So I failed another paper. Yeah, not a great way to start off an entry, is it? This one's worse than last time too because I was sure I'd written a solid piece. It was about Johnson's foreign policy during the Vietnam War and my professor, as sweet of a man he is, had some interesting things to say about it. He told me my paper was a borderline pass/fail, whatever that I means. I don't know how I was between a pass and a fail but maybe it's the same thing as when the guy at the airport stamps your passport before you leave the country. Not quite in one place but not quite in another... You know, I'm not angry though. I have no one to blame but myself and I should've been more careful. I made practically all of the same "American" mistakes as I did with my Pol 250 essay (citing sources, relevance, etc.) except this time I won't be able to revise it and hand it in again for a better grade. What was probably most disappointing this time around is that I definitely didn't live up to my own potential. Even my convener said he was surprised I did so poorly. On the bright side though, I can still rescue myself with the final in a couple of days and, in the meantime, I have a lot of studying to do.

I'm starting to realise that I won't be comfortable with they way Australians do things, grade, or spell for that matter before it's time for me to pack up and head home. My first exam in months was this morning and the whole thing was a production I've certainly never seen at Rutgers. First of all, I had to check my bag in this separate room on campus. The place was packed with an unreal amount of security, as if somebody sneaking a calculator out of their bags and into the exam room would have been some kind of a national emergency. There were a lot of other unusual things about today, as well: first of all, I don't think I've had a Saturday exam since I took the SATs almost three years ago. The testing period started off with ten minutes of reading time where the proctors watched us all like hawks to make sure a pen didn't touch a piece of paper. On top of that, the university brought in proctors for reasons I'm not quite sure about it. After the exam I went to the library where security was even tighter. Security officers roamed the halls and people sat outside testing centers in case perhaps someone tried to escape before time was up. I understand plagiarism and cheating are concerns, but this was ridiculous.

The exam itself wasn't terrible. I finished 17 short-answer questions in about an hour and a half and, after the airport security guards finished checking my shoes and I put my belt back on, I walked out of there one final closer to freedom. Aside from maybe going a little overboard with my studying, I didn't adjust too many of my habits for an exam in Australia and I'm worried about that. My GPA is going to take a beating in the business school next semester and I need all the help I can get. Anyone who tells you study abroad is an easy A, by the way, hasn't been to Macquarie.

Posted by Jason at 01:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Comments

Posted by: Glenn Castillo | November 28, 2006 04:52 PM