AARRGGHH! I spent nearly 20 hrs this weekend writing a biology exam....

[mike_c]

OK, I know most folks will have a hard time commiserating with this, but DAMN! There are 33 questions on it and I probably spent ten hours working on the last six questions (they're genetics problems). This is for a university general biology course. I'm just burned out-- worked 24 hrs or so this weekend. I give the students a week to take it-- I hear through the grapevine that my exams are legendary life altering events, LOL. That's not necessarily a good thing....

Damn, I need a drink.

on edit-- I still have to write an ecology midterm by Wed, too. Ugh. Idon't know what's worse-- writing exams or grading them.

[lizerdbits]

1. "Life altering" exams I see as a good thing

Especially for science. But what do I know I'm a dork.

Enjoy your drink(s)!

[XemaSab]

2. You pussy.

Go ask Steve what an exam is.

THOSE are legendary life altering events. :P

[mike_c]

4. LOL-- someone went postal during a BOT 105 exam a couple of weeks ago....

Steve's wife was teaching the class. They had to call the cops, hustle the guy out, etc. I gather he was throwing furniture or something (all heresay since I wasn't there). Anyway, it occasioned a long discussion about "security" in a faculty meeting.

Personally, I think that unless someone cries or feints an exam is too lightweight. I'm still hoping for a myocardial infarction during class. That's the shit.

[XemaSab]

6. XOMG!!!111!!

Wow... just wow.

:rofl:

[WinkyDink]

3. BT, DT. British Lit, albeit only h.s.

[mike_c]

5. hell of a way to spend your weekend, huh...?

I am so burned out. Good to hear that HS students somewhere are taking european lit classes!

[WinkyDink]

19. And it is definitely what led to early retirement! Principal used to demand "answer sheets"; I'd

tell him they were in my head.

[TrogL]

7. My your life easy

Leave the evolution stuff off.

[mike_c]

8. LOL-- that's actually off this one, for the most part....

The next one will be awash in evolution matters. This one, not so much, at least not in a direct sense. Some stuff about the role of meiosis in generating genetic variation-- the gentle lead-in to population genetics and evolution.

One of the ironies of being a biologist in what is arguably the golden age of biology is that I'm teaching stuff to university freshmen that I learned in advanced grad school classes or as a post-doc. Pretty amazing that things have moved that quickly during my lifetime!

[bicentennial_baby]

9. Ok, no offense, but as a Senior Undergrad....

in Economics no less... :rofl:

I just went through hellish midterms, so I'm short on sympathy. :rofl:

Ok ok...I was a TA last semester, I understand. I'm just bitter. :P

:)

[mike_c]

10. I TOTALLY understand....

Having lived on both sides of the student-prof divide I totally own the stress I cause when exam time comes around. Someone has to do it....

I'm just whining because I'm exhausted.

OK, that's it. I'm off to bed with a night cap. Tomorrow it's intro lectures on herbivory at 8:00 and DNA replication at 9:00. Office hours from 10-12, a TA meeting from 12-1, then grad student data analysis for the rest of the day. It's all good.

[bicentennial_baby]

11. I hear you!!

I spent a few hours with 2 of my Profs yesterday...I feel your pain. Teaching isn't "fun" when it comes to exams and grading and such. :pals:

Sleep well! :)

[tjwmason]

15. Lectures at 8?

My goodness - and I thought that 9 was an inhumane time to start. :scared:

[mike_c]

18. yep-- I set up the AV system about 7:30 most mornings....

I have 8:00 lectures four days a week this semester. It's usually only twice a week, but I drew a very short straw this time around!

[tjwmason]

20. Sounds very scary to me.

When I was a student, the earliest classes were at 9 - I only had them for one semester, and even with only one class per week at 9 (and living under 5 minutes from the department) I still missed half of them.

The earliest classes here are 9:30, and we'd never dream of letting lecturers near to the A.V. equipment.

[deucemagnet]

12. LOL! I have to grade the essays from last week's bioinformatics exam tomorrow.

I'm teaching genetics next semester, so I'm sure I'll feel your pain then. :P

[TZ]

13. lol

You remind me of a legendary ethology exam...We were all busting a gut for most of the hour when the professor says "you have 10 minutes left". Most of us look up look at each other and burst out laughing...cause nobody was EVEN close to finishing. I think the prof was a little taken aback by that. I asked him about it later (I was volunteering in his lab) and he said.."I didn't think it was THAT hard....":rofl:

[mike_c]

14. I took a grad course in immunology back in the day...

...and was the first student to finish the final exam-- I took about 50 minutes or so. I couldn't stay because I had to TA right afterwards. So I turned in my exam-- felt pretty good about it, too-- and went off to do my other stuff. Walked by the room again a couple of hours later and EVERYONE was still there, working on the exam. I thought "Uh-oh."

Did just fine on my exam, but I had a pretty tense week thinking that I must have missed the point badly. The prof said my answers were "succinct." :rofl:

[libodem]

16. Ah, you were that guy

skewing the curve. We had a gal in A&P that would always finish a half hour ahead of the rest of us, and ace the exam. What are you doing to your poor students making them sequence the letters in order. All I can remember right now are the c and the g. I know there are some more.

[Lex]

17. I just spent approximately the same amount of time

preparing an exam for Real Estate Law for students who are about to graduate from law school. They are already stressed to the max (they'll take the bar exam in a couple of months), and I'm worn out from preparing the exam.

I can commiserate with you, mike_c. :hi: