Ah, but I regress

It’s only the first day of finals week and I feel like my semester is already over. That is, I finished linear regression today and I feel like a huge weight has been taken from off my shoulders. I am freed from the chains of unknown parameters, model validation, time series, and a host of other things. Really, I need to know these things. And really, they are very interesting. But having to learn them with such precision and so rapidly has been exhausting.

I woke up at 4:30 this morning, realized it was a bad idea, and slept in until 5:30. I sprung up, got out of bed, and studied the scriptures (which always gets me ready in a way nothing else can). Then, I launched into studying for the final.

We were allowed two 8.5x11 sheets of paper, covered front and back with formulas. After going through eleven lectures and hundreds of slides of material, I felt comfortable having only three of my four available sides covered. I think I just wrote too small to cover that much paper, honestly.

I arrived at the classroom about four minutes before Guifang administered the exam (so, 1:26 pm). When it began, I hoped beyond hope that it would not feel the same way the midterm felt (confusing, to say the least). Then, I looked at the first problem and thought, “Yeah, I can do this,” and then the same thing happened with each problem thereafter. It was definitely manageable!

Surprisingly, the very last thing I wrote on my formula sheet was one of the things I used the most, at least in the first of five problems. I remember seeing it on the slides only minutes before walking out the door and thinking, “That seems important.” I’m so glad I jotted it down.

The algebra lion

Miracle of miracles, I spent time with my family this morning and early afternoon. I've been so busy that posting on my blog—which usually consists of copying and pasting from my journal—has been challenging. This semester is crazygonuts.

The definite upside? I scored 100% on my first probability exam and 79% on my first linear regression exam! Linear regression is a very difficult course—easily the most brain-demanding course I've ever taken—but I'm getting through and making sense of it. Right now, my overall grade stands at a 93%, which I'm very happy about.

Guifang, my linear regression professor, commented on the results of the first exam yesterday. She told a story about her first semester in America, how she hardly understood the language and struggled through her abstract algebra course. She didn't perform well at first, but, she said "I have a strong heart." She worked hard and got through it. And now she's teaching! I think her first semester in America was six years ago or something like that. Pretty incredible.