For the second midterm, I was very well prepared. This was my last and 8th midterm, and in a course I have found very interesting and enjoyable, so I at least wanted to do better than I did in my last midterm, which was a very realistic goal to me.
It took quite some time to read the paper the first time. The number of experiments surprised me at first, and I did not see the reason for including all the experiments in the figures. Went I started making notes about the individual experiments, and read the paper more carefully, I saw a clear connection and a chronological presentation of data. My notes were very detailed and organized in a way so I quickly could look up my own interpretations of the data during the midterm. That I had picked up from the questions to the practice midterm available, which were asking primarily for interpretations by the student, and not interpretations written by the authors in the paper.
I was happy to learn that I prepared well for this midterm. I wanted to write answers to all the questions and I knew from the previous midterm that I should spend my time carefully. I was able to write detailed answers to all the questions, except one. When I received the result, I was happily surprised that I exceeded my goal for this midterm. This was not entirely unexpected since we had been working a lot with interpretation in class, and I had come up with some good suggestions and conclusions, so I knew I was on the right track.