The my first midterm did not go so well. I have class on Thursday nights, so the Thursday night of the week of the midterm I went to the vaguely described test location and waited. And waited. No one came. I was panicked - the worst part of it was that my Prof. the genius did not specify a room for the exam, he simply told us what wing of the school it would be in. This made it necessary to peek my head into about 25 classrooms trying to discern whether my algebra exam was taking place in any one of them. I was usually greeted with awkward stares or giggles, which didn't help my mood. Eventually I gave up. Only after online at home did I find out the exam was scheduled for not Thursday, but Saturday. Who knew.
When Saturday did roll around my cab driver, thanks to my lack of Cantonese) decided to take me to Hong Kong station rather than Hung Hom station - during rush hour. I then had to convince another cabby to take me across town in heavy traffic so I could get to my exam. I finally did make, though I was a hour hour late for a 90 minute exam, and had neglected to bring a calculator. I had assumed when my Prof. mumbled something about calculators the previous week he was saying they were not allowed. Apparently not, every other student was armed with a TI-83 or better.
A few weeks later when we got the exams back the stresses of exam day and my lack of calculator had their toll. I did manage to pass. Thanks to my fellow classmates, the average for the exam was a 48. I scooted in with a 39. Not so good. I'd have to do a lot better on the second midterm if I was going to get a C or better in the class.
I'm guessing not many of you know Gilbert Strang, unless you're a math major at MIT the chances are 1 in 6 billion. Gil is a Prof. at MIT and he wrote the text book on linear algebra. He is a great man, especially because he loves linear algebra so very much. Unfortunately, he has almost nothing in common with my Linear Algebra Prof here at Hong Kong Polytechnic. My Prof. here was kind enough to refer us to a website where one can find video recordings of Prof. Strang's linear algebra class in its entirety. Despite the setbacks of low res web video, these recorded class sessions proved to be extremely valuable. IThe day before the second midterm was like that scene in Matrix where Neo gets all the programs loaded into his brain - after nearly 8 hours straight of MIT linear algebra, I closed my laptop, rubbed my eyes, and said to myself 'I know Linear Algebra'. I wish Gil had been here to respond with 'Show me'. He wasn't here, I'm guessing he lives in Cambridge, but the following day when I took the exam he was with me in spirit. I haven't gotten the results back yet but I'm pretty sure I did alright.What was most amazing about this whole thing is that normally in every math class I've been in (in the past 4 years) as soon as the Prof. starts talking I'm asleep. It's like a self defense mechanism against learning math. Some how these videos kept my attention. The idea that it might have been the very fact that it WAS a video that kept me awake says a lot about my dependency on screens eh? I think it had more to do with just what a good teacher Prof. Strang is. Not only did I stay awake but I was actually looking forward to the 'next episode'. It'd be great if more skilled teachers could be captured and distributed this way, I think it'd be a real service both to students and to the names of the universities they work for.
That' all for now. Thanks again Gil.
