When we last left our hero, Ash, he was riding high on a wave of academic excellence. This week, we join our hero as he is taking his third General Chemistry exam.
Ash is handed his exam; he had this to say: "Shit."
A swelling nervousness began to pervade his body. Ash took a long drink of his industrial-strength coffee and said, “Okay, Bowen. You put in the hours, you know the material, and you can work the problems. This is no sweat.”
The professor cast a menancing look over the classroom. "Who’s talking in the back of the class. Is that you, Bowen?"
Our hero, who cannot tell a lie (except when faced with a bar tab), said, “Yes.”
The professor cut his eyes, and said, “Well, shut up!” So that’s what Ash did.
He silently took one minute and read over all the problems. He repeated his mantra of “Hang tough, dude” and decided to work the test from back to front, deciding that he should conquer the harder problems before mental fatigue began setting in.
After working 15 problems, the evil professor announced, “15 minutes left.”
Our hero then panics. He manages to work another ten problems before he is the last person sitting in the classroom. The yellow-toothed professor stands over our hero’s desk and growls, "Time. Hand in your paper now or don’t turn it in at all!"
Our beloved hero is forced to submit his answers with five unanswered questions. He quickly performs the math, and realizes that the best score he can possibly make is an 80.
Later that day, when the scores are posted, our hero has made a 76. This is little consolation. Upon getting the test back, our hero learns he made a simple mistake. He found the reducing reagent but inadvertently marked the wrong answer on his Scantron. Drats!
Anyway, I’m off tonight to take my microbiology exam. Then I’m coming home and having some Girl Scout Cookies and watching some tube. It’s been a hell of a week, and I can’t wait for next week, which is spring break. Forecast: Rainy and cold. Oy.
too funny (and too true) Ash -
last Dec, I took my Comp Physio of Exercise final - everything was fine until I got to the calculations section - and I blanked completely on 2 core formulas - I had practiced them just the night before too 
but my mind was empty - I did the rest of the exam and then returned to that section. Still nothing. I stared at the chalk board for about 45-50 mins of the 2 hr final, hoping to visualize the formula sheet I knew so well - but to no avail. I just had to soldier on, fill in my exam with phrases like "if I could remember the xyz formula, I’d use it here to calculate Y - and then go on to use Y in the rest of the problem.
good luck in micro - remember, purple=positive - or is it pink=positive 
you'll always be my hero, Ash…bummer about the test on one hand…on the other hand, it just goes to show how darn capable you are! What's your favorite Girl Scout cookie flavor?
| QUOTE (gschimma @ Mar 6 2003, 08:43 PM) |
| you'll always be my hero, Ash...bummer about the test on one hand...on the other hand, it just goes to show how darn capable you are! |
That's a tough one. Last year it was the Tag-Alongs. I ordered four boxes of them this year only to find out that I wasn't as crazy about them as before. This year I'm pretty struck by the Ole' Ole', and they're reduced fat!
The Samoas are awfully tasty, too.
| QUOTE (LisaS @ Mar 6 2003, 01:07 AM) |
| - and I blanked completely on 2 core formulas - I had practiced them just the night before too |
For all who haven't heard this already, or don't know it... Dr. William Dement, guru of Sleep Research (who also happenes to teach at Stanford, and in particular a fabulous course called Sleep and Dreams) teaches this about studying:
(paraphrased) Do NOT go to sleep within an hour or so of studying. All that information will not go into long term memory, and you won't remember it very well (if at all) after waking up.
[Whatever chemical reactions have to take place need time.]
FWIW. Works for me...if I'm reading and then fall asleep, I have to nearly begin over again. :-(
Cheers,
Judy