they know and how badly their buddies screwed their papers up*.
You, my friends, are fucked up.
Anyway, moving on to funn(i)er things. We all know the controversial games that form the Grand Theft Auto series. Recently, the fourth installment was released, and to rave reviews too; it received a 10/10 rating from at least eight major online gaming sites, as well as turning the best friend into a fan... which, of course, must first be preceded by his purchasing of a PlayStation 3 as well as an original copy of the game.
Ivan is this hooked on the game:
A couple of hours later, he messaged me on MSN, about a lamp post and a tree.
Well, at least I was right about the tree. And the point that I'm trying to make is, in the middle of all this studying, I had to find a release. So, I ended up doing two things; reinstall the four-year-old Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas that I used to play on my roommate's laptop back in Singapore but never got to finish, as well as download and watch Pushing Daisies, of which I have just become a fan and completed the first season (which is only nine episodes long thanks to the bloody WGA strike... Grr). I recommend the latter to anybody who's interested in a Gilmore Girls-meets-CSI-meets-Enchanted kinda show, and the former to closet hitmen/warmongers (I'm looking at you, Suk Yin).
And that's about it for this week's installment of "What's up with our dear friend Zhen now?" Tune in next week for more post-exam antics!
Cheers.
Where everybody knows your naaaaaaaaaaaaame...
*By people who gloat, I'm referring to a very annoying first year (I think) Engineering student who occupies the same spot in the Monash library Reserve and Multimedia section for the past couple of days. He talks real loudly and makes fun of his lesser-prepared classmates even louder-ly. Good thing he's skinny as hell, so if he pisses me off enough in the future I can speak my mind with the knowledge that if he retaliates, I'll have no qualms in punching his smug face in.
Then again, I'm known for being able to tolerate really, really annoying people.
Pointless Fact of the Day:
The word "avocado" comes from the Nahuatl language, the same Aztec language that gave us the word "chocolate". It's meaning? Testicles. I heard it on TV once, I think it was Ripley's Believe it or Not (hosted by TV Superman himself, Dean Cain).
A couple of days ago, Melody said this on her blog:
I got given a pair of home-grown avocadoes today. They remind me of giant scrotum. Maybe I’ll keep them on my desk at uni as a talisman.Informing her of her not-so-coincidental thoughts, I got this reply:
She even did a mad dance! What a nut (and I mean it in the best way I can!).