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Claudia wrote on 2011-01-19 00:53
so this is mostly a vent/rage/NEEDHALP? about english class.
UGH, ENGLISH CLASS.
it's the ONE class i've never done good in, EVER. I nearly flunked honors english in 7th grade, but that was partially my fault because I never did my homework. Last year, my teacher was a biznatch and was the harshest grader EVER. That being said, as much as I disliked her, she spent hours working with me on my writing, and I can actually write a really good essay now, without getting writer's block.
This year is making me rage in particular. I have a lot of ground I need to make up for from freshman year, and my English grade isn't helping. Last quarter, I got a 78, after persuading him to drop three minuscule assignments [not even worth a homework grade] that brought my grade up from a 71. This too, is partially my fault, because I fell a little behind in my reading halfway through All Quiet on the Western Front [awesome book btw], but I made up for it at the end, and got a few 100's on my reading quizzes.
This quarter, I have a 71 and the quarter is closing in a day. q_q. This term I tanked my vocab quizzes.
The part that makes me really upset, is I did so damn well on my film critique, and I got the highest grade in the class [92]. My problem always seems to be that I bust my ass on something, then fall short somewhere else that I had previously done well on.
Honestly, I know I did good this quarter. I'm even doing amazing in everything, all of my classes, this year. Two stupid vocab quizzes shouldn't tank me [27/40 on both of them, and 13/16 for sentence mechanics], especially because we get almost NO assignments. My parents are going to scream bloody murder at me because "BLAHBLAH YOU CAN'T GO TO COLLEGE WITH A C IN ENGLISH BLAHBLAH".
I dunno, it's just really frustrating. We're currently reading Heart of Darkness [I HATE THIS BOOK SO MUCH OH MY GOD], and he's giving us an essay question on the midterm [Thursday]. This book makes no sense, and even after reading the modern SparkNotes version, i'm throughly ****ed. [tyvm kitae for that phrase]. I understand the plot, and some of the ideas, but he wants specific quotes about the issues of humanity, race, nature, and something else I can't remember.
UUUUURGH RAEEEEG.
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ValkyrieHamster wrote on 2011-01-19 01:09
My Friends and I have joked that essays aren't so much about what you know and understand so much as it's about how well you can trick the reader into thinking you know a lot about the topic. This can be proven because often times teachers require essays to have a ridiculous amount of content when it would take really only a sentence or 2 to answer the question. So in essence it's an exercise in how much you can BS on any given topic.
Here's a suggestion for your essay question. Your teacher has provided you with exactly what he is expecting to see in the essay, so give him what he wants. Example: He says there's issues on humanity, so find some quotes you think apply, and then just explain(BS) how that quote applies to the issue.
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Minuki wrote on 2011-01-19 01:47
[font=tahoma]English was always my worst subject. D:
I've never read that book before, so I apologize for being unable to help. Good luck. >_<[/font]
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Zid wrote on 2011-01-19 03:33
It's okay.
I suck at English class. Don't be fooled by my control of English writing or debating.
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Claudia wrote on 2011-01-19 21:11
Hehe.
He gave me an extra day to turn in my notes, so I just need to finish them. I compared mine to other people's, and mine aren't actually that bad.
I also found there was an assignment worth 24 points that I never remember doing and I found out I was absent, even though it was nearly two months ago, he's letting me do it for full credit.
Yey!
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ValkyrieHamster wrote on 2011-01-19 23:33
Yay grats! :3
Get that A and go to college! :XD:
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Claudia wrote on 2011-01-20 03:05
I doubt i'll get an A in English ever. XD
I also partially blame having English during B-block in B209. I've had it in the same room, same period, but a different teacher since entering high school. IT'S THE CURSE OF B-BLOCK. ;_;
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gentrone wrote on 2011-01-20 05:28
Quote from Zid;296198:
It's okay.
I suck at English class. Don't be fooled by my control of English writing or debating.
ikr
Although it wasn't so bad when I was in school, etc.
lmao
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Adelynn wrote on 2011-01-21 01:59
Quote from Zid;296198:
It's okay.
I suck at English class. Don't be fooled by my control of English writing or debating.
I think my grammar is slowly deteriorating. My spelling is going through something similar. My typing...
As for the topic at hand:I'm glad your situation looks better. Personally, I hate when teachers expect students to remember exact quotes on a test where the essay question has to be written really fast. I feel like I'm under enough pressure already. I don't need to be scared of butchering a good quote on top of it.
As for required reading I couldn't stand: All the Pretty Horses. I had to start that book three times, and even then it took me weeks to read. I can read books pretty fast, but this book was so dull it was mind-crippling.
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Piko wrote on 2011-01-21 02:04
There's not much I can say here since English is one of my God Tier subjects where I am a total boss.
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Claudia wrote on 2011-01-21 02:05
Mm, yeah. For our reading quizzes, he always asks for three specific details from one scene of the portion we read. Like, UBER SPECIFIC DETAILS.
So I turned in my notes at 10 today, i'll get them back to use on my midterm tomorrow [IF IT DOESN'T SNOW]. I got a 4/8 on them, I don't know if that's because they're late or they're crappy. ;> but I spent an hour digging for quotes that I find are helpful to me.
Fun stuff: The whole midterm is short answer/essay questions.
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Adelynn wrote on 2011-01-21 02:08
I hate those midterms. Give me back my matching, true/false, and multiple choice. </3
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Claudia wrote on 2011-01-21 02:13
I know, we were like "WTB NO MULTIPLE CHOICE?"
And he's like "D'AWW, THIS ISN'T SIXTH GRADE GUYS, DO I REALLY NEED TO GIVE MULTIPLE CHOICE? DO YOU WANT ME TO HOLD YOUR HAND WHILE YOU TAKE YOUR EXAM TOO?"
[he was a sixth grade teacher at our middle school until two years ago, I never had him though. they say he was a hard teacher even back then x[]
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Piko wrote on 2011-01-21 02:20
What problems do you have when it comes to short answers and essays? It's either time management or a writer's block.
You can easily overcome writer's block by mastering the awesome art of bs. Time management varies upon the situation. Only real problem I encounter is with time management due to the fact I write everything in cursive, and it takes a lot longer for me to write in cursive than it does for an average person to write in print, and I write even slower in print since I haven't done that since second grade (Private schooling forced me to adapt to cursive around then, and been using it ever since).
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Claudia wrote on 2011-01-21 02:24
yeah, I can deal with writer's block now. after last year, i've perfected the art of bs'ing.
as for short-answer and essay questions, they're just a pain. I don't enjoy being spoonfed [my chem exam was only 100 multiple choice questions], but at least a few would be nice. :~l