So progress is possible ...
Darwin was right; evolution does occur. He just forgot to mention that it takes a whole lot of work to make it happen.
I'd already gone on a bit about the AP Government and Politics final exam, but since all grades are finally on the table now and have made me a reasonably happy person, I shall blather on about it one last time.
The evolution process starts with the first practice objective exam, on which I get, of all the infuriating things, the highest 4 (on the 1 to 5 AP scale) possible. So close, yet so far. No sweat, I think, I forgot to study, that's all. It's just practice, and besides, I consistently got high grades on all of my other tests.
Second practice objective. Studied for it. SAME EXACT SCORE. Now I'm worried. Even a bunch of non-stellar students are kicking my butt at this.
I waste a weekend on two more practice tests from my AP Gov test prep book. High 4, borderline 5, not exactly what I'm hoping for. I get upset, desperate, tearful, a little emotionally teetery, and study my rear off amid the waterworks.
The night before the real final, I take the last practice test in my prep book. Reasonably solid 5, and I'm feeling slightly better -- except that I haven't studied for ANY of the essays, which could be based on ANY of the sixty-some topics the teacher gave us. And I stay up past three thirty in the morning even without that, since AP Spanish and AP Literature/Composition also decided that AP Gov final day would be a nice day to schedule their tests, too.
It doesn't take more than rubbing a couple of brain cells together to figure out what I was cramming the afternoon before the final.
The final arrives. 6:30 to 9:00 at night, nonstop multiple choice and essays. Everyone present is either laughing hysterically in despair or hyperventilating. I am declaring to all of my skeptical friends that I am "cool as a cucumber" -- even as I observe that my hands are shaking like wind-up toys. *sigh* Ah, overwrought high school seniors ... gotta love us.
Moving on. My teacher zaps the multiple choice scantrons, totals up scores, and informs me that I received the second highest score. I nearly faint with shock and joy in front of his desk -- but, realizing that doing so might cause some inconvenience for the good teacher, I decide to refrain.
Today, at long last, the finalized grades are posted. Wonder of all wonders, I got the top grade out of BOTH classes, and received perfect scores across the board on all four of my essays, to boot.
I'd only barely been retaining my spot as #1 in my AP Gov class before, so this makes me feel considerably more secure.
To all of the misery and self-doubt and annoying tears that have previously plagued me -- put THAT in your pipe and smoke it. And to my mother, who pressured me to put in all that extra practice, and offered to buy me ten MORE test prep books if that was what it would take to get me that 5 -- thank you, oh thank you, and please don't ever put me through that again; I don't think I could survive it a second time around.
... Oh, wait, but I will have to do this again, once National Exams roll around in May. Tsk, dash it all. Oh well, I can at least savor my happiness while it lasts, no?
And THAT, one and all, is evolution: going around in self-defeating circles for the entertainment of higher learning, much like a hamster on a wheel. Ah, but I do love hamsters.
I'd already gone on a bit about the AP Government and Politics final exam, but since all grades are finally on the table now and have made me a reasonably happy person, I shall blather on about it one last time.
The evolution process starts with the first practice objective exam, on which I get, of all the infuriating things, the highest 4 (on the 1 to 5 AP scale) possible. So close, yet so far. No sweat, I think, I forgot to study, that's all. It's just practice, and besides, I consistently got high grades on all of my other tests.
Second practice objective. Studied for it. SAME EXACT SCORE. Now I'm worried. Even a bunch of non-stellar students are kicking my butt at this.
I waste a weekend on two more practice tests from my AP Gov test prep book. High 4, borderline 5, not exactly what I'm hoping for. I get upset, desperate, tearful, a little emotionally teetery, and study my rear off amid the waterworks.
The night before the real final, I take the last practice test in my prep book. Reasonably solid 5, and I'm feeling slightly better -- except that I haven't studied for ANY of the essays, which could be based on ANY of the sixty-some topics the teacher gave us. And I stay up past three thirty in the morning even without that, since AP Spanish and AP Literature/Composition also decided that AP Gov final day would be a nice day to schedule their tests, too.
It doesn't take more than rubbing a couple of brain cells together to figure out what I was cramming the afternoon before the final.
The final arrives. 6:30 to 9:00 at night, nonstop multiple choice and essays. Everyone present is either laughing hysterically in despair or hyperventilating. I am declaring to all of my skeptical friends that I am "cool as a cucumber" -- even as I observe that my hands are shaking like wind-up toys. *sigh* Ah, overwrought high school seniors ... gotta love us.
Moving on. My teacher zaps the multiple choice scantrons, totals up scores, and informs me that I received the second highest score. I nearly faint with shock and joy in front of his desk -- but, realizing that doing so might cause some inconvenience for the good teacher, I decide to refrain.
Today, at long last, the finalized grades are posted. Wonder of all wonders, I got the top grade out of BOTH classes, and received perfect scores across the board on all four of my essays, to boot.
I'd only barely been retaining my spot as #1 in my AP Gov class before, so this makes me feel considerably more secure.
To all of the misery and self-doubt and annoying tears that have previously plagued me -- put THAT in your pipe and smoke it. And to my mother, who pressured me to put in all that extra practice, and offered to buy me ten MORE test prep books if that was what it would take to get me that 5 -- thank you, oh thank you, and please don't ever put me through that again; I don't think I could survive it a second time around.
... Oh, wait, but I will have to do this again, once National Exams roll around in May. Tsk, dash it all. Oh well, I can at least savor my happiness while it lasts, no?
And THAT, one and all, is evolution: going around in self-defeating circles for the entertainment of higher learning, much like a hamster on a wheel. Ah, but I do love hamsters.