High School Color Fun
Let’s time travel back to high school for a moment, shall we? I had this book (well, I guess, I technically still have it, haha) called “The Dewey Color System” by Dewey Sadka. It’s a personality test book that tells you about yourself based on the combination of your favorite primary color and favorite secondary color (with more info based on how you feel about other colors like black, white, gold, teal, etc.).
I was obsessed with this book and made everyone I know take the test (which is just, again, picking your favorite primary color and your favorite secondary color).
Here is said book:
As you can see by how beat up it is, I used it a lot. I actually did a “stats” project in my 11th grade psych class where I looked at the frequencies of people’s personality types with the Dewey Color System and compared them to the frequencies of their Myers-Briggs personality types. Of course, I knew ZERO about stats at the time so I was just comparing the frequencies without any sort of test of statistical significance, but I did go back to the data a few years ago and tried to chi-square the hell out of it for funzies.
[Edit: I can’t find that blog for whatever reason, but it’s out there.]
Anyway. I think the test and results used to be online for free, but now it looks like you have to pay. SAD! That was the whole point of this blog, haha.
Edit again: alrighty, found the blog in question. Looks like I didn’t do anything that looked at Dewey vs. Myers-Briggs…just Myers-Briggs-related stuff. I wonder if I can find my data anywhere?
Edit again again: No data on both tests, but I did (of course) write down some of the results of the Dewey test in the front cover of the book. All those letter combinations at the top are the combos of favorite primary (Blue, Red, Yellow) and secondary (Green, Orange, Purple). The letters at the bottom are representing the six “intermediate” colors for which people were supposed to choose two as their favorites and two as their least favorites (Gold, Indigo, Lime, Magenta, Red-orange, Teal).
Also, my grades in high school were abysmal.
Algebra: my worst enemy in high school. Also, how the hell does one get a C in Wellness?
Whaaaaaaaaaat
Holy crap, I did waaaaay better on that STAT 723 final than I thought I did. He must have curved it.
But anyway, that was the last final I’ll ever have to take for the last class I’ll ever have to take.
…
I say that, but then again, I’ve said that several times since 2008, so…
Hoo-rah
Hooray, a 33/30 on that test!
That makes me super happy. Not as happy as A’s on BOTH of those freaking tests, but it least it raises my average up to an A- in the class.
Now all that is left is the final.
Bring it on.
(I’m going to go pass out from relief.)
GRADES!
YAY, I got an A in Multivariate! I was super nervous because the final was brutal and there was one question on there that I’m pretty sure no one got full points for, but still…nervous.
And I got an A+ in Dr. Chen’s class, but I was expecting that just because we didn’t have a final and I knew what my grades were for everything else in that class.
WOO!
Mitten Manufacturing: A Labor of Glove
What the heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeell.
Alright, so Dr. Chen had our grades in for 701 last week. I got a B+, which is certainly not stellar by any means. However, the fact that it’s a B+ and not an A- (or maybe even an A) is most likely due to my low score on the first midterm. Why did I get a low score on the first midterm? Because I’m me and I panicked on it, which caused me to make a really dumb mistake on a question I knew how to do. I was able to catch the mistake and fix it during the test, but doing so cost me so much time that I was unable to even answer one of the other two questions, which got me a super low score on that third of the test.
But we’re not here to talk about 701.
We’re here to talk about 601, the class that I was really worried about. Up here we need a B- to “pass” a class* but are only allowed to have two B- grades every two semesters. So really we all want B’s or better. Calculating my grade before the project, I pretty much needed a perfect score on said project to get a B overall. And even though I was feeling fairly confident about the project after I’d finished it last week, I figured there was no way in hell I’d gotten a perfect score.
So I checked my grade today and somehow I pulled off an A- in 601. As you might expect, I’m pretty pleasantly shocked. He must have really curved things at the end. Either that or my presentation ROCKED HIS SOCKS.
But I’m guessing he just really curved things at the end.
Either way, though, I’m relieved. I was really worried throughout this semester that I’d do so poorly that they’d kick me out. Seriously. I’m the only** statistics student from the United States, too. Gotta represent!
*A note for my American readers out there (which I think is almost everyone): Canada grades are different than US grades in the sense that for us US people, a B is equivalent to a grade anywhere from 80% to 89% (at least in most cases). Here it varies slightly by class, but a B in 601 is a grade anywhere from 76% to 79.5%. That may make it sound “easier” to get a B, but compared to US grading, they’re quite a bit tougher up here. Both UWO and UBC were like that, too.
**I definitely know I’m the only incoming US stats student, and I’m pretty sure I’m the only US stats student in the entire department right now, too.
Relief (sort of)
So this morning was the final for STAT 701.
(And I accidentally went to the wrong room at first because I totally forgot our final was in a different room than our normal one. Oops.)
It…it wasn’t as bad as I was expecting, actually. There were a few super specific questions, but there were also questions that were very similar to the questions on our previous midterms.
So yeah. Now all I can do is wait for my grade and hope that I did well enough.
But that’s a huuuuuuuuuuge stress gone, at least. Now all I have to do is worry about my 601 project, which I’m really not too concerned about, since it’s just analyzing some data and then presenting said analysis, which is something I love doing, especially since I get to make a POWERPOINT!
(I love PowerPoint.)
Right now, however, all I’m going to do is go home and rock out to music for the rest of the evening.
F(l)ail
(This was supposed to be yesterday’s blog, but in the wake of the Ottawa incident, I decided to delay it until today)
The bad: So that midterm I had last Friday? 19/30.
The “good”: The class average on that midterm I had last Friday? 15/30. All the people I study with got 14s. The obscenely smart 2nd year guy got like a 25. A few people got a “see me” written on their tests by the prof (not sure who, though).
Seriously, a 19 out of 30 BLOWS HEAVY METAL DICKS, but I probably would have gotten a higher grade had I actually finished (I accidentally screwed up on one question and had to go back and correct a bunch of math and lost a lot of time), so there’s that. Also, a 19/30 is a 63%, which is actually a high C here. Also also, this midterm (and the next one) are each only worth 20% of our grade.
So I’m certainly not proud, but I’m not in panic mode (yet).
Edit: I talked to my supervisor (who teaches the class, haha), and he said my grade was actually one of the highest ones and told me not to panic. He said some people got 7s and 8s.
So yeah.
WOO
I graduated!
In my defense, there was a Master’s degree and a year off in between those two degrees, so yeah.
And yes, I dropped down to magna cum laude from summa. I got a B in Stochastic Methods and I HATE MYSELF FOR IT.
FARTFARTFARTFART time for Minecraft.
“Trompe l’oeil” is a fantastic phrase
HEY FOOLIOS!
So I’ve always had this suspicion that, on average, grades are better in the spring semesters than in the fall.
And because I’m an idiot, I didn’t find this until just now.
So let’s do some analyses!
The U of I has data from fall 2003 until fall 2013. I decided to use the “all student average” value for my analysis, and I also decided to do a paired means test where the “pairs” were made up of the average for the fall semester paired with the average for the following spring semester. Since most students start in any given fall semester and graduate in any given spring semester, it made the most sense to thing of fall-spring sets, since a fall semester and the following spring semester would most likely be made up of most of the same students, at least in comparison to any other pairing.
Also, there are a total of 10 pairs, so the sample size is OBSCENELY SMALL, but I’m doing it anyway.
Here we go!
Hypothesis: the average GPA for a year of UI students will be lower in the fall than in the spring. In other words, µfall < µspring.
Method: averages were collected for all spring and fall semesters between fall 2003 and spring 2012. Fall and subsequent spring semesters were paired.
Analysis: a paired t-test was performed on the 10 pairs of data and the above hypothesis was tested at an α = .05 level.
Results: here’s the table!
We’ve got a small p-value! That suggests, at a .05 level, that we can reject the hypothesis that the average GPA in fall and spring are equal and conclude in favor of the hypothesis that average GPA is lower in the fall than in the spring.
WOO!
I’m twitchy
Somebody needs to explain to me why my highest test scores show up on tests for which I felt I did very poorly.
Seriously. Every time. If I think I did okay on a test, I usually get a low- or mid-A. If I think I rocked a test, same thing.
But if I think I bombed it? That’s when I end up doing very well.
It’s weird.
Sorry, not much to talk about today, haha.
NOW break can start
WOOOOOOOOOOOO!
4.0 GPA plus my highest teaching evaluations yet (3.6/4.0 with a 37% student response rate).
Damn good early Christmas presents, if you ask me.
WTF, mate?
EXPLAIN THIS TO ME: how in the hell did I get a 103% on that probability test?
Seriously, how?
Instead of making like two dozen incredibly stupid mistakes, I only made one incredibly stupid mistake, and then got one of the bonus questions right.
I think the universe is broken. I certainly didn’t deserve a 103%, that’s for sure.
Next week we’ll see how the Proofs test went.
NOW IT’S TIME FOR A NICE LONG WALK!
(Unrelated side note: every single one of my Amazon “based on your browsing history” suggestions is a book about Leibniz. I have trained you well, Amazon.)
What a Titillating Title!
Well, apart from Migraine Part II, today was pretty good:
- 98% on calc final, A in the class overall.
- 750 miles reached! Halfway to my goal and about a week ahead of schedule.
- Bought socks.
- Heard from Nick for the first time in awhile and he said he’s sending me something in the mail. He wouldn’t tell me what it was, so that means it’s probably going to be hilarious.
Now that I can see again and my head isn’t imploding, I’mma play Minecraft for like twenty hours. Be back later.
WHAT
Holy hell, I got an A in Computer Science?
Holy hell, I got A’s in everything this semester??
(This is totally a Tumblr post disguised as a legit blog entry. I apologize.)
Alright, so here’s the deal:
We’ve all seen the posts on Tumblr/Facebook/wherever that say “You are more than your grades.”
Yeah, yeah, yeah. For most people, that’s true.
But not for me.
I get a lot of crap for putting so much importance on my grades. “It really doesn’t matter what grades you get,” people say. “Past college, no one gives a crap.”
I know that, okay?
But I still put practically all of my self-worth into the grades I get. Why? Because I have no other redeemable qualities as a human being.
I suck at pretty much everything. I’m not pretty. I’m not funny. I have major anger issues. I’m not a good conversationalist. I have no original thoughts. I’m lazy. I’m messy. I have no close friends. I can’t even make friends anymore. I doubt I’ll ever be in a relationship again. I have horrible, self-destructive habits that also hurt others. I’m selfish. I’m negative. I’m uninteresting. I’m just…not a good person. But I’m pretty damn good at school.
So that’s where I focus my attention. That’s where I put all my worth, because that’s the only thing I’ve really got.
So yeah.
I don’t know why I had the sudden urge to make that declaration. Probably because I’m having yet another “stupid night” and I needed to either vent or go run into traffic.
Either way. I really don’t care anymore.
We’ve all seen the posts on Tumblr/Facebook/wherever that say “You are more than your grades.”
Yeah, yeah, yeah. For most people, that’s true.
But not for me.
I get a lot of crap for putting so much importance on my grades.
“It really doesn’t matter what grades you get,” people say. “Past college, no one gives a crap.”
I know that, okay?
But I still put practically all of my self-worth into the grades I get.
Why?
Because I have no other redeemable qualities as a human being.
I suck at pretty much everything. I’m not pretty. I’m not funny. I have major anger issues. I’m not a good conversationalist. I have no original thoughts. I’m lazy. I’m messy. I have no close friends. I can’t even make friends anymore. I doubt I’ll ever be in a relationship again. I have horrible, self-destructive habits that also hurt others. I’m selfish. I’m negative. I’m uninteresting. I’m just…not a good person.
But I’m pretty damn good at school.
So that’s where I focus my attention. That’s where I put all my worth, because that’s the only thing I’ve really got.
So yeah.
I don’t know why I had the sudden urge to make that declaration. Probably because I’m having yet another “stupid night” and I needed to either vent or go run into traffic.
Either way. I really don’t care anymore.
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Graaaaaaaaaaaades
So I think my calculus II test scores are the first few terms of an infinite alternating series that converges to 95.
Those of you who remember your tests grades: did yours ever follow a particular pattern? Depending on how many tests are scheduled for a class in a semester, I get the following patterns:
Two tests:
Test 1: High A
Test 2: High A
Three tests:
Test 1: Moderate A
Test 2: Low A
Test 3: High A
Four tests:
Test 1: Moderate A
Test 2: High A
Test 3: Low A
Test 4: High A
(and if there’s a fifth test as a final, then I usually do okay on that one)
Linear Algebra was the exception to this…I just had all Bs in place of the As and that’s why that’s been the ONE CLASS in which I haven’t gotten an A.
It’s the world “algebra,” man. We still don’t get along.
END!
Will Will will Will’s will to Will?
Today I present The Stages of Claudia’s Reaction to a Math Test
Right before the test: I freaking love calculus! I totally know this stuff.
Looking over the problems: LET’S DO THIS!
Doing the problems: What’s a plus sign?
Right after handing it in: Crap. That went badly.
10 minutes after handing it in: I suck I suck I suck I suck I suck
Rest of the day: WHY AM I SO BAD AT EVERYTHING I LOVE?
Next day: I’ve disappointed myself.
Following day: I’ve disappointed the gods of calculus.
Following day: I’ve disappointed everyone.
All next week: I am a worthless soul who can’t do anything right. Why do I even bother, it’s not like I’m smart enough for any of this. [insert obnoxious amount of pointless angst]
Getting the test back: Oh, an A. Okay.
This has seriously happened three times this semester. Still trying to shake that damn math test anxiety that’s been following me since high school.
The math part of my brain (that ITTY BITTY LITTLE TROOPER) is internalizing some substantial portion of this awesome stuff. Why can’t the rest of my brain figure that out?
I never have this problem with stats. More proof that at least for me, stats and math are quite different things.
Yayz!
HA.
4.0.
I still got it.
And yes, it matters to me. I’ll probably be going to grad school again (as much as I’m hesitant about it), so grades are important.
I give myself a banana sticker.
Huh…wouldn’t have guess this
StumbleUpon brought me to Wikipedia’s page on the “Latin honors” for college degrees. Not only did I find out Australia has two different levels of failure (off the “grade” page…and here I must interject: “WTF, mate?”), but the “see also” section also provided me with this.
I found this rather interesting, considering that for the majority of colleges, the U of I’s cutoff points for summa/magna/cum laude are higher than all of these listed. Maybe ‘cause UI is such a small school (SMALL SAMPLE SIZE = RANGE RESTRICTION) they felt the need to have such high cutoff points…who knows.
Haha, sorry, I like this kind of stuff. Had they provided more colleges, I would have made some sort of map to see how the different regions of the US compared in honors cutoffs. Bah.
Also this, ‘cause I found it freakishly funny (and interesting), especially since they were all cracking up the entire time:
Today’s song: Echo by Girls Can’t Catch
Damn you, Linear Algebra
SO CLOSE. I was SO CLOSE to getting another 4.0 this semester.
But no.
Because I’m stupid.
At least 3.98 is still above the summa cum laude cutoff.
WHAT
Holy shit.
I don’t know how, I don’t know why, and I don’t know by whose power, but somehow I managed to get a 4.0 this semester.
So I got what I have been working for so hard these past five semesters. I finished college with a 4.0. I feel slightly proud of myself for the first time since starting at this stupid school.
It was worth it. It was worth all the stress. I’ve never been happier in my life.
Rock on.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALONGTITLEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
So…fall semester?
Scaring the hell out of me right now. I’ve come to the realization that this will be my last “important” semester here, and if I screw things up now I’ll lose my 4.0 in the final stretch.
That’s more terrifying than it sounds, trust me.
Enter freak-out mode.
Eigenblogger 