Statistics Final

Well, it's over. I can only guess as to how well I did. You see, my professor is a sadist. He piles on the problems that take a long time to solve. So I ended up spending hours working on Analysis of Variance problems, you know: state the null and alternative hypotheses; select the distribution to use (F, duh); determine the rejection and non-rejection regions; and then, the time-consuming piece, calculate the value of the test statistic: SSB, SSW, MSB, MSW, and F. I could have spent less time on these problems had I chosen to sacrifice accuracy/legibility for speed, as the majority of my classmates did. But, alas. I did not. So I ended up with precious little time by the end of the exam to solve other types of problems.

What's frustrating is that, on this exam, I really knew everything. Nothing threw me for a loop, as some of the questions on previous exams had done. So, why am I more likely to wind up with a lower grade on this exam than on either of my previous two? Because when I sit down to do a math problem, I turn into a perfectionist. Every step has to be described. Every notation legible. I want my answers to look better than the answers given in textbooks. I don't know why, but that's the way I am. (Even the notes I take in class are miniature works of perfection!) The problem - previously mentioned - is speed. I can't do the problems fast enough, even though I know how to do them. It's the same problem I had when taking the GMAT. It's why I had to take this class in the first place!

I'll know my grade soon enough - on Sunday night, most likely. I think I would rather go straight from Saturday to Monday and never know how I did. I feel as though so much - maybe too much - is riding on this grade. Oh, well. At least I learned a lot. And, now that the course is over, I get my Thursday nights and weekends back!