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I'm still a nerd...
In high school, I was the quiet, reserved girl who always got straight A's and never had to study. After 2 years of no school and mind numbing Toxic Hell work with customers capable of killing thousands of brain cells with a single look, I worried I would struggle to recall my past knowledge. I registered for college last week and, before I could pick my classes, I has to take the COMPASS test. Basically, it's a 3 part test (reading, writing and math) that calculates your level of knowledge and lets the college know what classes to recommend to you. When I heard I had to take a test, I was terrified. My mom kept saying not to worry, I'll do just fine. I seriously doubted that. D-Day arrived and I was sat at a computer with a piece of scratch paper and a pencil.
First was reading. I read a lot of books and have loved reading since I was a child, so I wasn't too worried about that section. Next came writing. I am a talented writer and I am very confident in my grammer and writing skills so I flew through that section with ease. Last was math. It started with fractions which I learned in elementary school. Then it moved into algebra slowly getting more and more difficult until I was seeing problems I have never seen before. I covered the scratch paper trying to figure them out and I think I got some right, but it kept getting even harder still. At that point, my heart sank. I thought, if I'm supposed to know this stuff already, I'm never going to make it. The test came to an end and I moaped over to the desk to get my results. The lady at the desk printed my scores and looked them over. Her eyes widened. "Oh honey," she exclaimed, "you're smart"!! "Oh...thank you".
I quickly looked over the scores. Reading-94; Writing-99; Fundamental Math-89; Algebra-51; College Algebra-41. I knew my reading and writing scores would be ok but I was disappointed in my math scores. I figured the woman's comment was based on my 94 and 99 scores because I didn't know how I got a 51/100 in algebra. I rock at algebra. I took algebra in 8th grade while all the other kids worked at fundamental math because my teacher wanted to give me a challenge and I still got straight A's. After I met with an advisor to pick my classes, she asked to see my scores. I handed her my score sheet and added that my math scores weren't that great. She looked and said I did just fine. Fine? 51/100 is fine? 41/100 is fine? That's failing. to me, that isn't "fine" it's crap. I asked what she ment and pointed out I got 41 and 51 as 2 or my scores. She explained that they use a complicated method for scoring the math test. Long story short, the computer starts with basic math questions and works it's way up based on how well the student does. The better you do, the harder the questions get. So, on fundamental math, I got to an 89 befor it booted me up to algebra. Then I got up to a 51 before it booted me up to college algebra. When the test ended, I was at a 41 in college algebra. She explained if I got to a 50, I would have been booted up to triganometry!!!
Damn, no wonder those questions got so hard... She quietly added that 90% of the applicants don't get past fundamental math. Oopsies
Anyway, it's nice to know I'm still a nerd after all those SC's.
First was reading. I read a lot of books and have loved reading since I was a child, so I wasn't too worried about that section. Next came writing. I am a talented writer and I am very confident in my grammer and writing skills so I flew through that section with ease. Last was math. It started with fractions which I learned in elementary school. Then it moved into algebra slowly getting more and more difficult until I was seeing problems I have never seen before. I covered the scratch paper trying to figure them out and I think I got some right, but it kept getting even harder still. At that point, my heart sank. I thought, if I'm supposed to know this stuff already, I'm never going to make it. The test came to an end and I moaped over to the desk to get my results. The lady at the desk printed my scores and looked them over. Her eyes widened. "Oh honey," she exclaimed, "you're smart"!! "Oh...thank you".
I quickly looked over the scores. Reading-94; Writing-99; Fundamental Math-89; Algebra-51; College Algebra-41. I knew my reading and writing scores would be ok but I was disappointed in my math scores. I figured the woman's comment was based on my 94 and 99 scores because I didn't know how I got a 51/100 in algebra. I rock at algebra. I took algebra in 8th grade while all the other kids worked at fundamental math because my teacher wanted to give me a challenge and I still got straight A's. After I met with an advisor to pick my classes, she asked to see my scores. I handed her my score sheet and added that my math scores weren't that great. She looked and said I did just fine. Fine? 51/100 is fine? 41/100 is fine? That's failing. to me, that isn't "fine" it's crap. I asked what she ment and pointed out I got 41 and 51 as 2 or my scores. She explained that they use a complicated method for scoring the math test. Long story short, the computer starts with basic math questions and works it's way up based on how well the student does. The better you do, the harder the questions get. So, on fundamental math, I got to an 89 befor it booted me up to algebra. Then I got up to a 51 before it booted me up to college algebra. When the test ended, I was at a 41 in college algebra. She explained if I got to a 50, I would have been booted up to triganometry!!!
Damn, no wonder those questions got so hard... She quietly added that 90% of the applicants don't get past fundamental math. Oopsies
Anyway, it's nice to know I'm still a nerd after all those SC's.
I signed up for Composition 1 and Psychology to start. I'm going for a degree in Health Science as I'm a huge science geek. One of my nicknames is Google because I know a lopt about useless little things lol. Someone will think aloud, "I wonder how/why (insert question)" and I'll pipe up and ramble on for a few minutes explaining how whatever works and why. I am a bit excited to be getting back to school and actually making some progress but I'm nervous too. I'm hoping I'll be able to make a few new friends with people who are on my level maturity-wise. In high school, I had a few friends but most of the people who talked to me wanted me to give them my homework and "help" them cheat. I would offer to sit down with them and give them a quick lesson to help them understand but made it clear I would not give them the answers. 99 times out of 100, I they walked away with no answers and no help and said I wasn't "cool". If "cool" means cheating, I'll gladly be a nerd 
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