Mouser = Happy Boy.

(tentatively, pending the outcome of the faculty meeting to discuss how much i blow next wednesday)

So, for the past 20 years, Chen's 22.51 questions have been selected from a pool of about 6 questions. If you could memorize the solutions to those questions, you basically had it made. The material is so difficult that the memorization technique is generally the one used by everyone.

Last year was particularly humorous because the question was identical from the previous year. But, of course, my year is the year Chen decides to throw a new question into the mix. Van Hove correllation functions for condensed matter. Ugh.

I think everyone who relied on memorization got screwed on this question. Luckily, I have a supergenius for a roommate and he and I spent the last week going over the concepts. Evan said, and I quote, "There are three Van Hove problems, but you'll only ever see [perfect gas and harmonic oscillator]. The third one [condensed matter] has never appeared in his exams or problem sets." Luckily, though, the Van Hove problems are all similar. I suspect I got about 50% on that question, and I probably set the curve.

As for the 22.55, it was trivial. My outlook for passing is now nearly certain. The faculty meets on Wednesday, look at the scores, and then bargain over who they'll pass. Barring a disaster there, I'm golden.

And now, at last, I'm going to sleep. For a long, long time.