Midterm thoughts

At this point in the semester, with 8 weeks under our belts we have presently completed 7 discussion posts along with at least two comments on a peer's initial post, we have evaluated ourselves  and our adherence to what is expected as outlined in the rubric for weeks 3 & 4, we have completed a genogram project, a brief narrative outlining how that experience was for us, and have also submitted our resumes. We have progressed to reviewing for the midterm in terms of a wiki project in which we were responsible to making contributions that would be beneficial for not only our personal preparations and studying  but also for the benefit of our peers. 

For this week, I thought it appropriate to discuss my own preparation for the midterm and the midterm itself. As some of my peers have already commented, the preparation for the midterm was not easy. I personally found it difficult to "teach myself" over 4 chapters of information along with the theories posed in various articles assigned throughout the semester up until this point. The context of this class, being the majority online also poses another challenge as it limits us in a way of personal interaction, actual conversation and learning from each other in that way that is difficult to mock in an online space. 

Walking into the midterm, I felt unprepared, despite an estimated 7+ hours of studying for this exam. Also, personally, I have been going through some things that have limited perhaps my total intake of the material. On the day of the exam, I had not known, or forgotten the time of the exam. While I made it in time, I was somewhat panicked because I just happened to look at my planner that showed the time of the exam, whereas I thought it was at 5:30. Though, this is at no fault but my own, it caused some anxiety that may have impacted my performance on the exam. Having not met in person all these weeks, perhaps a reminder would have proved helpful. 

Similar to my peers, I will express my thoughts that the wiki project would have been much more helpful had it been a complete "blank slate" for us to add to and create ourselves, rather than a cultivation of years of students working on it that really left nothing else to be done. Furthermore, it made it seem overwhelming. Reading through that amount of material made revisions and updates a daunting task. 

The questions on the midterm were extremely challenging. I did not know what to expect and I wish that I would have had more practice with actually applying these theories, as that was the majority of the test. The discussions we have been writing over the past weeks, have mostly been asking us to discuss the degree to which we identify with certain topics or points of theories. I think that if we would had class in person, perhaps a week or two prior to the exam, this could have alleviated the problem.  

I am not thrilled with the grade I received. If given a second chance, I know that I could do much better than I did.