Skip to main content

"Rory got a D!"

Rory, for those of you who are not acquainted with my Gilmore Girls obsession, is a brilliant student who never received a grade lower than an "A". Low and behold, she was accepted to a highly competitive school. Her first assignment was returned to her with a big fat "D" on the front page. She was devastated.

I did not receive a "D", but I did get an 88 on a test that I could have gotten a 100 on. It was for a history class, and it was a take-home test. When I received my test back I was, of course, furious. How dare the professor criticize my writing? I am an A student! He's dumb! Blah blah blah. I worked myself up to a wonderful harangue, and started using imaginative language. Then the Orclette started repeating some of what I was saying, and I calmed myself down.

The reason I had so many points taken off is that I used quotations from the book and from the lesson. I think I should get extra points for remembering what the professor said in class, to the letter. The professor does not like his students using quotes, however. He wants his students to read the information, absorb it, then spit it back out in their own words. For the most part, that's what I did. I just added a few pertinent quotes. Other students, however, were apparently copying and pasting their answers. I think my grade was significantly higher than theirs.

So, today in class, we received a very no-bones lecture about how our tests were to be written. I find myself wondering why he didn't spell it out like that before the test. I reviewed my notes, wondering if he had and I had forgotten, but I have nothing. I do have instructions on how to cite my answers, which had led me to believe I could use quotes. Bah.

My biggest complaint is that different professors want different things. Every other semester my professors have loved my inclusion of quotations. They have loved the way I thought through everything. They didn't really pay attention to grammar, because they weren't English teachers. That bit me in the butt, too. My grammar was ripped apart. My personal experience, which I had included because other professors had proclaimed personal experiences made a paper special, was roundly rejected, crossed through, and had the word "Irrelevant" written across it. That kind of hurt.

What is funny is that I had been complaining that my papers never received anything but positive feedback. They came back with "Good!" and "Excellent!" scrawled across the top. Now I have a teacher who gets quite annoyed by grammatical errors, and I was not prepared. I should've kept my mouth shut.

I think I'll be ok though. An 88 is a high B, and now that I know what he wants I won't score that low again. I'm 88% confident that I will leave this class with an overall grade of "A". If I don't ... but that does not bear thinking upon.

Nerds must maintain their reputations, you know.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Cat is Out of the Bag

I wonder where that expression comes from? There is this fabulous book that can tell you, only I forgot the name of it. Next time I come across it I think I'm going to have to buy it. Anyway. I was going to wait. A long time. Maybe forever. I don't like people coming up and hugging me, smiling and saying congratulations, or asking me questions. But Damm was talking to his recruiter about insurance. And he mentioned something that he should've told the recruiter was non-repeatable, because 5 minutes later the recruiter told Damm's mother (I have no earthly idea why he's talking to her-I keep forgetting to ask). After that I had to tell my mother. We haven't told any extended family members because there are quite a few here celebrating Damm's mother's graduation and that would be the worst form of torture I can imagine. So yeah, I'm knocked up again :P And this time I'm getting the t-shirt. "It" is due August 11. I have not been to a doc...

There be too much history.

For the past couple of weeks Damm and I have been faithfully spending an hour each day working on our respective summer projects-he on his writing and me on Spanish and history. I had previously mentioned wanting to create some sort of series that I’d work on throughout the summer. I did a bit of brainstorming and decided that I should write essays on bits of fun and fascinating history. Then I started thinking up topic ideas and realized that I didn’t have enough time to randomly pick subjects, research them, and then write entertainingly. So I decided to pick one area of focus. It came down to either Modern Russia or the Civil War Era, since these are the two history courses I’ll be taking in the fall. I chose the Civil War. And even then I have not narrowed my focus enough. The essays one could write on the American Civil War … the possibilities are endless. And so I’m in the process of redefining what I will write/research. I’m in the midst of gathering info for a...

Guildless.

Me and Wulfa are now guildless. This came as kinda a shock and with no communication from the deciding party. I'm currently looking for a guild for us. We are not "raiders" and will never be. We do research our gear and fights and in general our classes. We are looking for a guild that we can be a part of, chat with, and not be expected to raid or be on specific times. I think that means we're looking for a "social" guild. We are primarily alliance but once finances get squared away(aka my bonus arrives) we could possibly convert to horde. If anyone knows of any guilds that they would recommend please let us know.