Well, the grades are in and... I'm a sophomore! I guess since several credits transferred from Pima Community College - classes I took in the early 1990s - they now say I have enough credits to be a sophomore. Not sure what that means, exactly, or what advantage it might give me... I'll have to figure that out as I go along. Kinda cool, though.
Anyway, as I said, the grades are in and I got all As! Even in math! I don't feel I deserved an A in the math class since I struggled immensely and still only understand or retain about half of what we covered. I did very poorly on tests and in-class quizzes, but fortunately the grade points are evenly distributed between homework assignments, an essay paper, in-class projects, and some other smaller assignments. I guess I made up enough of the difference to hit 90%. Yippee!
The important thing is I passed remedial math so now I can enroll in my first "college" math course which is a prerequisite for the "real" math courses that my major requires! I will have to take one during summer session in 2008 to get back on track so I don't have a bunch of math courses piling up towards the end. Maybe the sophomore designation even accelerates that urgency a bit more.
Of course I expect every accounting or economics course to have an element of math in it, but the true math courses I have to look forward to are:
- Spring 2008: Math 109 - College algebra course that emphasizes data analysis. Topics include functions, rates of change, linear functions, exponential & logarithmic functions, and systems of equations. Graphing calculators and spreadsheets will be used.
- Summer 2008: Math 115A, Business Mathematics I - Probability, conditional probability, Bayes' Theorem, random variables, random sampling, compound interest, expected value, computer simulation, and spreadsheet functions. The course is based on an electronic text, with extensive use of spreadsheets, downloaded data, and team reports on major business projects.
- Fall 2008: Math 115B, Business Mathematics II - Variance, normal distributions, distribution of the sample mean, integration, differentiation, advanced spreadsheet functions, and computer simulation. The course is based on an electronic text, with extensive use of spreadsheets, downloaded data, and team reports on major business projects.
And that's it for my "Foundation Mathematics" courses. They all sound interesting and I feel like if I can make it through them still standing, I'll be a lot smarter than I am right now! I love that feeling.
I also achieved the expected A in both English and MIS. I don't know how long I can keep up the good grades, but I'll certainly do my best to. I'm looking forward to getting started on my second semester!
10 months ago
1 comment:
You are amazing! Congratulations on the good grades and all. You've worked hard and you deserve them.
It has taken me years to believe that I'm intelligent. I expect that's because in elementary, junior high, and high-school I got the message that the only reason I got A's was because I was competing against Native American kids. I learned at CCBS and I.T. that I could still get A's. And now in my 50's I'm still doing it. I work hard at it, and it's very satisfying.
BJD
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