Tag: Finals

On this break from school, I’ve realized how much I’ve come to appreciate this time I have off. I am going through all the songs on my iPod and it is quite the journey. With this time off, I’ve also been able to catch up on some wrestling matches and catch up with some old friends. The best part has been the ability to go to the gym 5 days out of the day and I must say I keep thinking in the back of my head to this one day almost a month ago. As finals were approaching, I knew a few things were possible. The first was that the library was open all night for students to study and my dilemma was that I had four finals in two days. The first final was for Human Factors which was simple because it was cumulative and it had basic questions relating to the field instead of specific questions that had been previously inserted into exams. However, as the day approached even closer on Monday December 16th 2013, I found myself putting up Christmas lights when I should have been studying for my finals. I helped my dad out on that end and as the hours dwindled down to the eventual hour there was one more thing to do: work. I had thought that I worked at 8 in the evening but that was not to be the case and I was almost an hour ate because I had read the schedule wrong. I ended up working less than 5 hours that night and my supervisors that night didn’t seem to mind me being late. I kept thinking in the back of my head about the next day’s proceedings and what I needed to do in order to get A’s in my classes. After my shift, I decided to help out one of my co-workers with his truck that had lost power in the battery. I stuck around with him until AAA showed up. That made me feel really well because a) I had helped a friend out, b) I let out quite a bit of what was on my plate for the next day, and c) I gave my thoughts on some issues. I headed home and knew I had to sleep really well that night because there hardly be any sleep that night. In the morning, I was filled with anxiety and humor at the same time because I would either make a fool of myself or be fearful of the results of my exams. I decided to take VTA all the way to school via the 55 that passes by house and the 522 on El Camino. As the bus chugged on, I was listening to the great Bryan Alvarez discuss the Phoenix Lights phenomena that deals with aliens and I thought to myself ‘well this is off to a strange and fun start’. When I got to school and inside the classroom for my first final, my professor pulled me aside and asked me questions about what I meant about some of the comments that I had made in a previous class meeting. The comments I made were about subgroups and how some of these groups are hardly ever studied. The groups that are hardly ever studied in this case (Asians and college students) can be used to expand our knowledge in the field of psychology of prejudice. I told her about my thoughts on ingroups and outgroups and about a lit review that I had written about the topic (which by the way you can read on this blog:)). She said that she found my comments interesting and insightful and I told her about my still being somewhat prejudice and her class had actually assisted me in becoming aware of these prejudices. I thanked her for class and so I sat down and took the final. As I zipped through the final, I knew I would be all right for the next 28 hours. I finished the final and started studying for my social psychology final for a few hours. However, I also had a final in my writing class which was simple as it was just an evaluation and a term paper test which was optional if you wanted a better grade (which I ended up taking anyway). I took that which took about an hour and a half and I thanked my professor for the hard work he had put into the class and I told him I would see him soon. At this point, I got super hungry and headed over to La Victoria. I ate for about an hour and I had committed to meeting a classmate at the library prior to this so I headed over right  after I had checked a few fantasy football scores. I met my friend at about 8 in the evening and we talked more than we studied and what was nice was that we discussed almost everything except the kitchen sink. I told him about some of the things I found fascinating in Social Psychology and he told me that he was planning on going into graduate school. He was a very nice guy with a good attitude. We ended up talking about the essay questions that would be on the exam and I kept giving him examples in real life about mere presence theory, love styles, group processes, violence, aggression, and the rest of the fascinating concepts that wound up on our final exam. After a few hours, I realized that my classmate had some very interesting stories to share and this is where I set my goal to be someone that should start a casual conversation with strangers and not be afraid to see what they think of you. I am good at this but  I want to become a master of this concept. I had randomly started a conversation with this guy the week before the final and I said this is worth the risk so I said to myself that I would start being like that.  The studying aside, I thanked my now friend for his help and I told him about my intentions of staying on campus for the entire night. I headed up the third floor of the king library and I made a little camp by the corner. I decided that a little shut eye might be good for cognitive functioning and I tried my best that night to sleep but as hard as I tried I couldn’t sleep. I listened to a few podcasts that night and they kept me entertained for the most part. However, the music that was blaring out of my headphones was also helpful as the concepts of social psychology were clogging my mind at that time. At some point in the  night, I went under a desk and cuddled up which was harder to do since I am a very tall individual. I remember someone coming by and saying ‘oh my god’ which I assume was a remark at me sleeping under the desk. I lay there for a few hours and started to wonder the intricacies of the day ahead of me. I imagined meeting up with a few friends the day after which seemed so far away. I also thought about my family and how they were doing. I looked out the window soon after this and noticed people were coming and leaving from the library but I believed I was in the right spot despite being away from home at this point for almost 12 hours. The hour started nearing for my third final and around 6 AM I decided to head over to House of Bagels and grab some breakfast which I would need to concentrate. I ended up grabbing hot chocolate and a turkey bagel which helped out tremendously at that point. I decided to head back to the library in the somewhat dense weather and I spotted one of my friends that would be taking the same final in that morning. I once again told him about the finals that I had endured and he expressed his experience with his finals which was reassuring that we’re all going through the same stress and emotions. I told my friend that we should celebrate some day after and he agreed. Once we headed down, I saw another friend from the same class and we talked about the craziness that was ahead of us. As we walked over, I felt this accomplishment of having finished my first semester of San Jose State without many problems and I said to myself ‘I should have the same mentality every time’ and I sat down next to the classroom and chatted with my friends about some of the things on the test. I pondered what was to come on the test and my nerves settled once the test was put in front of me. I saw the test and knew most of the concepts which got me thinking of the last final soon there after. The test was nothing too hard and I headed once again to the library but this time I knew I needed some rest. I studied my Nutrition study guides for about an hour before I decided that was maybe time for a nap. I remember the concept of bio fuels to be the easiest to remember and as I went through this I figured this final would be really easy because most of the concepts were common sense. It dealt with population figures, organic farming, pesticides, and a few other concepts that we learned in high school in biology. Once I woke up, I got a text from one of my friends asking me about finals and I told her I had been on campus since the day before (at this point I had been on campus for 21 straight hours). I headed over to my friend’s location to chat it up a bit and we had a ball discussing baseball and life. I also told her about my desire to get back into video games. She told about some of the games she played and I was getting excited just hearing about this. The conversation was great and we even ran into one of our friends from work which added some dynamic to that day. I walked back eventually and I said to myself ‘you’re almost there man’. I studied for a few hours (including a nap in there for good measure) and I knew after about the 20th time looking after my notes that I was ready for this. It was 5:15 when it I readied myself for the final and all of a sudden Hanson’s ‘Fire on The Mountain’ blazed on the iPod and this got me hyped up. I walked steadily over to the BBC and I sat there blazing through the final which believe it or not was my hardest final. It wasn’t hard based on the material but it wasn’t my area of expertise so I had quite the challenge ahead of me. I knew the concepts but I had to think when I answered the questions which isn’t common on Psychology tests. I went through the questions twice and as soon I picked up my things I said my peace to my professor and thanked her for a conversation we had earlier in the semester. I walked out and let out some fresh air when I saw someone I knew but I hadn’t talked to her in a while. I went one way and she went the other. This was symbolic because I was going one way and this other person headed the other way. This meant to me that we each make our path in life and my path is to concentrate on what is important to me. I headed out to the bus stop and I was so proud of myself at this moment. I felt that the first semester was a success and I was thinking of all the possibilities that were ahead during the break. I have done a few things including cleaning up my closet, taking care of my nephew, playing video games, and even doing more exercise. I hope that with two weeks left I can head out to the movies one more time, head over to one of my favorite restaurants, and walk the Los Gatos Trail. I’m also in the process of going through my 4000 songs on my iPod and it has been quite the adventure hearing almost every artist I’ve come across. One last thing left to accomplish is to put up my latest project 365 as I am two months behind and it shouldn’t be difficult to put up as I hope to dedicate a full day to doing this. Be on the look out for that and we’ll see you in a while.

(Hey BTW final grades for Fall 2013)

Social Psychology: B

Nutrition: B+

Human Factors: A

Psych of Prejudice: A-

Writing Workshop for Psychology: A-