What I learned from the first test

I'm almost done grading the first test I gave to my class and I'm feeling pretty good about it. Looking through the results has certainly given me some good insight into the class and what they are getting from the lectures. Points I can take away:

Almost all of the students were distributed in a decent way across the grade spectrum, suggesting I got the difficulty pretty close to right.

I was surprised to see what concepts or bits of information were universally understood and remembered, verses those which were not.

I did, however, have a good feel for which questions were lobs and which were fastballs.

Despite several hints that certain topics would be on the exam, not all of the students bothered to study those topics.

Some students who appear to be barely paying attention did much better than I expected.

Some who seem to really be paying attention did much worse.

Overall, the students are remembering most of the main concepts I am trying to get across. This feels like a small victory for me and some reinforcement that I'm on the right track in teaching them.

Now, after a brief break on the lecture front, I need to start my lecture for tomorrow.
Dude. Fuck. Sigh.