Phew, it's over

So the last exam, applied probability, is done and the exam week is over. It went pretty well, I think I got almost everything done correctly except the last part of the last question. Now I just have to wait for the results which is pretty painful as it sometimes takes almost a month to get them.

This exam week was relatively light compared to the second one in December. I'm having six (6) exams in two weeks which sounds pretty fucked up. I should probably start reading for them today!

I think I haven't mentioned that the Japanese, math and probability exams I had are just for the first halves of the courses. I still have math, profiled and Japanese part 2 in December. Plus "full" exams of theory of computation, computer architecture and the new course that starts next Monday: "From Data to Knowledge". That means 6-8 more hours to my weekly schedule.. yay!

Exam week

I've been pretty busy with the exam week. I had the math exam yesterday and it was pretty difficult, much tougher than I expected. I'm sure I'll pass it but I wonder what kind of grade I'll get. I've had pretty good grades so far and I'd like to keep the average but it's not really a matter of life and death to me.

I started to read applied probability today. It should be pretty easy but there's just something with me and probability theory that doesn't mix. At least I figured out the Bayes' Theorem which had been troubling me for quite a bit. Next up would be discrete and continuous distributions. I think I'll start studying those now..

Bleh

Now where did that study motivation go? I had the Japanese exam this morning, it was really short and went well. I think it went almost flawlessly. It had one word I had trouble remembering, a word for congratulating someone. I concentrated for about 20 minutes and was almost certain I wouldn't remember it but then out of nowhere a word popped into my mind: おめでとう (omedetoo). I really wasn't sure that it was the right one but decided to answer that and it turned out it was the right word. Funny experience.

Even though the exam took only about 40 minutes, I seem to have managed to last my study motivation for the day. I should be training math but it feels so repulsive today. Somedays I almost enjoy it but not today.

One thing that has been stressing me a bit is the project we have to do in Computer Architecture. We're supposed to code a piece of software in MIPS assembly for a R2000-processor (well actually for a simulator that emulates it). There was lectures about the MIPS assembly but on a really abstract level that has very little to do with the actual assembly coding. I had to some self studying last night and managed to get a pretty good picture of what the real assembly coding is, which was a relief.

I have to alternatives for the project, an "easy" one: "

Write a subroutine which frames a packet as needed by 
SLIP protocol.

or a hard one:

Write a subroutine which calculates the checksum 
of an IP header.

The easier is graded only from 0 to 3 while the harder one will be graded 0-5.

Visiting the folks

Came home to visit the folks for the weekend. I initially thought I'd stay at the campus apartment because I can better focus on studying there but still decided to come here because I most definitely can't come next weekend as the exam week begins after that. I actually have a Japanese exam next Tuesday but it should be pretty easy. The tougher ones on the actual exam week are math 3 and applied probability. Especially the math will require a lot of practice.

I've been working quite a lot on the physics report and I think it's shaping up pretty well. I had some serious trouble in the beginning but now it seems pretty clear.

Today I learned

• some more Laplace stuff
• some more stuff on solving systems of differential equations
  
• stuff about normal distribution in probability theory which I already know from grammar school
  

Calm before the storm

Wednesdays are pretty light days. I have only two hours of Japanese from 10 to 12 and physics lab from 17 to 20 but the measurements don't usually take more than two hours. There's also an exercise session for Computer Architecture from 16 to 18 every other week. There was one last week so I don't have one today.

Me and my physics lab partner, a good friend of mine, are doing the reports individually every other week so in total we both have to do four reports which is reasonable. It's my turn to do the report on today's experiment so all hell will break loose tonight when I have to start the work.. say goodbye to leisure time. This time I will start working on it right away at full rate so maybe I'll have it done in reasonable time. I've made some prearrangements for the measuring session later today, so it should go smoothly and I have a template for the report ready. I have a good feeling about this one. This week's experiment is about radiation and protection against it, so it should be pretty interesting. I wonder if I start noticing some mutations in my body after this.. maybe a third ear growing from my chin?

Today I learned

• how to say and write A equals B-type of sentences in Japanese. Like "It is a car", "This is a flower." Also learned A doesn't equal B like "That is not a poster, it is a map."

No excuses

Sorry for the lack of updates. I kinda knew this would happen after the school started. I'm pretty burdened with the current course load so I usually either lack the time or the energy to post anything.
I came up with a silly idea of posting a short daily "Today I learned.. " entry. I think it might help out a bit actually because in some courses I feel like I don't really process the information I'm getting from the lectures. I just sit there, take notes and then kind of forget them. Especially in math which I have 4 x 2 hour lectures a week. The amount of information is pretty overwhelming with all the other courses at the same time.

Today I learned:

• how to solve differential equations using Laplace transform. Just one example so far though, seemed pretty cool but maybe a bit involved.