Am I getting better at this?

For a few rarified moments I actually have the highest grade in my Business Math class! And not just the highest grade in MY class, but in all three Business Math classes Alison is teaching. I'm enjoying it while I can because our Final Exam grade will probably take care of this anomaly posthaste!

Alison Schafer has been the coolest "teach" yet in Math. While I loved my previous two profs (crazy-fun Jessica Knapp, and sweet-patient Laurie Varecka), this one is goofy and actually makes probability, random variables and cumulative distributive functions interesting!

Yes, math can be fun. Here's two actual quiz questions (she makes her own quizzes... can you tell?!):

1. James Bond is heading to the Tropicana Night Club in Las Vegas to track down Dr. MathDoom. He is arranging transportation and needs to know how big of a vehicle he needs to plan for in order to hold the number of girls he'll be bringing home with him for coffee at the end of the night. The table shows the number of girls and the probabilities from the past of that many happening. Based on this data, how many girls does James Bond expect to go home with? Compute this showing the proper notation and your work.

2. You are entered into the "Who's the Biggest Bling Daddy" contest. There are three other contestants: P. Diddy, Paris Hilton's dog, and Will Ferrell. The bookies are saying the odds of you winning are 28%. Paris Hilton's Dog has a 0.32 probability of winning. The other two contestants have equal probabilities. You've just found out that Paris Hilton's dog is disqualified for not being human! What is the new probability that you will win, given that her dog is no longer in the competition? Write the proper mathematical notation for this probability.

She claims she stayed up until 1 in the morning playing Grand Theft Auto in order to create the database of 100 stolen cars which we used for the Excel DCOUNT function on the midterm exam!

I feel I did pretty good on the final exam, but I've been wrong about that feeling too many times to trust it now! However, going into the last day of class (Monday), it feels pretty good to see a 97% next to my code name!

Not "too cool!"

The five others in my math presentation group and I were discussing whether the UA Library presentation room would be taken up by the Freshman Orientation occurring this month on campus. I said something about it being strange it was a whole year ago that I went through that orientation. One of the guys looked at me weird and asked, "Did you stay for the WHOLE thing?" As a matter of fact, I did. You only get once to be a college freshman and you may as well get the full treatment! Turns out he left part-way through because he was either bored or couldn't be bothered. Maybe that's one of the differences between his generation and mine. We've figured out at age 50+ that we're not "too cool" for stuff!

Business Math

I can't decide if this class is easy or hard! The concepts weren't covered in either of my algebra classes, but they're so closely tied to REAL BUSINESS SITUATIONS that they seem refreshingly ordinary and not so much foreign language-y. Basic probability and conditional probability actually make sense - at least so far. And I know enough Microsoft Excel that the DCOUNT stuff was almost simple.

Tomorrow's our first quiz so I guess I'll find out then whether or not I've grasped the essentials.

The only hard part is having two focuses. We need to learn the math plus create a PowerPoint presentation on stuff we won't learn until later this week! We are assigned to groups of 6 and have just a week to put together something cohesive to present next Tuesday.

Some poor fictional soul has defaulted on his $7,300,000 business loan and we (as banking officers) need to decide whether to foreclose now or give him more time. Foreclosure will mean the bank is settling for a nominal sum and will never recoup its total investment. More time means he either eventually pays back the entire loan (best case) or goes bankrupt and the bank receives nothing. Data from over 8,000 similar bank customers will give us the probability ratios and we'll learn how to plug in the known factors to assess the value of each scenario. So we basically know what we're shooting for, but we won't really know how to get there until two days before the presentation!

That's the way it is with accelerated courses. Things overlap and you have a persistent feeling you'll never catch up.

But there's no "real" homework to turn in, no textbook to speak of, and we'll be done in five weeks time. Dare I say it? It's almost FUN!

I knew enough!

That sound you hear emanating from my lungs is a deep sigh of relief! My two-hour final exam in Modern Latin America is over, and I knew enough to get a decent grade. Well, I won't know for sure until the grade is posted Monday, but I feel I did well with all the questions and only missed adding a date or two here and there. Of course I did all the extra credit questions at the end (gotta follow my own advice, ya know!), so they'll help make up for missed details.

I've never taken tests like Dr. Barickman issues. They're not the typical history exam where you spit out answers you memorized maybe only an hour or two before; facts that are just as quickly forgotten. He gives essay-style tests where you're expected to analyze your answer and write 4 or 5 complete paragraphs using examples from three or more countries. There are also some shorter identification-style ones where you pick from among 4 or 5 topics/events/terms and provide the date, country, and historical significance.

I've also never experienced the kind of advance preparation that he gives. His 8-page study guide, along with delineating the exact expectations, gives us the actual essay questions that are likely to be on the test! Of course he gives more questions than will be on the test, but it gives you a chance to get prepared and it really helps guide the limited study time you have.

Now that I'm home looking at those questions again, I'm relieved at the ones I didn't have to answer! I'd either prepared or had in mind how I would answer all of them, but it turns out the ones I felt least prepared for weren't on the test, or were there as a choice between two options. Whew!

Five major countries is a lot to cover and 200 years of history for each. But he taught not so much the facts and events, but how they impacted the citizens of each country in differing ways. He also covered how similar events such as military coups, elections, voting rights etc. were handled differently in each country, and how the economy reacted each time there was a major change.

I learned a lot and won't soon forget it. But thank goodness that test is over. I didn't know everything, but I knew enough!

Here's my advice

1) Give the professor every opportunity to give you a good grade: This means show up for class every day, take notes, act interested, ask relevant questions, participate in discussions.

2) Turn in ALL homework, done to the best of your ability: This means write neatly, if it's math or other handwritten stuff. Use complete sentences like an intelligent person would.

3) Follow directions on assignments: Read them twice! If it says 6 pages, don't turn in 5. Or 4. If it says staple, do it! If it says number them, or MLA format, or cover sheet, do it. These are the easy points, kids! (Hey, I get two points out of ten on math homework just for putting my name at the top!)

4) Analyze the writing assignment before you start: What did the prof say/write about it? Is it an opinion piece? A research problem? A documented argument? Start on it early and rewrite it a couple of times before you turn it in. Have someone else read it for clarity.

5) Come to class prepared: Read over the notes from last class. Do the assigned reading. In my Latin America class Friday discussion sessions, if you hadn't read the assignment you were asked to leave! And there was a short quiz nearly every Friday on Monday and Wednesday's lectures. Kept us honest. Loved it.

6) Show enthusiasm: It doesn't take much effort, and it will make you feel more positive about yourself and your life.

7) Do all extra credit assignments: Even if you think you're getting an A, do the extra credit and give the prof no excuse not to give you a good grade!

8) Learn something about each professor: Is he from Brazil? Does she like cats? They're people, too, and deserve to be treated like it. Try to see things from their perspective once in a while. And it doesn't hurt that they're more likely to remember you at grade time in a positive light if you've treated them like real people. Could make the difference between an 89 or a 90. Big difference. Plus they might just give you extra insight into the subject matter. It's your education; reach out and TAKE it.

I saw too many kids this year sitting back and expecting their "education" to be served to them on a platter. They didn't participate in discussions, they hadn't done the reading, they asked for extensions on assignments. And that's if they showed up in class at all!