Tag Archives: semester review

Fall 2009: Semester in Review

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Better late than never:

  • I started off the semester by ruthlessly pruning and declining activities. I stopped playing and refereeing intramural sports and I also stopped working out. This gave me lots of time every day; I went to the Athenaeum about twice a week, went to sports games, and read books for pleasure. Later in the semester, when I felt more comfortable, I added writing for the CMC Forum and coaching youth basketball.
  • I took a trip to Scotland for a week and still did well in every class. I overestimate the necessity of being on campus during the semester. I need to take more weekend and week-long trips. Especially because travel stimulates the brain; I was productive the whole time I was in Scotland and after I got back.
  • The decision I made that led to the most productivity was deciding to blog once a day for over a month. Blogging once a day got me in the habit of writing and thinking about things in terms of writing posts. I soon started submitting posts to CMC Forum, and landed a paid position. Within about four or five weeks I had more posts up than any other writer.
  • When I set my own hours for sleeping, I tend to sleep for at least nine hours, and/or take naps during the day. The optimal amount of sleep is between six and eight hours; not only am I awake for an extra hour but I don’t feel as tired during the day. When I am sleeping in a room by myself I sleep longer; when I’m sleeping in a room with other people I get closer to the optimal amount of sleep. For optimal productivity I should probably live with a room-mate.
  • In my long and illustrious academic career, the grade I’m most proud of is an A- in Algorithms this semester. That class was really hard, and I skipped most of the prerequisites, and I was the only CMC student in the class. Furthermore, the teacher held office hours right after class, instead of before it, so if the assignment was coming due and you had questions, you could be stuck. I solved this problem by working on the problem sets for two to three hours immediately after class finished. This way I could ask the teacher when I got stuck. I also learned how to use LaTeX, the formatting language.
  • I used a binder for each class to stay ruthlessly organized, with sections in each binder for Notes, Homework, Handouts, Tests/Quizzes and blank paper. I filed every sheet of paper that was handed out. This saved a lot of time when it was time for exams.
  • The best purchase I made this semester was a pair of plaid Chuck Taylors, which drew a bunch of compliments and which are probably now my favorite pair of shoes. I made a lot of non-purchases that were also good, see below.
  • I’m finding that it’s extremely difficult to deliver on everything I promise to do. Many people promise to do things because they want to signal reliability. The people they promise to may expect them to follow through, and then again they may not, because of the planning fallacy and because many people promise many things. I have cut down on the number of promises I make in the hopes of following through on all of them, signaling be damned (then again, writing this on my blog is also a form of signaling. My words are not reliable; hopefully my actions will soon begin speaking for themselves).
  • I started drinking coffee this semester. I only really noticed a difference in my energy level on two occasions. Maybe it prevented me from being sleepy but on most occasions it did not make me feel particularly energetic.
  • Probably my favorite two parts of my week were going to breakfasts with the same group of friends every day and going bowling on Wednesday nights. Scheduled activities with friends are excellent for my happiness. I should ensure that I have scheduled activities with friends wherever I am.
  • I took a tennis PE class. I’m much better at tennis. I also can bowl with spin now, and my scores are soon going to be higher than they were when I was bowling straight on.
  • I skipped only one class all semester. I missed three breakfasts. I completed every single homework assignment.
  • For the second semester in a row I did not buy any textbooks. I politely asked each teacher at the beginning of the semester to put the textbook on reserve at the library. Others I borrowed or checked out through Link+. When you are not sure how much you are actually going to use the book, don’t buy it.
  • My biggest enemy continues to be my own head, which tries to seize on any awkward moment, missed call, Internet criticism or forgotten invitation and construct an elaborate scenario, ignoring the vast majority of data points and focusing only on a few. Most nights are good and then some nights it’s hard to open the dorm room door and talk to anyone. This semester was probably my best yet in terms of mental health.
  • I wasn’t very successful in my goal of finishing every paper, and studying for every test, at least one day in advance. I did push out planning and work ahead of my usual schedule, which is do it all at the last minute. Next semester hopefully I will be able to move up deadlines. Betting people money, or putting money on the line is still the most successful policy for getting work done. If I could automate the process of making the bets, so that every time I have a paper or test, my friend knows that I have to finish a day early or pay up, I would probably be much more productive. I don’t stress much.
  • I had two large projects at the end of the semester that I did not manage very well. These projects were more or less the first time I had a month-long exercise that I had to complete myself. I am now aware that I need to work on time management for projects.
  • If you had to graph my effort for the semester it would look like this: A all the way through Monte Carlo/the day my controversial Forum article comes out, then about D from Monte Carlo until the Wednesday of Finals Week, then A+ for two straight days until I finished finals. This is good; I now know that I can work hard for exactly twelve weeks, which is up from previous semesters. With practice, in the future I will be able to push this number higher.
  • Cold calling is an excellent way to make sure students are prepared and following along. I have never prepared for a class more thoroughly than I prepared for Professor Meulbroek’s case studies, because if I got called on to begin the case, I needed to be prepared.
  • Teachers should be much tougher. For the second straight semester, I was positively surprised by the grades I received. I know people are drawn to teaching because they love students and watching kids learn, but students would be better off if they received a message that told them they weren’t working hard enough, than a message that says, “Your current work rate is acceptable.” I know that us students should be responsible for monitoring ourselves, but outside motivation never hurts.

Fall 2008 Semester Review

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I’m back home after ending my first semester at Claremont McKenna College. I was pretty unhappy on the drive home, but when I put the whole thing in perspective I think I had a great semester. You wish you could have had it.

Positives: Social scientists and economists recently have made breakthroughs into learning what makes us happy, what makes us productive, and what attracts people to each other. Learning to use time efficiently, to avoid emotional rollercoasters, and to deal with people are probably more important than the academic material. In no particular order:

I learned how to brew beer and started learning the tango, waltz and polka in two hours a week of dance instruction. We brewed three batches and I finished 5th place in an open tango competition. I learned how to use the weight room to become stronger and put on weight. I gained eleven pounds but stopped working out when finals approached and lost five.

Good grades are the result of a good process, not any inherent measure of intelligence. Some things that helped me get good grades:

  • I kept organized for the whole semester. I wrote down due dates and appointments in a planner, and used it to plan out schedules of when I would get things done. I kept a binder for every class, with dividers for lecture notes, homework, handouts, and tests and essays.
  • With a few exceptions I didn’t work for more than 2 hours at a time; when I wasn’t getting work done I went to bed or did other things. I studied no more than 4 hours a day as finals approached, and scored above 95% on every exam, just by starting studying earlier and working efficiently.
  • I sat in the front row for every class. I would estimate staying organized is worth half a letter grade, and sitting in the front row is worth a quarter of a letter grade.

I aligned my desire to earn money with my desire for good work habits. When I wanted to ensure I got something done I would tell a friend I owed them a donation or a sandwich if I didn’t finish an essay on time, or go to the gym. I also bet my parents that I would wear my retainer for 18 hours a day. The retainer makes me look and sound a little childish but it’s straightening my teeth and I only have to wear it for half a year. These sort of bets are extremely cheap arbitrage – good grades and straight teeth are worth more later (in the job/marriage market) than they are now, so a small incentive now can pay big dividends later. Often these bets were win-win propositions – if I won I got my essay done on time, but if I lost I created a social opportunity, having to buy someone a sandwich.

I tried out for, and failed to make, the varsity basketball team. I was in the gym for nearly three hours a day for the first six weeks of the semester, lifting, shooting, running sprints, and playing pickup against the other varsity players. I wanted to make the team so that I could have a group of friends, signal quality to others, compete every day, and improve my basketball skill. My fitness was excellent and I improved at defense, dribbling, and driving. Fortunately, by the time the tryout came around I had enough other things going on around campus that I was (I told myself, anyway) indifferent between making the team and getting cut. The coach wanted me to become a student manager but I refused – I am slowly learning that just because someone wants me to do something doesn’t mean I have an obligation to do it. I would have probably accepted the offer a year ago.

While I was trying out for the basketball team I was sober for six weeks. My mantra was constant competition; every time I saw a player drink I was winning. I learned for myself that the social benefit from alcohol is imaginary, and that having a good time is based more on your attitude than your state of inebriation.

I maintained good spirits and a social attitude well into December, which I hadn’t done in my previous semesters at college. I learned to be more careful about the signals I sent to others. Claremont McKenna’s small campus was a big help. I couldn’t help running into people that I knew. I tried to call friends ahead of time to get meals so I wouldn’t eat alone, which worked when I remembered to do it.

I did not waste too much time. I had a rule not to check my email or RSS before noon. I let feeds, emails, texts and friend requests accumulate, dealing with them in my own time, rather than read and respond instantly to everything.

I started writing againafter two years of Penn lecture classes (Total writing output between May ’07 and October ’08: 2 crappy application essays). The only way to become good at something is to practice (with feedback) as much as you can. Writing is no exception; the more I write the easier it becomes to write. I blogged for my Gov 20 Honors class nearly every day, and when I started to get a “You should write about this!” thought bubble for non-political topics I revived my own blog. Every essay or short paper I write starts from an outline, which helped me stay focused and get work done.

Negatives: The negatives are of the “idle Tuesday” variety and don’t merit mention, which is something I’ve learned this semester too.