My theory exams ended on 14th November and I had my practical vivas on 16th and 17th November. That officially puts an end to my third semester in college. The 3rd semester was really fun for many reasons. I got to live the life of a senior in college. I studied subjects that actually had something to do with IT. This was my first semester with a laptop with me. Noesis was a great experience and bagging the 2nd prize was cherry on the cake. Uploading Data Structures sessionals on my blog and minor question papers was yet another fun part of the semester. IT was the only branch that shared soft copies of sessionals and question papers online. This semester, I got the opportunity to make the master copy of a couple of DS sessionals which is something I've done only for Computer Programming in the 2nd semester. Teaching my friends Digital Electronics and Data Structures was another part of 3rd semester that I enjoyed (makes me feel I can apply for the post of a contract faculty in college ). Although the semester has ended, I'm going to stay in Bhopal for a few days to check my Majors marks and to beg each teacher to convert my 78s to 81s to get a higher grade. I also have some other work to do so I'll be going back to Delhi by 25th or probably by the end of the month.

This semester, the 2 subjects that bothered me the most were Network Theory and Electronic Devices and Circuits (EDC). The answer sheets of both of these subjects have been evaluated and I managed to get 48/60 in Network Theory and 50.5/60 in EDC. That gives me a grade point of at least 8 in both these subjects. I managed to get over 2 big hurdles, now I need to do the same with 4 small ones.

There were some issues with the LAN in the 2nd year hostels during the exams and a few days before it. So I had to use my phone to connect to the internet for a few days. This was the reason I couldn't download Ubuntu 9.10 for a few days. I finally did download Ubuntu Karmic when the the LAN issues were sorted out sometime during the exams. More about Ubuntu and probably OpenSUSE 11.2 in later posts. For now, I just need to convert 78s to 81s

I'm glad that I didn't write things like "don't expect too many posts" in my last post. This post is about a subject, a subject that has been bothering me for the last four months or so. I've already named the subject so no points for guessing, I'm talking about Network theory. A subject that is all about playing around with electrical circuits and networks. Well, IT students don't really have much to do with Network Theory so I had very little interest in the subject.

When my 3rd semester commenced in July, Network Theory lectures were free for a week as no teacher was alloted. That was probably the best week in college for someone who attends classes regularly. Once Network theory lectures started, there was nothing more boring than it. I don't want to blame anyone for it, so I guess I should blame the subject for this. My memories of Network theory lectures have an image of a class pretending as if everyone is understanding every bit of what is being taught. I spent most of the lectures calling every person in class hoping that their phone rings in class . I was successful twice, thanks to my classmates who forget to set their phones to silent mode before class. Network Theory lectures were like 50 minute endurance tests.

As far as exams are concerned, I didn't find the subject too tough but I know nobody who can confidently say that he's good at Network Theory. Network theory was always the first exam (in both the Minors and the Majors) so that gave me ample time to prepare but due to the nature of the subject I found it a little tough to score well. I had my Network theory Major today and it went pretty well. The questions were easy and most probably I bid a really sweet farewell to a horrifying subject. I'm really glad that I won't have to study Network Theory ever again (still left with practicals though) and finally I can say goodbye to Network Theory.

PS- I managed to score 48/60 in the Majors and an overall score of 74/100 (B grade-8 pointer) which is really good for a subject I dreaded.

My 3rd semester in college is about to come to an end. My majors start tomorrow. The next two weeks (at least the next 3 days) are gonna be hectic. Here's the time table-

3rd November- Network Analysis
5th November-Electronic Devices and Circuits
7th November-Numerical Analysis
10th November-Digital Electronics
12th November-Discrete Structures
14th November-Data Structures

The first two are the ones I'm worried about. Rest of them are pretty simple and live up to the reputation of IT subjects . I'm not sure about the practicals time table as yet but most probably the practicals will be over by 18th November. This year, the majors contribute to 60% of the overall grade (used to be 40% earlier) which makes it more important to score. I can cover up for the minors I messed up.

I won't write things like don't expect too many posts because I generally end up contradicting myself and update my blog regularly during exams. One thing I've learnt is that being busy is just an excuse for not updating your blog when you have nothing to write. Anyways, got to study now, so I'll cut this post short, wish me luck.