Well, exam already. But single exam that is half behavioral science, 30% statistics, and 20% health systems.
It is hard to take third term as seriously, largely because of the reputation it has. I'm wondering how much of that is perceived, as in, things are easier because the rumor mill has them easier, so you may study in a more relaxed but effective manner, which makes them seem easier.
Or maybe it's just easier. Who knows?
Third term, in the past, has been broken up into small two unit classes for each segment, where for our term, it's a conglomerate of not entirely closely related classes into a single 6 unit class.
I'm not sure if this means you can conceivably decel over third term since the rule is that if you fail a class worth 5 or more units, you have to decel; and if you fail a class of 4 or fewer units, you have to take a makeup exam. I'm not sure what happens if you fail the makeup exam. But since the entirety of third term is now over that 4 unit limit, what happens if you fail it since the term is only 6 weeks long? Do you just go onto fourth term and then take third term again when you get around to it? Do you have to then decel for third and fourth term? Dunno.
But regardless... the worst part of this exam for me was having to drag out of bed before noon for a change, since my pledge to continue showing up for class on time dissolved once the lectures were reliably going up on Sonic Foundry, thus I can watch them on "TV". I'm so predictable.
It had the potential to be a difficult exam, but I thought it was pretty fair. Surprisingly, I thought statistics was the easiest part, probably because since I'm afraid of math, I studied it the most, and part of my innate fear of math stems from my calculator-dependent upbringing, thus my inability to do basic arithmetic, which wasn't heavily required.
Plus, our professor had a tendency to say things like "While you have to know the principles behind a chi squared test, I am not going to make you calculate the value on a test where you're not allowed to use calculators because it's tedious and time-consuming."
Yeah... I'm going to stick with calling it "tedious and time-consuming" as a reason not to do it, rather than the truth of "Ishie may understand absolutely everything about chi squared tests, but when doing the calculations by hand, will add 6 and 2, get 9, and get the question wrong. Ahh, public education. My friend Slappy and I have had the "grad school while counting on fingers" discussion many times.
On the plus side, when things are calculation based, I am not very easily misled so long as the exam is multiple choice, because when I get my wrong answer, I do so in a way no professor would ever conceive of, so my answer is nowhere near any of the answer choices so I know I have to start over. No distractors for me!
So what to do in celebration of an exam I felt fairly good about but have no idea what my grade would be (watch me fail it)? Go to St. George's for dinner!
I've gotten kinda tired of a lot of the restaurants right in True Blue, as they tend to be more expensive, have food that isn't quite as good, and service that's somewhat poor (there's exceptions), so when I do go out, I'm trying to go to new places a little farther from campus, and I have to say, it's a good experience, and so long as you are back before 10 (didn't make it this time around), the extra five bucks round trip in bus fare probably is less than the savings on the food. Plus, the Carenage is beautiful.
Tonight's excursion was to the Nutmeg, which is about a block before where the bus's turn to go up to the station. There's a sign and you go up to the second floor, which has a nice, small dining room with several tables with a really nice view of the water. Food was good, service was good, prices were fairly reasonable, so thumbs up.
Tomorrow starts more behavioral science with statistics and health systems being replaced by epidemiology. Unfortunately, it also means we change our behavioral sci prof, and I really liked Mrs-Dr. A-M, who taught us the last week.
Showing posts with label Biostatistics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Biostatistics. Show all posts
Jan 29, 2008
Jan 25, 2008
Lies, damn lies, and...
I've been going through some statistics tonight, because I was gorging myself on Dr. Female A-M's developmental lectures, since they're like potato chips, thus putting me WAY too caught up in behavioral science at the expense of statistics.
Which is silly, really, because I think our stat prof is really good, goes through things at a slow pace (too slow for some, I know, but if there is one thing you do NOT want to race through with me, it's math), and overexplains things to a point where I feel pretty confident in the material even after only the lecture, but...
Everything was going perfectly well up to the "Power" lecture, again, not interesting, but relevant, and more importantly, things up to that lecture had been inherently logical. So maybe that line about "lies, damn lies, and statistics" is a little harsh, right?
Nope, it was just a matter of time. Suddenly, "So if you want this value and don't have enough participants, just move this one." "If your sample size isn't big enough, just increase your estimate of what you want the population differences to be." Or how willing you are to make a Type I error.
Hey! You can't do that!
What's sad is that despite a now-revealed tendency for statisticians to make stuff up, I think medical research/stat is still beating immunology and respiratory physiology for "things there would be a chance in hell I would do for a living". The wonders of a good professor.
Now, our stat prof has been really good about relating everything we're doing to published papers in the medical literature so we can see real-life application. Also, every time she says "But you don't have to calculate this number since in real life, you'd just plug it into a computer", I would start some wave action going on if I weren't alone in my apartment. However, all of that paled in favor of the class response, when for linear regression, her chosen example was "relationship of med school GPA to board scores". That shuffling you hear on Sonic Foundry is the sound of 100 students suddenly snapping awake.
Which is silly, really, because I think our stat prof is really good, goes through things at a slow pace (too slow for some, I know, but if there is one thing you do NOT want to race through with me, it's math), and overexplains things to a point where I feel pretty confident in the material even after only the lecture, but...
Everything was going perfectly well up to the "Power" lecture, again, not interesting, but relevant, and more importantly, things up to that lecture had been inherently logical. So maybe that line about "lies, damn lies, and statistics" is a little harsh, right?
Nope, it was just a matter of time. Suddenly, "So if you want this value and don't have enough participants, just move this one." "If your sample size isn't big enough, just increase your estimate of what you want the population differences to be." Or how willing you are to make a Type I error.
Hey! You can't do that!
What's sad is that despite a now-revealed tendency for statisticians to make stuff up, I think medical research/stat is still beating immunology and respiratory physiology for "things there would be a chance in hell I would do for a living". The wonders of a good professor.
Now, our stat prof has been really good about relating everything we're doing to published papers in the medical literature so we can see real-life application. Also, every time she says "But you don't have to calculate this number since in real life, you'd just plug it into a computer", I would start some wave action going on if I weren't alone in my apartment. However, all of that paled in favor of the class response, when for linear regression, her chosen example was "relationship of med school GPA to board scores". That shuffling you hear on Sonic Foundry is the sound of 100 students suddenly snapping awake.
Jan 21, 2008
What I learned in biostat lab
Basically, that I don't know enough biostat. Holy crap.
In lab, you partner up with someone who hopefully is a good enough friend not to hate you when you don't know anything, calculate some problems on a DOS program and then stumble through your explanation until someone mercifully stops you as you present to a facilitator.
On the plus side, going back over my notes, I'm getting the material better, and lest anyone think stuff is all uber-difficult, I suspect my dearth of stat knowledge has something to do with both my innate badness at math and perhaps more, my decision to spend pretty much the entirety of the weekend at the beach. D'oh!
Next task up is acclimatizing to hotter and hotter temperatures in my apartment to try and whittle down my astronomical electric bill.
In lab, you partner up with someone who hopefully is a good enough friend not to hate you when you don't know anything, calculate some problems on a DOS program and then stumble through your explanation until someone mercifully stops you as you present to a facilitator.
On the plus side, going back over my notes, I'm getting the material better, and lest anyone think stuff is all uber-difficult, I suspect my dearth of stat knowledge has something to do with both my innate badness at math and perhaps more, my decision to spend pretty much the entirety of the weekend at the beach. D'oh!
Next task up is acclimatizing to hotter and hotter temperatures in my apartment to try and whittle down my astronomical electric bill.
Jan 20, 2008
Me likey the 3rd term
Though granted, it's only the end of the first week, and I haven't had an exam yet.
Behavioral: Interesting, and so far, easy-peezy. I resist the soft sciences, but they keep beckoning me back. Highlight/lowlight of Behavioral Sciences so far was the mental hospital visit, also allowing for numerous jokes among family and friends about my "having to go to the mental institution", with my dad's line of "Well, don't let them keep you."
Why the mixed bag? Well, it's an underfunded mental institution, which should allow you to pretty much imagine what the low points would be. The staff seems to do their best, but the facility still has way more patients than beds, areas in desperate need of maintenance and upkeep, and a yard for the patients with an ostensible lack of things for them to do. When you go, you can hear people screaming; you can note the wear and tear, and a lot of the general misery that permeates. The overseeing doctor also explained to us that once you've been taken there once, pretty much all you have to do is sneeze to be landed right back there.
I do feel like it's a very positive educational experience. At the superficial level, you get yet another free and organized bus tour of a part of the island most of us haven't been to, but you also get to see the inner workings of the institution, talk to the patients, have an interview with one of the patients, and learn about where there are problems on the island, how they're handled, and what the social perceptions are, both of the patients and the facility itself. By talking to a patient (who was convinced that the local cable and phone companies were watching), we were able to see those awarenesses (like being powerless over one's own situation) even in the presence of strong delusions
Didn't get to hear the song though. One extremely well kept young man in the yard offered to sing to us, but we had to go before he got a chance, and he was gone by the time we got back.
There is a temptation in third term to skip scheduled events (I should know), particularly since you are allowed to miss one and still get attendance credits, but definitely don't make it the hospital visit. And arrive at the bus stop early. The only reason I didn't miss it (despite giving myself enough time to catch the bus) was because as I was waiting for the bus to go TO campus to catch the ride, a little reggae bus started to scoot by and a friend of mine in my group yelled "ISHIE!!!!" out the window and got the driver to stop. Phew.
Statistics does not have similarly interesting visits, nor is the class similarly interesting, a fact lamented by many. Statistics is what it is, and is precisely what it is in undergrad: An extremely important and relevant subject that is damn near impossible to make compelling. So just prop your eyelids open, pay attention, and realize the number of times you're going to be reading medical journals where things like selection bias and study size really are critical bits of information for making informed decisions. Then, drink another cup of coffee, because you're going to need it.
Jurisprudence hasn't started yet, but it has "prudence" in the name, which means I'm probably going to fail it.
Baggage update status: A week without my luggage! Let's hear it for American for winning the "Who's gonna lose Ishie's bag for the longest period of time without any form of compensation?" competition! Woo! I've thwarted them by having the vast majority of the stuff I need either on the island already or in my carryon. They've thwarted me by having my path book for 4th term. I'm still going to convince myself that I came out ahead.
So in the minor breather that is 3rd term, particularly now that I've gotten my Sonic back up and running, what have I been doing?
Friday: Predominantly vet school party! They know how to do it up. Highlights were George's exquisitely made mojitos, real Mexican food, and an impermeable pinata (no tilda, I know) shaped like a parrot/toucan.
Best lines: "Look at the vet students beating on the bird!"
Best situation with best line: In response to inability to get more than a couple pieces of candy by repeatedly bashing the pinata until the stick broke into two pieces, and then using the sharp bit to stab the thing, heavier artillery was required:
Line shouted to attacker: "Do you want the blindfold?!"
Afterparty at Banana's. They've opened a little subbar on top of the "Carib Cave" which serves as ANOTHER bar, which combined with the one inside the club/restaurant proper, and the two inside the "Club Banana's" special area, or whatever, makes Banana's one of the few places in Grenada that you can get a drink in under a half hour. If you go to Stewart's, BYOB, holy crap.
So given that, I would do the responsible thing on Saturday, and study, right? Well... for a half hour. Then, phone call from Lori: "Wanna go to the beach?" Hell yeah.
Worth it though. Nice long swim with choppier conditions than usual, but at one point, there were DARK clouds over the mountains, the nearly full moon out in the daytime, and a rainbow completing the scene. Ahhhhh, medical school.
That also marked my first trip (after the beach) to the Food Fair in Monte Tout, which actually does have drastically reduced prices on certain goods and a better selection of meat and wine. IGA has more general stuff though, and they were well stocked on Saturday, so a good and relatively inexpensive shopping day. If you're over in the Food Fair shopping center, make sure to either get a rum/raisin or nutmeg ice cream cone from Rick's. YUM.
Today? I'm studying behavioral. No, really. It'll be at least another hour before I give up and go back to the beach.
Behavioral: Interesting, and so far, easy-peezy. I resist the soft sciences, but they keep beckoning me back. Highlight/lowlight of Behavioral Sciences so far was the mental hospital visit, also allowing for numerous jokes among family and friends about my "having to go to the mental institution", with my dad's line of "Well, don't let them keep you."
Why the mixed bag? Well, it's an underfunded mental institution, which should allow you to pretty much imagine what the low points would be. The staff seems to do their best, but the facility still has way more patients than beds, areas in desperate need of maintenance and upkeep, and a yard for the patients with an ostensible lack of things for them to do. When you go, you can hear people screaming; you can note the wear and tear, and a lot of the general misery that permeates. The overseeing doctor also explained to us that once you've been taken there once, pretty much all you have to do is sneeze to be landed right back there.
I do feel like it's a very positive educational experience. At the superficial level, you get yet another free and organized bus tour of a part of the island most of us haven't been to, but you also get to see the inner workings of the institution, talk to the patients, have an interview with one of the patients, and learn about where there are problems on the island, how they're handled, and what the social perceptions are, both of the patients and the facility itself. By talking to a patient (who was convinced that the local cable and phone companies were watching), we were able to see those awarenesses (like being powerless over one's own situation) even in the presence of strong delusions
Didn't get to hear the song though. One extremely well kept young man in the yard offered to sing to us, but we had to go before he got a chance, and he was gone by the time we got back.
There is a temptation in third term to skip scheduled events (I should know), particularly since you are allowed to miss one and still get attendance credits, but definitely don't make it the hospital visit. And arrive at the bus stop early. The only reason I didn't miss it (despite giving myself enough time to catch the bus) was because as I was waiting for the bus to go TO campus to catch the ride, a little reggae bus started to scoot by and a friend of mine in my group yelled "ISHIE!!!!" out the window and got the driver to stop. Phew.
Statistics does not have similarly interesting visits, nor is the class similarly interesting, a fact lamented by many. Statistics is what it is, and is precisely what it is in undergrad: An extremely important and relevant subject that is damn near impossible to make compelling. So just prop your eyelids open, pay attention, and realize the number of times you're going to be reading medical journals where things like selection bias and study size really are critical bits of information for making informed decisions. Then, drink another cup of coffee, because you're going to need it.
Jurisprudence hasn't started yet, but it has "prudence" in the name, which means I'm probably going to fail it.
Baggage update status: A week without my luggage! Let's hear it for American for winning the "Who's gonna lose Ishie's bag for the longest period of time without any form of compensation?" competition! Woo! I've thwarted them by having the vast majority of the stuff I need either on the island already or in my carryon. They've thwarted me by having my path book for 4th term. I'm still going to convince myself that I came out ahead.
So in the minor breather that is 3rd term, particularly now that I've gotten my Sonic back up and running, what have I been doing?
Friday: Predominantly vet school party! They know how to do it up. Highlights were George's exquisitely made mojitos, real Mexican food, and an impermeable pinata (no tilda, I know) shaped like a parrot/toucan.
Best lines: "Look at the vet students beating on the bird!"
Best situation with best line: In response to inability to get more than a couple pieces of candy by repeatedly bashing the pinata until the stick broke into two pieces, and then using the sharp bit to stab the thing, heavier artillery was required:
Line shouted to attacker: "Do you want the blindfold?!"
Afterparty at Banana's. They've opened a little subbar on top of the "Carib Cave" which serves as ANOTHER bar, which combined with the one inside the club/restaurant proper, and the two inside the "Club Banana's" special area, or whatever, makes Banana's one of the few places in Grenada that you can get a drink in under a half hour. If you go to Stewart's, BYOB, holy crap.
So given that, I would do the responsible thing on Saturday, and study, right? Well... for a half hour. Then, phone call from Lori: "Wanna go to the beach?" Hell yeah.
Worth it though. Nice long swim with choppier conditions than usual, but at one point, there were DARK clouds over the mountains, the nearly full moon out in the daytime, and a rainbow completing the scene. Ahhhhh, medical school.
That also marked my first trip (after the beach) to the Food Fair in Monte Tout, which actually does have drastically reduced prices on certain goods and a better selection of meat and wine. IGA has more general stuff though, and they were well stocked on Saturday, so a good and relatively inexpensive shopping day. If you're over in the Food Fair shopping center, make sure to either get a rum/raisin or nutmeg ice cream cone from Rick's. YUM.
Today? I'm studying behavioral. No, really. It'll be at least another hour before I give up and go back to the beach.
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