A New Look at my Genetics Exam Performance

I received an email from my Genetics teacher that was sent us:

I realize that many of you found it difficult to complete the exam in the 55 minutes given today. Therefore, I am going to do two things:

This exam will be out of fewer points than 100 (I haven't decided how many yet, but most likely 75-80 instead of 100)

In addition, you will all have the opportunity to take an in-class quiz covering the same subject material, to earn 20-25 points. This quiz will be TIMED and will be announced ahead of time.

I would also like to say that for those students who earned 80% or better on today's exam (and there were several--in the tests I've graded so far), the quiz is optional and can be considered as 'extra credit'.

So looks like my confidence in how well I did can be raised a bit.  Lowering the score by 80 points is a lot.  I am fairly confident that I'll be one of those students that gets to take the quiz for extra credit unless I made some major oversights that I didn't get a chance to double check.

Weight Loss - Part 6

It's been a month, so it's time for that new update on my weight loss goal.  Once again, while not directly related to pharmacy, working towards improving my health, self-esteem, and energy levels will most definitely help me reach my goal.  It's not all about fleshing out the application.

Now for the numbers:

Starting Weight: 216.8
Weight Last Month: 210.4
Week 18 Weight: 210.4
Week 19 Weight: -----
Week 20 Weight: 211.2
Week 21 Weight: 209.6
Total Weight Loss: 7.2
Pounds Still to Go: 24.4
Trendline Estimate: 203.5

- Week 18: Went to the gym ? days this week

- Week 19: Went to the gym ? days this week

- Week 20: Went to the gym ? days this week

- Week 21: Went to the gym 5 days this week

I missed on my record keeping this past month.  I put my cat to sleep and didn't feeling like taking notes and I woke up just late enough that if I ran out the door I could still make it in time for class.  And I also just need to adjust to my new Monday routine, and schedule in a different time to write down my notes than I was used to.

With that said, progress is slow.  I slipped again, but overall for the month I'm down.  I'm not going to make my 185 target by my birthday in April, but since it was an arbitrary target, it's not that bad.  Losing weight isn't like studying.  It's an issue that I've been dealing with for most of my life.  The fact that there's still progress, that I'm still motivated, and that I still believe I can make it is what matters.  Once I hit my mark, that's going to last me for years, if not the rest of my life.  A couple more months isn't that big of a difference.

With that said, I still want to hit 200 by my birthday.  About 17 pounds since I started tracking my weight, and a total of an estimated 25 pounds from my heaviest.  As long as my trendline doesn't flatline I'm good.  But I still want to see it go as steep as I can make it.

First Genetics Exam and Research Pop Quiz 1

Well... I took my first exam of the semester.  I went in pretty confident, and somewhat worried that I was a bit overconfident.  It covered mitosis/meiosis, Mendilian genetics, and all the variations, mutations, sex-linked, and other issues that come along with it.  It seemed pretty straightforward.  The exam was mostly all short answer, and I answered everything, however I did not get to write out a full explanation for one of the problems.  But no one in the class left early, so in general that's a good sign.  I should be measuring my performance against myself, but using other metrics doesn't hurt.  Well... I'm looking forward to seeing my results!

On a similar note, I also had a pop quiz in Psy Research right before that.  20 question, multiple choice.  I feel as if I knew the answers to all but one of the questions, which was an educated guess, but I marked 9 of the 20 questions as B.  That makes me second guess myself.  I almost changed my answer to question 3 as I saw more and more B answers being marked.  However, since the teacher was putting up a slide of the questions one at a time, and I could no longer remember the specific wording of to two answers I was debating between, I decided to leave it how it was.  We'll see how I did most likely on Monday.

Graduation Paperwork Filed!

Just a quick update, but my graduation paperwork is turned in, the fee is paid, and nothing's going to stop me now!  It's been a long time coming, and no more chance of accidentally missing the deadline.  I'm not so much as excited at this point, and more relieved.  But either way, it's a good feeling.  One big event that's been weighing me down a bit the past several years.  I'll be graduating with a BS in Psychology and a minor in Chemistry.

Becoming a Pharmacy Technician - Part 14 - Delay!!

News!  Good news?  Only if any news is good news.  And I suppose that's how I'm taking it.  So I got a letter in the mail today, and it said:

The Board is currently in communication with the Department of Justice (DOJ) to obtain your fingerprint clearances.  There can be multiple reasons for the delay.  The Board has submitted a follow-up request or a request for correction of personal information to the DOJ to obtain a status of your fingerprint clearances.  Please allow 30-45 days for the DOJ to notify the Board with the status of your fingerprint clearances.

So there it is.  I'm going to have to wait at least another month. There isn't much I can do about it besides at least be thankful that I finally know what's going on.  That much is appreciated.

I might be a bit more frustrated, except if I had to get this news, today was the best day to receive it.  And that's because...

I got the letter after just coming back from taking a... I'm not quite sure what to call it?  A placement exam?  For the getting hired to work for the 2010 Census.  The exam was an incredibly easy 28 questions, and will help in deciding if we get hired to be the census takers or do clerical or office work.  

I know for sure that I did better than at least one other person, because when we were told you only need to get 10 out of 28 questions right, he let out a sigh of relief.  10 out of 28!  I was expecting 25 of 28.

But if that's how it's done, then that's how it's done.  Maybe that means I'll get a higher paying office position. (If that is higher paying.)  I was able to fill out the question about having any supervisory experience as well, so that should help.

We hear back in about a week about the results of the exam, and hopefully details about being hired soon after that.  My pharm tech license might be delayed, but I need to work, and looks like I'll likely have something temporary to occupy my time until news from the Board of Pharmacy arrives.

Alarm Failure... My First Missed Class

Oh man.  I already missed one day of class.  I slept through my alarm on Friday.  Well... not exactly.  I set my alarm to go off at 6 o'clock... but I set it for 6pm, rather than 6am!  What this means is that I most likely missed a pop quiz that was strongly hinted at for my Psy Research class which was worth a decent amount of points.  (Only 6 pop quizzes for the semester.)

And on top of that, I had my Saturday class today, and when I set my alarm to 8 o'clock, I forgot that it was still in the PM time range!  I woke up at 8:43, and luckily my community college is nearby, and I made it to class on time.

So I went and ordered a new alarm clock from Amazon, this one with dual alarms.  We'll see how that's going to work out for me.