I’m sure, as busy students with many simultaneous responsibilities, we all recognize that sometimes, not every plan translates into action. Well - story of my life. At the turn of the new year, I posted a number of things I planned to accomplish this IAP.

And now, I’m going to practice saying goodbye to Pass-No Record and start embracing real grades (ABC’s) for the 2nd semester. I'm going to grade my IAP.

The following is a hypothetical but unembellished report card. ‚ò∫

*click

Let’s see – 3 F’s and 2 C’s? What!!! Second-semester can’t be like this!

Okay, so the report card was just for fun, but the serious question to ask is: Where did all the glorious IAP time go? This seems to be a popular question popping up on Facebook statuses lately. For me, 18.02A was the obvious culprit, but I can't help but mention some other preoccupations that edged into those rare un-mathematical intervals of time.

To start:

I had never realized that my gummy vitamins were bear-shaped, that my Tupperware was microwave-safe, and that those green furry soybeans are called edamames

But then I learned, and now my food/grocery awareness improved just a little bit; still can't get over how exotic edamame sounds.

I didn’t plan on getting this bruise, and several others:

But then I did, and surprisingly I'm loving Taekwondo more and more everyday - despite the customary twinkling of fear before each practice. Taekwondo during IAP sucked up nearly 9 hours every week, but thank god for it I'm pulling my weight in getfit@mit. With every sore leg, bruised foot, and scratched elbow, I feel it's harder and harder to turn back and say "I don't want to do this anymore". And about that, I'm very excited.

I didn’t know there was a mulberry tree a little farther up Charles River:

But then I found one. One morning before calculus lecture, I power-walked along the Charles to put in some minutes for getfit@mit. I was happy to find that near the Boston University bridge, there are a couple of mulberry trees in a little park-like setting right next to an industrial overpass. This was an interesting find, precisely because I want to study the intersection between architecture and urban planning that improves the look, feel, and functionality of every precious space in the modern city.

It feels good to rematerialize the bygone times.
--
Anyways, I gathered from this IAP that planning well and aiming high is really important - but prioritizing at the right times could be critical. If 18.02A was a fail, I would probably be freaking out under a pillow right now.

But it wasn't - so Happy February!

Comments (Closed after 30 days to reduce spam)

FIRST

Posted by: YAY on February 1, 2010

Second in posting useless comments

Posted by: Morteza on February 1, 2010

FOURTH!!11!1!1one!11!!eleven!1!11!111

Posted by: anon on February 1, 2010

3rd
hee hee hee hee hee!!!

Posted by: anon on February 1, 2010

Soybeans remembered me soymeats which are not healthy as they are said...Your IAP was not healthy for you as it was said...We understood this because you started loving bruises as a masochist and your report card is not shining lol :D Next year on IAP please just go your hometown and relax otherwise you can be jigsaw :D

Excluding all my cold jokes above,I loved this IAP thing... :D

Posted by: Zeki('14?) on February 1, 2010

No A+??? lol jking. At least it's a diverse card. Umm well yeah i know how it feels when time just disappears into nowhere. It sucks. Time to get back on the bandwagon though. Good luck mate.

Posted by: Brad on February 1, 2010

that's okay, jenny, your room is still more colourful than mine!

Posted by: kat on February 1, 2010

Why was 18.02A so difficult? I'm pretty positive that I'll get a 4 or a 5 on AP AB so if by some grace I'm accepted and decide to drink the MIT fire hose i'd like to hear why it's so difficult. Is it just a lot of difficult psets or what?

How is accelerated Calculus including the 18.01A portion?

Posted by: Jer '14 on February 1, 2010

@Zeki - i just want to clarify by "healthy reflections" i mean the act of reflecting on past time is healthy, not necessarily that what i did was all healthy. Yeah, iap is too swell.

@Brad - yeahh thanks! it's going to be quite a ride.

@kat - i just changed my sheets today; even more colourful. and i picked up on the colo"ur".

@ Jer - 18.02A was especially difficult for me because my pre-calc and ap calc background was rather weak; I just don't like doing math. I had gotten a 4 on AP AB, but I think the difficulty of 18.02A was ...really getting into a problem-solving mode - there's a heavy emphasis on applications rather than just integrating. High school calculus foundation is critical, because I think common sense (cleverness) in MIT intro math courses goes a long way.

The 18.01A-18.02A sequence isn't so "accelerated" in my opinion. It feels like a regular class if you are indeed in the "between 18.02 and 18.01" level. Good luck with everything!

Posted by: Jenny'13 on February 1, 2010

Well, as long as you're happy with how it went that's all that matters.
The most important thing I see in your report card is 'learning to adopt a 'can do' attitude', confidence is a great thing.

Posted by: Ammar'14 on February 2, 2010

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