do we still do our best?

The worst thing about getting prepared for exams is not the revision or the reading up of text but the fact that it's either open book or closed book. Most people are very happy to have an open book exam - which probably would work for any studying subject - but when it comes to something like stats, it really doesn't matter anymore. You either know how to do manual calculations or you don't - there is no other way of looking at it.

Most times, I prefer closed book, simply because the questions arising from the understanding is rather fundamental. However, when it's open book - anything under the sun could be incorporated, and it's not how much time you've spent studying, but you must understand how formulas are derived. In the age of information technology, where researchers use softwares for various calculations and graphing, is there a need to be examined on this subject? All we basically need to know in practicality is where to put what on the spreadsheet. But because this is graduate school, we needed to go further into stats and hence my predicament. I have spent more time on this module than I have on all the rest and given that, I am sure, I will not return more than a credit, that's reason enough for me to not favour stats, a necessary evil. If I had put in the same amount of time in something else, it would have secured me the very sought after distinction. The other subject which didn't fair well with me was Assessment - something also involving numbers - perhaps, when I see a string of them, I get put off - too tedious because I have run out of patience in my being. All other modules worked out better than assessment, considering, I hardly did much studying at all, relying mostly on tutorials and just reading - I scored better in all of them without much effort - I say that because this is a part-time programme and we all work the greater part of the day.

I'm not giving excuses, but just that the past 2 months have made me feel like a full-time student and I just know that it'll be credit.

So do we still do our best, when we more or less know the outcome, based on historical records?

Yes we do, because we have put in too much money and it will affect the direction thereafter.