Wednesday, July 4, 2012

First the Bad News

I had the teacher from hell.  It was my summer I math class.  This teacher didn't give partial credit for partially correct answers.  She also marked it half off if you didn't format the answers the way she wanted.  She also was lousy at teaching.  She tested on things that she hadn't taught you.  And one day... after our tests were returned, some of the students were very angry about their test results, and said so.  The teacher became angry in return.  Then, unbelievably, she refused to teach the class!  She said we weren't in a "learning mood," and told us some pages in the book that we could read to teach ourselves.  I was so upset, I actually complained to the dean.  I wondered about how many other complaints he got.  Something must have happened, because the next day she was willing to look again at our tests for possible regrading.  My test was not regraded unfortunately.  I struggled with all of her special rules and regulations for formating the answers and got some bad test grades.  I ended up with a B.  That might not sound so bad, but I had a 4.0 average prior to that.  She destroyed my GPA.  If I had had any other teacher, I feel confident I would have gotten an A.  I'm so depressed about it.  About half the class dropped the class because they couldn't get a decent grade with her.  Doesn't the school notice things like this?

Now for the good news.  I'm starting another summer semester, this time taking math, Western Civilization and an SAT prep math course.  My teachers seem decent and reasonable, and this math teacher is willing to give partial credit for partially correct answers.  I'm taking the SAT math prep course because I've never actually taken the SATs.  I'm having a lot of trouble with the math section in the practice tests.  I'm hoping that this course will help me get a decent score, otherwise I just won't take the SATs.  The University of Pennsylvania doesn't require SAT scores for their school of Liberal and Professional Studies.  Yale has a special program for nontraditional students.  They strongly encourage you to have SAT scores, but it isn't absolutely required for admission.  I figure if my SAT math score would be low, I'm better off just not having an SAT score.

Well, off to study in this terrible heat.

Have a good holiday.