lordofdabu (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} lordofdabu) wrote,@ 2009-01-20 01:10:00 |
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Quals
Dear Brian,
You earned the grade of B on the written exams. You will
only have to repeat the Linear Algebra exam.
As an explanation, there are three written exams. Each exam is graded A,B, or F and to continue on in the PhD program one has to get an A on all three. To get a "B" overall but to only have to repeat one means that I received an "A" on two of the three and either a B or an F on the third.
Going in, I actually expected Linear Algebra to be the easiest, and I was surprised to find that it was the one that I had the most problems with. It wasn't that it was difficult (it really wasn't...), but (I felt that) it was more computationally involved than the other two, and it was the only one where I really suffered from the time constraint. I don't think insufficient preparation had anything to do with it, as there wasn't anything on the test that I didn't "know" so to speak (this means I thought all of the questions were doable).
The fact that I was physically exhausted when taking it probably didn't help either (as usual, my insomnia kicked in and I didn't sleep much either night before the exams... about 4 hours the first night and 2 the second), though it didn't seem to hurt me significantly on the other two, so (as usual...) I don't think it played a huge factor.
An A on all three would have (clearly!) been the best scenario, but only having to retake Linear Algebra is the second best outcome. After all, passing it won't be a problem, as it's the easiest of the three... right?
Dear Brian,
You earned the grade of B on the written exams. You will
only have to repeat the Linear Algebra exam.
As an explanation, there are three written exams. Each exam is graded A,B, or F and to continue on in the PhD program one has to get an A on all three. To get a "B" overall but to only have to repeat one means that I received an "A" on two of the three and either a B or an F on the third.
Going in, I actually expected Linear Algebra to be the easiest, and I was surprised to find that it was the one that I had the most problems with. It wasn't that it was difficult (it really wasn't...), but (I felt that) it was more computationally involved than the other two, and it was the only one where I really suffered from the time constraint. I don't think insufficient preparation had anything to do with it, as there wasn't anything on the test that I didn't "know" so to speak (this means I thought all of the questions were doable).
The fact that I was physically exhausted when taking it probably didn't help either (as usual, my insomnia kicked in and I didn't sleep much either night before the exams... about 4 hours the first night and 2 the second), though it didn't seem to hurt me significantly on the other two, so (as usual...) I don't think it played a huge factor.
An A on all three would have (clearly!) been the best scenario, but only having to retake Linear Algebra is the second best outcome. After all, passing it won't be a problem, as it's the easiest of the three... right?
