Well, that was weird

Two exams in one day and I did better on the one I studied LESS for! The Management exam was a bit easier than I expected - there was a LOT of content in those five chapters and the exam could have been a lot harder, so I'm very happy with my grade.

The Accounting exam was about what I expected in terms of content and I even had time to FINISH and recheck several answers. But, while I earned an improvement over my grade on the first accounting exam, I sure didn't do as well as I expected. Sigh. I'll visit the professor next week to see if I made some stupid errors or exactly where things went wrong.

All things considered, though, when examining the two aspects of my accounting class, I'm getting a solid A in the quizzes and in-class activities and that is very encouraging. It is only the exams that are bringing my grade down. So maybe the exams are set up to be that much more difficult...? Anyway, just 34 more calendar days and I think I can escape with a C. I can certainly live with that! What is it they say? "Survive and advance!"

Big test comin' up

Been studying VERY HARD for the last 8 days getting all the various accounting concepts of revenue recognition and inventory valuation clear in my head. Took the practice exam about an hour ago without books or notes and got everything RIGHT except a couple of journal entries! ALL my numbers were right and I finished just 5 minutes over the designated time. Whew! Now if I can just manage to NOT look like this little guy on test day!

I can do this... I think

Confidence is such a nebulous thing - you can't lay claim to it or it will slip away like the morning haze. If you haven't guessed, this semester has been a rough one for me! My summer jaunt into upper division college courses proved to be atypical. And my mostly marvelous success with lower division courses was fun, but fleeting. This stuff is difficult, and it takes focus, and sometimes even that and hard work ain't enough.

Management and Marketing classes are fairly routine and I can keep up as long as I do the readings and spend time really focusing before an exam. Attending class regularly and taking good notes is certainly a key component and I'm glad I was already in that habit. Most of the concepts are familiar and anything new is relatively easy to grasp (and sometimes easy to identify on a test!). At this, the midpoint of the semester, an A in both classes is still reachable (although I've gotten B's on the tests so far).

Financial Accounting, however, is another story. I'm struggling. More than usual, I mean. I'm very frustrated and a little lost and don't know where to go to get my confidence back. I'm just going to have to keep struggling and fighting to get this stuff into my muddled brain.

Went through a couple of weeks where I nearly felt like quitting. It is hard to separate my self-worth from my schooling, after all, this is what I do and I'm used to being good at what I do. In fact, I'm good at a whole lot of things - just not Financial Accounting! The old test anxieties rear their ugly heads and sometimes I can't beat them back long enough to focus on the questions. It doesn't help that all tests are designed to make us rushed for time.

Their justification for this need for speed is that when we are accountants our hours will be billable and we won't have the luxury of being leisurely about our work. I suppose that's true, but when you're just learning the material, it sure feels punitive. And it doesn't help that several students do seem to get it and fly through the tests while the rest of us struggle! I'm certainly not alone, and that helps - a little. My first bad exam grade was typical of almost 40% of the class. But it just wasn't what I'm used to achieving. I can still get a B in the class, but only if I do a whole lot better on exams 2 and 3 than I did on exam 1. To move on to the next level next semester I only need a C in the class, and I might have to be happy with that. It isn't uncommon for accounting students to repeat this class, but I'd sure rather not go there.

However, one of the brighter events of this semester is that I finally have FRIENDS! No, the whole highly-touted cohort thing has mostly been a bust but, thanks to the two upper division classes I took last summer, I've made a couple of very good friends with whom to commiserate and occasionally study. They're close to my age and are both majoring in accounting. We share most of the same struggles either in accounting or the other classes. We share textbooks, when one of us has completed a class the other is just starting, and we also share experiences and advice when we're contemplating next semester's schedule. One has a young family (of teenagers!) and the other is caring for an elderly parent, so that adds depth to the relationship you just don't get from 19-22 year olds!

So I will make it through this semester. And I won't tie my self-worth to my grades! The one saving grace is that I am pretty sure the things I'm struggling with are associated mostly with public accounting (those big companies who sell stock) and not the mom-and-pop private businesses I hope to work with in my career after college. I can do just 53 more days! And then it's on to next semester, which will also be a struggle. But at least it will be a familiar one!

See, I told you so!

I was feeling a little guilty about being a grade snob, but received clear confirmation of its significance during my first day of upper division classes. In our packed Intermediate Accounting class yesterday, the prof congratulated us on making the cut. Seems there were around 120 applicants for the 105 spaces available in the Accounting major and, while the department sets 2.75 GPA as the minimum for admission consideration, the prof said they were cutting students who had as high as 3.1 GPA who also did well on the interview and entrance exam. I know my interview score was good but I barely passed the entrance exam (par, for me!), so having a good GPA was critical. Whew.

Some other interesting tidbits learned at the Cohort Orientation yesterday evening: Of the 450 incoming business students (including all majors), the average GPA is 3.46, which is higher than previous years. Most popular majors: Accounting, Finance, and Marketing. Class breakdown: 54% male, 46% female. And 4.2% are from other countries.

Ready or not, here comes Fall!

Well, it has been a relatively uneventful summer, but a productive one. Made it through with my GPA intact and learned some interesting stuff along the way. Got a bit of a scare in the Cost Accounting class - enough that I think I'm more mentally prepared for the Fall semester than I would have been otherwise. That scare caused me to drop the Art History class so I could focus on MIS, just in case it was as intense as accounting. It wasn't, but that gave me a nice break anyway. I'll pick up the Art credits some other summer.

One interesting event in MIS 304 is I met a fellow accounting student who is OLDER than me! (And I didn't think that was possible! Ha!) She is a semester ahead of me right now but is also working full time and only taking a class or two at a time so by Christmas we'll be "even" and by next summer I'll probably be ahead of her so we likely won't have any more classes together. It's just nice to know I'm not quite as alone as I thought. She's generously loaning me textbooks for several non-accounting classes she has already taken. I'll buy my own accounting textbooks since I intend to keep them, but the rest will come in real handy.

As of now I'm enrolled in four Fall classes, but I fully intend to drop one and just stick with three. (Haven't dropped the Business Communications class yet because I want to get my hands on the syllabus to have a better idea what the requirements will be when I *do* take it.) I really feel I can do so much better with only three subjects at a time. And all three happen to be Monday/Wednesday classes. Eller doesn't schedule anything on Fridays but I've heard it is a popular day for "group meetings" for the classes that have group assignments. That will leave me Tuesdays and Thursdays at home for homework. I like that a lot.

I'm also registered for the 1-credit Golf class but it doesn't start until October and will be just a couple hours on Tuesday/Thursday mornings. I hope by that time I'm in enough of a routine with the other classes that it won't interfere. In fact, it will probably prove to be a nice diversion.

So, starting next Monday I'll have nearly four solid hours of class in the morning and then repeat it again on Wednesday. Intermediate Accounting, Marketing, and Management. Same professor for Accounting as I had during the summer - she's tough but good. I'm excited and hope to learn a lot!