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Advice on a class
urahonky
Cynical Old ManRegistered User regular
Cynical Old ManRegistered User regular
Hey guys,
So I’ve run into a situation that I’d like a little advice about. I have a class, CEG433 – Operating Systems, that I am on the fence about on whether or not I should drop. Here’s a little background on it:
First off I knew the class was going to be really, really hard before I got in. I’d heard that most people save that class till one of their last few quarters because it’s that hard. I thought that if I took this class now that I’d be okay for the rest of my time at my university. Well now I just put my foot in my mouth. It was much harder than I thought it would be.
Our 2nd project is due today by Midnight and I have yet to get started on it. I can’t blame anyone but myself for being such an idiot when it comes to my time management, really. I had plenty of opportunities to work on it throughout the week but I chose to get some sleep instead of actually working on the project.
Our 1st project was due about a week and a half ago, and I ended up getting a 46% on it. Not really a big deal, because the project was worth about 5% of our grade. But the problem is that each project builds off of the last one. So right now my project is riddled with bugs and everything like that.
Our Midterm is early next week/late next week depending on how he feels. Right now, if I drop, I’ll get a W. But if I wait till the midterm it might be too late and I will have to push my way through it. The midterm terrifies me because this instructor is well known for making ball-bustingly hard midterms. And, supposedly, there’s almost no way to get the midterm done in the time allotted.
The downsides to dropping the class is that I’ll obviously lose all the money (~$600) and my fiancée will absolutely kill me. I’ve been known to slack off in classes and then drop them when I start falling behind and I’d promised her that I wouldn’t drop anymore classes. On top of all that it’ll add another quarter to my time in school.
So… I come to you guys. I tried to remain impartial while writing this but obviously since there is only one paragraph to my down sides I think that didn’t happen. I was hoping to get an outside opinion on this. Thanks for your time guys.
So I’ve run into a situation that I’d like a little advice about. I have a class, CEG433 – Operating Systems, that I am on the fence about on whether or not I should drop. Here’s a little background on it:
First off I knew the class was going to be really, really hard before I got in. I’d heard that most people save that class till one of their last few quarters because it’s that hard. I thought that if I took this class now that I’d be okay for the rest of my time at my university. Well now I just put my foot in my mouth. It was much harder than I thought it would be.
Our 2nd project is due today by Midnight and I have yet to get started on it. I can’t blame anyone but myself for being such an idiot when it comes to my time management, really. I had plenty of opportunities to work on it throughout the week but I chose to get some sleep instead of actually working on the project.
Our 1st project was due about a week and a half ago, and I ended up getting a 46% on it. Not really a big deal, because the project was worth about 5% of our grade. But the problem is that each project builds off of the last one. So right now my project is riddled with bugs and everything like that.
Our Midterm is early next week/late next week depending on how he feels. Right now, if I drop, I’ll get a W. But if I wait till the midterm it might be too late and I will have to push my way through it. The midterm terrifies me because this instructor is well known for making ball-bustingly hard midterms. And, supposedly, there’s almost no way to get the midterm done in the time allotted.
The downsides to dropping the class is that I’ll obviously lose all the money (~$600) and my fiancée will absolutely kill me. I’ve been known to slack off in classes and then drop them when I start falling behind and I’d promised her that I wouldn’t drop anymore classes. On top of all that it’ll add another quarter to my time in school.
So… I come to you guys. I tried to remain impartial while writing this but obviously since there is only one paragraph to my down sides I think that didn’t happen. I was hoping to get an outside opinion on this. Thanks for your time guys.
urahonky on
0
Posts
Is this a required class for your major? Will you end up taking it again later on?
How does a W affect you?
If you continue obviously you will have to try and bust out some work, but if you can't I think a D or F is worse than a W right? If you have to re-take it later on, what would be different? Will other classes give you more experience so you won't struggle with it so much?
Also, if you decide to drop it, can you get a rez after the woman murders you?
W's don't affect the GPA, but if you get too many it's "frowned upon" but I'm not quite sure how many that is (I probably have 4 or 5 now).
Retaking it later on will mean I will actually work on my project a lot earlier than two days before it's due. Also attending all of the classes (I've only skipped one or two) will help me out as well.
Also I won't lose any exp from the murder, since I'm still under level 10 so that won't be a problem. :P
My advice: Man up, log off PA, cancel everything you have today, and finish that fucking project. It's Iron man time. Show me your war face.
The biggest thing is having to stay another fucking semester if you have to re-take this class. You don't want that. seriously.
With that said... If you can't focus and get it done and pass, then drop it. I think having F's or D's on your record is worse than just dropping it and taking it at a later time when you can focus.
WAAAGH!
I'm at work till 4pm, then I have this class till 5:30pm, which means I'll get home at 6pm. Then I work at 8:00am tomorrow till 5 and rinse repeat.
I wish I could just cancel everything. I would have done it, but I've already gotten a ton of shit for calling off work to finish school work.
@jclast,
God I know. I'm always pissed at myself for skipping and yet I do it anyway. I just lack the motivation to do anything about school. I really do... But I need to get over that juvenile bullshit and man up.
Just set aside a set time each day to do nothing but work on school. If need be, that means you will be doing it from a computer lab at school to avoid distractions. You have the advantage of having a day that is already somewhat structured (working a 9-5) so you should be able to avoid some of the crazyness that tends to infect college students when it comes to time management. So I'd suggest making 5-6 each day your school time (5:30 to 6:30 on school nights). Doing a little bit over time is so much better than cramming, and by laying down consistency it should become a habit. It also makes large projects so much less daunting when you can just write a method or whatever a day, and then stop and think about things for a day.
This doesn't really help with the topic at hand. If you are that far behind in an operating systems class, I don't really know that cramming through the course of a week is going to help. There are a lot of conceptual ideas where it would be nice to have time to reflect on and have time to absorb the information. I don't remember it being the sort of class that lent itself to just rote memorization.
I am going to talk with the instructor today and see what he says. I'd talked with a few students that are in the class with me today and they said that if I still have no idea what's going on with the project they'd recommend dropping it. Apparently they've spent well over 30 hours on the project that's due tonight.
Sigh. My time management skills blow.
The sequential nature of the projects and the near due date means you're fucked on this one and will have to bust ass to rehabilitate it for the next project due date. You let yourself get behind on this one and this course doesn't sound very forgiving towards that.
Can you change to an audit instead of a withdrawal?