I’m not much of a study person. Asking me to write academic essays is murder on my brain cells. This has always been shown in my achievements throughout Uni life. My degrees are two very contrasting ones. The commerce degree focuses on research, statistics and analytical thinking. For my Information Systems degree, it was more a mix of technical and social technical stuff. I have always done better in technical work. Give me a programming problem and I will always, most definitely find an answer for you. Perhaps it’s the nature of the task and feedback I get that makes me excel and enjoy certain things more than others.

In academic essays, it has always been a question topic. You try and figure out what the marker wants and write accordingly. At times, due to timing constraints, or just lack of foresight, you tend to miss the critical issues a marker is looking for. Lecturers and tutors always give out tips on what to do but I always seem to come out short. The most frustrating fact I find is that I’m only given one chance at it. Feedback is always none existent until the very end when you get your mark back. There are comments but at times, these can be sketchy and even none existent. In Melbourne Uni, the system is such that subjects are separate and while you build your foundations on it, you can do a next level subject with very little knowledge of a prior topic. A 3 month semester compounds the problem as you write an essay, receive feedback and you don’t get a chance to prove your own worth until the next essay you write, which is probably in the next semester and by then, you are very much detached from what you have learnt previously and you make the same mistakes all over again.

In contrast, typical IS work (aside from the technical-social essays we need to write) involves lab work which requires me to sit in front of the computer. The only difficulty at times is to come up with the most efficient method of coding and a logical, structural layout of a system you need to design. I like my feedback and doing such programming work, I get my feedback instantaneously. Objectives are usually clearer as you have a certain criteria, knowing that your system needs to have these features and work accordingly. With programming, if the code doesn’t work, you know you’re doing something wrong immediately, and you can usually pick up a syntax and logical error easily by running through the process the code takes you through. This is not so with academic essays. You write an essay, assuming what the marker once, and at times you get really frustrated and are burdened with a sense of loss as you really can’t tell what it is you need to do. My personal problems are I can’t work properly unless I can solve the current step before I move on to the next. This linear approach is very necessary for me, for doing parellel processing in doing an assignment (eg. researching and referencing has always been a pain in the arse for me) is difficult and you lose a sense of direction. With programming work, working with the object oriented model, things are modular and you can fix up one part and not worry too much about it mucking up any other part of your code.

Obviously, there is a basis for why I’m writing this now. I just received my assignment for a topic on Singapore’s policy reforms since the Asian Financial crisis. Professor Howard Dick may be a harsh marker, but has given valid reasons for his allocation of the marks. I missed out a key issue which I should have realised earlier when writing my essay. While I did note this point, my focus on technical issues (another topic for another day) such as adhering to a word limit made my squander the opportunity to express my views on key conglomerates in Singapore. My frustration with this as I have pointed out earlier is I received this feedback too late to rectify my mistake.

I’m writing this now because I have just attended my last class for semester for the very last time. Mr Dick gave some very good advice on achieving better results. He relayed the story of doing well in first year, and only getting credits for 2nd year. He said someone had moved the goal posts at night while he was asleep as he was totally unprepared for the results he got. So he tried harder for the following semester and again, he failed to achieve the mark he hoped for. I think he finally achieved what he was hoping for later on. I guess in life we benchmark ourselves against other people’s expectations to measure how we fare in the real world. Sometimes I feel I have to live up to my expectations more than anyone elses, and I set rather impossible standards for myself at times. Heh, I do enjoy the challenge though.

No more assignment due dates, exams and regurgitation of facts. Although we have been taught to think critically, sometimes I think the system is inefficient at doing this. Core subjects, especially, feel this way, as like me, when we try to cater for every category, we end up being a jack of all trades but master or none. While the intentions are good, we don’t get what we strive to achieve.

Now it’s just looking forward to exams. My last chance to whack at an exam, so hopefully I make the best out of it.