Beyond Midterms

I’ve been reading the bulletin board for my thermodynamics class. You can ‘hear’ the angst as my fellow students write about their midterm grades. Another brutal test.

Though I’ve been doing very well, I commiserate. The course is difficult. The tests are worse.

This is pretty representative of what’s been posted:

Upon taking the midterm, did anyone else get the feeling that, “It wasn’t that I didn’t study, but I guess I studied the wrong stuff”? I must have spent a total of three hours trying to grasp Entropy, and my edition of the midterm didn’t contain one question about the concept.

As it stands now, at least half the class is in jeopardy of flunking or not getting a sufficient grade to receive certification. It’s tough to watch that happen after 7.5 semesters of a 9 semester course. We really are approaching the home stretch.

Meteorologists, graduates of on-site meteorology schools, often complain about the MSU online curriculum – how it’s not up to par. Nothing could be farther from the truth. This is a very trying course of study. As prep for on-camera weather people (which is its primary purpose) it is so far beyond what is necessary as to be laughable.

I’m glad I’m taking it. I’ll do well. Unfortunately, the certificate I’ll get when I’m done, and the AMS seal I’ll try and get after that, really don’t answer the questions they claim to ask.

The AMS used to give a seal to broadcasters solely based on their on-air performance. Is it scientifically correct? Does it properly serve the public?

That has changed. The seal now is just a way to lessen the competition by those who already have it. It’s really the Meteorologists Full Employment Act of 1980.