Among my other end of semester statistical analysis, I decided to repeat my calculations relating time spent studying to prelim grades. The results from the first round of prelims (Spring 2014) led me to the conclusion that studying leads to worse grades.
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| Round 1 |
The second round of prelims not only followed the same general trend, but was even more mathematically convincing.
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| Round 2; note the R2 value |
I also took estimates of how I spent my time duing fall and spring semester of my sophomore year and made some more pie charts. If I chose my representative week correctly, in the fall Physical Chemistry I and Mass and Energy Balances were my most time consuming classes, followed by History of Science in Europe I, then Linear Algebra. That sounds about right, since History of Science had a lot of reading while Linear Algebra only had weekly problem sets that weren’t too horrible. Mass and Energy Balances didn’t feel like it took up a lot of time, but I guess it did between lecture, recitation, problem sets, and the occasional project. P-chem I had less class time, but more “why isn't Mathematica working?” time.
In the spring, Fluid Mechanics won the “which class is eating my life?” award, though Biomolecular Engineering and Physical Chemistry II were close contenders. Physical Chemistry Lab, a two credit class, still took almost twice as much time as Introductory Macroeconomics, a three credit class.
A more general analysis led to the calculation that there was a 22% increase in the amount of time I spent in course-related activities (lecture, problem sets, etc.) from 32.25 hours in the fall to 39.58 hours in the spring. I also managed to get about 2.75 hours more sleep during spring semester, but lost 9.6 hours of other activities. Which would explain why I sadly missed most of the pep band events in the last couple months of classes.
We’ll see what fall brings.
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