Lilypie

Friday, March 30, 2007

A Feedback Session

I went for a feedback session for my couse earlier on. It was pretty interesting from the way the students reacted. Why is it each time I go for a feedback session, it turned into a complaint session? The feedback is on how to improve the school's policy and system, so why did people just say nothing except how difficult the assignments are, and if they were not able to do well for the assignment, their grades would be pulled down, and they would not score well?

What is the purpose of taking up a course in the first place? It is to upgrade and learn. Yet people become so result-driven that they lost the fun and enjoyment of actual learning, and only focused on how hard it is to meet their goals. Anyone who had ever gone through any form of tertiary studies will know how much of a struggle it is (except for those who are naturally smart and can score without much studying).

So why not just learn along the way, instead of complaining why the lecturers gave such hard work? When is studying never hard anyway? I find studying very hard too, and I do not mean just working hard, but literally difficult. No matter how much time you take to revise, in the end the results do not seem to show. Which is why I always admire those who think studying is just a breeze to them.

The Course Chair was saying that in order to make our learning more enriching, we had to take ten units of University Core. These are non-examinable and meant to help us in academic writing, thinking skills, analysing and better studying skills. How interesting! Obviously there were disgruntled groans from others who thought it a waste of time. If people take up a course just for results, then that is very sad indeed as in the end, everything is just focused on one aim and the entire process of learning is gone.

Of course, anyone who takes up any course aims to do well. That is a given. I aim to do well too. I take up a course not just to learn, but also to ensure I have a better future, equipped with better skills and qualifications. Afterall, why would anyone put in time, money, effort, sleepless nights and work-life-school juggle only to flunk in the end? But instead of just focusing on how the results will turn out in the end, why not focus more on how much one can learn, how enriched and more knowledgeable one can become? As long as in the end we have tried our best that is all that matters right?

I am a little worried because the Course Chair said that we need an average of GPA 2.5 in order to even make the Honours programme, which is a B- average. And even if we are in the direct Honours programme, if we do not achieve a GPA 2.5 average, we would in the end still graduate with a normal degree and not Honours. She said that they do not want to take our money and then just let us pass. They want to make sure we spend the money and the time to the fullest.

This is good as in we really know what we are in for. So it is not so easy as just go for lessons and pass every assignment and examination. For me, because I pulled out of the examination last year in mid-semester, my grades for the assignments were reflected, and I got a F for the overall module since my examination results were ungraded. The weightage is 50% for Assignments and 50% for Examination, so no matter how well I did for the assignments last year (which were not that well), I would still not pass the overall.

This affects my grades this year, because it is not just if I score an A, I would get an A overall. The results would be combined with the same module I pulled out last year and then halved. Thus even if I score an A this year, with my F last year, the overall result would be probably a D, or if lucky, a C. And that would pull my GPA to a 1 or 2 instead of a 4.

Which means I must really achieve very good grades for the rest of the modules if I even want to make a 2.5 GPA! I want my Honours! I am not going to take up another university course only to get by with just another pass. I believe I can do it. Both my parents are top Honours and Masters holders, so I cannot be that bad!

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