Good sign or bad sign?

In preparation for the beginning of our "Clinical Sciences II" course on Monday, I put the class notes into a couple binders and checked out the syllabus to see what assignments and exams I needed to get on my calendar.

(It's actually much less stuff than we had for Clinical Sciences I during the first half of the semester, which is a relief. That first class was intense.)

We have 3 take-home, open-book, open-note, work-with-your-classmates "problem sets" that are due at various points during the semester. Two years ago, when I came to look at this vet school, I sat in on an hour or two of ClinSci II lectures and I remember seeing some of the homework problems.... they looked challenging, to say the least.

We also have 2 open-note, in-class exams. Open-note = awesome. In-class = pros and cons. Pros: it's often nice to have actual class time set aside for an exam, as opposed to having to take it during your own free time while you are still in class for the usual number of hours that week. Cons: I have really gotten to like the online exams, specifically the freedom to take them whenever you want; also, the online exams usually don't have a time limit so there is no pressure to get them done in a one or two hour period.

Although I think it will be great that all of our graded material is open-note, that also has me worried a little bit. ClinSci I was all GI/liver disease, and ClinSci II is all respiratory and cardiac medicine. Which, if it's anything like our basic intro to resp/card physiology during freshman year, will be ugly.

Plus it's bumped up to 11 hours a week instead of 10 like pre-spring break. On the other hand, the syllabus states that "the emphasis will be on self- and group-learning and problem solving, rather than memorization of facts." Which I approve of. As long as that's actually how things play out.

Oh well, in any case it's nice to continue to learn relevant and applicable information! Even if it does make my brain hurt...

8 weeks till I'm halfway through vet school!