Date Posted: 24th Mar 2011 at 9:26 PM
So today I had a mathy testy thingy, and I got a C. Depending on what type of person you are you'll react to this differently. Some may gasp in shock, mourning my grade as a failure to the institution, others may praise my grade with near-worship dedication. Wither way, it leaves the test-ee feeling kind of torn. Should they be happy or not? Genius friends A and B have already ticked your name of the people they need to compete with to get into Princeton, while Average friends C and D are wishing to be receiving your grades. Then there's Genius kid E who thinks his grades suck, but when you compare grades you see that he has received all As and Bs on everything and wishes he had your stellar math grade (a solid C).
I remember in my Latin class we had P.H.E.s. Public Humiliation Exams which consisted of 40 questions we answered, then graded, then we all stood up and she started counting backwards from 40 and you sat down when the number of questions you got wrong was called. Needless to say, I was usually from 20-8 depending on how well I knew the stuff and how luck I was that particular day. I averaged somewhere in the mid-teens. Then Freaky Genius kids A and B always get 4 or lower making you all feel like failures.
It appears to me that everyone when confronted with a test reacts in different ways both pre and post testing. Some will study for hours on end before hand then have a nervous breakdown five minutes prior. Others won't study at all and rely on their brains to get them through. I knew this one kid who before every test he would ask my rather peeved honors geometry teacher if he could take the test later. Needless to say he was not recommended for honors the next year good riddance.
All in all, I find testing deplorable and find that there are better ways to show our teachers how well we know their subject. Preferably in the company of cookies.