Wednesday, October 19, 2005

Getting Rattled

I’ll admit to getting a jolly out of taking awful looking algebra problems and getting an answer like “x = 2.” For the most part, I’d have to say that algebra is probably my favorite class this semester…until it comes to taking tests. Mrs. P is kind enough to schedule the tests on a Tuesday or a Thursday because the class period is 25 minutes longer than the other three days of the week.

We had our second test yesterday, and when I got it back today, I was, quite frankly, disappointed with myself. Oh, it wasn’t like I flunked it or even came close to it. The TA sits next to me and heard me groan about my grade and said, “You got an A, and you’re disappointed with it?”

All right, so I got an A, but it was a low A. I really was capable of doing better than I did, but I got rattled halfway thru the test and proceeded to do pure brain-hiccup kind of stuff. The thing that rattled me was a fractional equation. I had multiplied everything by the LCD to get rid of the fraction and had solved the whole problem when I discovered that I had missed seeing a measly “–1” on the end of the problem, which completely ruined the whole thing. It was a rather large problem that had to be erased entirely and started over.

At that point, I began to get mildly panicky because I had so far to go on the test and redoing that problem would really set me back. I reworked the problem and it ended up not factoring, forcing me to use the quadratic formula to get a solution. I was not satisfied with how it turned out, but rather than waste more time on the problem, I went on with the test and planned to look back over it if I had more time.

I finished the test with 15 minutes to spare and started checking it over from the beginning. About halfway down the first page, I discovered I had missed a problem completely. I completed it, but it left me wondering just what all I had missed that my blind eyes couldn’t see.

I went back to the original Rattler and began looking it over. Sure enough, I had subtracted an “X” where I should have added it. I erased major portions of the problem for a second time and reworked it for a third time. This time it factored nicely and I was much happier with it. Just before I handed the test in, I noticed that my answer included one of the restrictions. I wildly scanned the problem again to make sure I hadn’t done anything wrong before erasing half of my answer, which left me with a negative fraction as my answer. That wasn’t much comfort either.

While I did end up getting the Rattler correct, I didn’t have enough time to check over many of the other problems, so I didn’t catch all of the negative signs that I let mess with my head nor did I catch all the times I forgot to use the distributive property, etc. I won’t be able to get a real good look at it until tomorrow because one student had to take it today and so we only got to glance at the tests today.

I’m very thankful that I managed to scrape by with an A. Had the test been extremely difficult, maybe (but kinda doubtful) I wouldn’t be so hard on myself. I guess it all comes down to keeping your cool.

4 Comments:

At 2:44 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Whats going on? Are we haveing a case of writers block? Its been awile since you've updated!:] Cin

 
At 2:50 PM, Blogger Sharon said...

No writers block. I've got probably about a dozen things I'd like to post, but I'm swamped with homework and simply do not have time.

But hey, it got a comment out of you!

 
At 8:25 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Aren't you glad the holidays are coming up or will you still have a heavy load?

 
At 8:33 PM, Blogger Sharon said...

I am so living for December 16th, the last day of this semester. I considered taking the winter semester, Jan 2-20, but the very thought taking classes til the 20th and then starting the spring semester the following Monday...I just couldn't take it.

I'm thinking of becoming a professional vegetable. If I could just figure out how to make it pay...

 

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