Tests are done.

11/6/10
Tests are done.

I sat down today and started looking through my Human Growth and Development book in hopes of preparing myself for the test.  I even printed out a couple of study guides since this test was over 5 chapters.  I had done some of the assignments, but in all honestly I put about as much effort those as necessary.  I’m just lucky to have a pretty decent memory for things like that, and fairly strong test taking skills.  About 10 minutes into looking through all those things, I just decided to go ahead with the test.  I managed to get an 88, which is 2 points shy of an A for college work.  I thought about it afterward...  if I had put forth just a minor amount of effort in this module I could have easily gotten a higher score.  Next time, I’ll definitely do that.  Things just got away from me this last time.

I took a lengthy break after that and Teale made smorgasbord (hash-browns, eggs, and sausage all mixed together in one skillet) for breakfast and it was delicious!  I hadn’t had any in a while and was glad she made it for us.  Afterwards I played with the dogs for a bit, then played Civilizations 5 (video-game) for a while.  (The honorable Japanese Empire was poised to destroy those Western dogs, but the Leonard Shogunate was crippled by their lack of iron and their inability to sustain their Samurai army.  The Interior Minister committed seppuku for his inability to plan effectively.  Next time.... yes I am a complete dork.) I eventually made my way back to schoolwork and started preparing for my Nutrition test.

I really hate this class so it’s extra hard for me to focus on it at all.  For one, I always learn major subjects like this when the coursework is organized well and the material is clearly laid out.  My instructor however is all over the place.  I imagine she could write novels in her spare time too because her instructions for assignments are so verbose I end up spacing out while reading them.  Anyway, her materials are the book, her own lecture notes which usually consist of about 7 completely unnecessary handouts to be printed, about 30 pages of PowerPoint Slides, and usually around 4 web-links that have even more material to print.  You’d think that college administrators would try to take stuff like this into consideration when coming up with curriculum standards, but no, I think they are dead set on charging students for online course access codes for around the same cost of a textbook while in reality the student gets to print it all off on their own expense!  Brilliant!  So after compiling all the information and organizing it the best possible way I could, I read and did some studying for the course.  I never want to see the word “lipoprotein” again.  Since I’m ranting here, I’m also gonna throw my 2 cents in about frustrating test writing.  I dunno who thought up the “TRUE EXCEPT / FALSE EXCEPT” questions on tests, but they have very little to do with material and more with being confusingly written.  “All of the following properties of a LIPOPROTEIN are true except?”  Grrr.

Who knows how I did on that test.  Probably not great.  The only person I can really blame here is myself, regardless of of frustrating I find the course layout.  I knew about this test for a long time and chose to put it off over and over again.  I’m fairly determined now to not allow myself to get into that situation again.

The dogs were extra crazy tonight too, which didn’t have a very good effect on my already drained patience.  I’m really hoping Napoleon starts learning to not follow us into the kitchen every time we go in there because the constant correcting is wearing me out.  I think we just need to be more consistent with when and how we correct him.  I’m sure he’ll eventually get it, but his   testing encourages Talulla to act out as well, and that really wears on my nerves.  I imagine it’s something like having kids, except I can pop my dogs with rolled up paper and stick them in their crates when they act out excessively.

So I’m finding it really hard to pull some positives out of today.  I enjoyed breakfast.  I’m done with the tests.  I managed to do well on one of them.  I’m at least thankful for all of that.