Placement tests

Ad Mundo Exteriore,

I just took the expository writing placement test. Now, I don't write well under pressure, which is why it's amazing that I actually did a temps_mort challenge. But this time the essay wasn't terrible. Not my best, but it was articulate and logical.

So why am I feeling depressed? The last sentence of the question sheet informed us (rather acerbically I thought) that we should avoid empty abstractions and generalizations but rather to reason with evidence.

My entire essay is just "empty abstraction". I couldn't for the life of me think of any way to use evidence for my opinion other than brief referrals and rhetorical flourishes. In other words, an obvious last-minute effort to fulfill the "reason with evidence" requirement. (And then the girl behind me talked about how she discussed the Articles of Confederation and Darwin's theory of evolution...-_-;;) Honestly. I'm a good writer, and that actually was not a bad essay. Just...abstract. I said nothing unreasonable or illogical either. Why do I have to feel upset about it? Stupid question sheet.

I have a math placement test in about an hour. Yum. Watch Tari forget all the calculus she learned. I actually remember how to integrate and differentiate, but that's when I'm given a straightforward "calculate this" problem. I forgot how to do the max/min and related rates stuff. Actually, I'm not sure if I forgot, but I can't recall it, which is why I'm nervous. But then everyone else seems to be in the same position, so I feel slightly better. And I am on top of precalculus (thank you, math team). So there. Self, are you reassured?

My attempts at optimism are pathetic. I'll go fill out this survey now.

...Tari

College news

Ad Mundo Exteriore,

The math placement exam boosted my ego, which seems to be a not-so-subtle sign that for all my vaunted "well-roundedness" I should stick to the sciences. (Regardless of what L.P. says. I swear, that girl is determined to recruit me to the humanities. I know not why.)

The precalculus part was so easy, but wow, I forgot a lot of calculus. I kept thinking, "Yeah, I knew how to do this problem two years ago..." The problems weren't hard per se, I just forgot how to do them. I did manage to answer all the questions, though there were about seven or eight that were pretty risky guesses. And I agonized over certain problems before realizing that I was doing something really stupid. But, yeah, I think I did reasonably well. Hopefully well enough to place into multivariable calculus, which I've decided to repeat.

I was feeling guilty at first because I was being rather antisocial. It's not that I felt left out and upset about being left out. I just didn't want to bother making all those introductions, especially when I have absolutely no idea whom I'm speaking to. But luckily, there are a couple of friendly people on our floor who do all the socializing for me. So they introduce themselves and bother to remember my name, while I just nod and smile. ^_^ Well, it's not quite so one-sided, but they really are nice. I think they've spoken to everyone in the entryway. Makes life easy for me, in any case.

I'm really looking forward to the biology courses here. I looked at the course descriptions and there are about three that actually focus in the narrow area of specialty that I'm currently interested in. Of course, my mind may change completely by the time I'm ready to take them (they have a lot of prerequisite courses), but for now, I feel happy.

Meeting with my academic advisor tomorrow, who is apparently Stephen Jay Gould's successor to the position of Alexander Agassiz Professor of Zoology. So cool!

...Tari