Finals Week!!!

[Danner]

I am a freshman in HS, and this is my very first finals week. (I suppose I should be studying instead of messing around here on C&F .) I'm not too freaked out. We figured our grades in Spanish, and I could get a 52% on my exam and still get an A. (BTW, I'm not crazy about taking Spanish, but it's the only language our school offers, and most colleges won't consider Gaelic as a foreign language.) Anyway, if anybody has any funny stories about finals, I'd like to hear them.

[Snuh]

Ahh... I remember high school exams. Wasn't all that long ago. I had a couple that I didn't even have to show up for and I'd get around 80% in the course. Now, however, I'm 2 and a half years into a physics degree. My exams generally are worth 50-100% of my final mark, with 65% being about average.

I don't really have any funny exam stories about myself, although my fiancee once went to a high school english exam drunk and got an A.

A.J.

[MikeyLikesIt]

I slept through one of my finals last quarter here at college cuz I had spent the night pretty much playing music for like 4 hours until the wee hours of the night/morning. Turns out though I was doing well enough in the class that it didn't hurt my grade at all.

[aderyn_du]

I don't have one from H.S., but my freshman year of college I did a huge . I was really into dance at that time, and for some reason I decided that I really needed new dance clothes right before a non-dance final. Thinking I had plenty of time, I went to a nearby campus store and got so involved that I didn't notice the time until I went to pay for my purchases. At that point my Middle Eastern final was 3/4 of the way finished. I made up some lame story to my professor, who took pity on me and let me make it up...so off I went into an empty classroom all set to take this final, looked at the paper, realized I hadn't the foggiest clue on the material, stood up, walked out, and never saw that professor again.

And that is my Lame Story of a botched final.

[Unseen122]

I got Finals next week I am a sophomore I don't have any stories from last year but studying is pointless as most of my teachers go over stuff in class and I have a really good memory. I am always one of the first done and still manage to get one of the highest grades in the class I am just gifted I guess.

[Lambchop]

(BTW, I'm not crazy about taking Spanish, but it's the only language our school offers, and most colleges won't consider Gaelic as a foreign language.)

Then you should consider better colleges! Like this one . . . www.tulane.edu.

All it says is three years of a language, either classical or modern. I think Gaelic fits both, don't you?

They would love for you to have more than one language--really love it--and I would be very much surprised if they did not consider Gaelic to be a HUGE plus in your favor! More so than any language your high school teaches! Anybody can learn those--they're practically forced on you, after all--but learning Gaelic takes some effort on your part. As does your music. Really good schools know that.

Good colleges look for well-qualified students, but they also look for students who are special in some way. You look like you have the beginnings of it--it shows in your website--so work on it and develop it, and don't sell yourself short by going for a college that isn't as special as you are.

[That having been said, I'll say that I'm shocked that you are not taking either Latin or Greek! The world is coming to ruin!]

[Congratulations]

My freshman year, I took an English exam when I was deathly ill (over 100 degree fever), and made 100 on it. I was rather proud of myself...

[happyturkeyman]

Me and my crew of friends get in a good 2-3 games of "Risk" during finals. We were gonna go overboard on the geeking and play D+D (NOT AD+D in case anyone knows the difference), but Andy forgot the 20-sided dice.

The best are last-term finals. Sitting in the back-right corner of a sunny classroom by an open, breezy window and marking off the last answer on a math exam. "Ahhh... done!"

It's a beautiful thing, and that's saying a lot coming from me who doesn't really mind school, math, tests, and the like all that much.

[Flyingcursor]

Good colleges look for well-qualified students, but they also look for students who are special in some way.

i.e. you can pay for it or your a sports legend.

[Danner]

Day 1: Completed
Thanks for the responses all! Here's how everything went.
-English: I have one of the worst teachers ever, but nothing was too bad. She did have quite a few sections that were matching, but it was still one of those fill-in-the-bubble type of tests, and that was tricky to figure out. Overall, very predictable.

-Biology: Boring!!!! Very, very easy, but boring.

-World Geography: Parts of it were terribly easy . (Many of the questions were exactly the same as what was on a lot of the tests.) Some of it was painfully difficult though. The teacher is the kind of old guy who goes on and on about the faults of the American educational system, yet fails to teach us much. He was going on about how incredibly easy this test should be, and how all of it should be review. (1st semester was into & western hemisphere with a focus on U.S.) There were a lot of questions where he gave you a place- say Gateway Arch- and you had to write down the state- Missouri. There were some easy ones, but some of them I had never heard of. (Note that I am getting an A/A+ in his class and this is supposed to be review. ) For example: How many teenagers have heard of the Isle Royale, much less know where it is unless they live by it?

I could pass all of my classes with a B- or C+ without even showing up for finals. The thing is that I'm trying to apply to a math and science academy. It's a public boarding school for grades 10-12. It (obviously) focuses on math and science, but they also have way better departments in English, music, etc. than my present school does. Grades count in the application process, so I'm trying to get my grades as high as I possibly can.

Tomorrow should be less boring, so that's good. Sorry for the rambling, I just really hate my school and would love to get into the academy.

[jsluder]

College philosophy class:
The professor was collecting exam papers (essay), and one guy wasn't done; in fact, he hadn't written anything. He scribbled a quick note and handed in his paper.

His grade? A.

His note? "Never rush a philosopher."

[Unseen122]

(BTW, I'm not crazy about taking Spanish, but it's the only language our school offers, and most colleges won't consider Gaelic as a foreign language.)

Then you should consider better colleges! Like this one . . . www.tulane.edu.

Hey my dad went to Tulane. Thought I would say so.

[Tak_the_whistler]

College philosophy class:
The professor was collecting exam papers (essay), and one guy wasn't done; in fact, he hadn't written anything. He scribbled a quick note and handed in his paper.

His grade? A.

His note? "Never rush a philosopher."

Whoa... (takes notes)

[Danner]

Days 2 & 3 completed!

Thanks a bunch everyone. All of the rest of my finals (including the advanced physical science and Spanish finals I was worried about) went well. I screwed up my playing band final a little bit. My band director counted off for me to play a piece of a tune, but he did it in a weird (and technically incorrect) way. Anyway, I think I did well enough on everything to maintain or raise my grades. Though, the best thing about finals is that now the school year is halfway over!!!

[Guitar Kat =^..^=]

!!!!! I know how you feel

I'm in the final year of high school and had 3 cores this semester. And we have Diploma exams as part of where I live and they count for half of your final mark. So, this semester I had Pure Math 30 (which is a very high level math - I'm on the verge of failing... I can't do math!), Social 30 (Highest social class possible for difficulty in high school, there is lower levels you can take in gr.12), and English 30-1 AP (this, being an AP course means it's Advanced Placement... lol) So, I'm very stressed right now.

Share the sorrow together... lament!