Monday, October 19, 2009

First Day of Class

178 days remaining
Mood – Even
Study Time – 4 hours (5.5 total)
Sections Taken/Passed:  none/none 

I sat through the first class tonight.  It was 4 long hours.  I found the building without too much trouble (I have no sense of direction).  The people were friendly and had answers to the million questions I've had for a couple of weeks.  The chairs are pretty comfy, although after 4 hours nothing is comfy.  The room got a bit warm halfway through and it was distracting.  The lectures themselves mostly involved going page by page through the book and highlighting a third of it (they provided a nice highlighter) and adding cross-references and other minor notes in other places.  While this doesn't strike me as a valuable use of my time (I pre-read the material in an hour and a half), they are the ones that have been doing this for decades, not me.  Class got out right at 10 pm.  It has been a long time since I've been mentality engaged for that long of a time at that level and it is tiring.  I'll hit up the lecture simulation tomorrow that we didn't cover in class as well as the multiple choice questions.

Other side information I learned.  Starting in January 2011 the BEC portion of the test will include a written component.  The written component in the other three sections is being removed (still have simulations, just not written part).  This is just one more reason to pass these things on the first round.  Also, the thoughts of me finishing the class and sitting for the exam before the next class between January and February got a pretty sever beat down.  There are people in this class that still have a week before they sit for the classes that ended at the end of September.  I wonder if I can just endure pain and suffering and take some days off work to make up for it?  Although, the people I spoke to were taking substantial time off work as well and taking several weeks.  This was the one real negative that I got tonight.  I really can't do much to change it though, so I'll just have to ignore it until closer to January.  I still think starting my studying in December will let me squeeze by.

On a side note, the wife is still sick.  Off to the showers and bed for me.  Tomorrow we get the first crack at my self-discipline and commitment.

3 comments:

  1. Have you created a study plan or something? Or just taking the classes will be enough?

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  2. My current plan as described in my initial post is:
    Modnay: 6pm-10pm class (4 hours)
    Tuesday: 6:30-9:30 homework questions & study(3 hours)
    Wednesday: 6pm-10pm class (4 hours)
    Thursday: 6:30-9:30 homework questions & study (3 hours)
    Friday: relaxation and/or time with wife/friends
    Saturday: 4 hours (2 sessions?) simulation and other study (4 hours)
    Sunday: 4 hours (2 sessions?) simulation and other study (4 hours)

    This gives me 14 hours of study on top of 8 hours of class (plus some time I can squeeze in at lunch). It is less than the 30-35 per week total they recommend in the book, but is within the 1.5-2 hours of self study per hour of class I've also heard them reference.

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  3. On a side note, thank you for taking the time to comment. Outside of a few friends I didn't think anyone would see this before I got close to the end, let alone actually comment.

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