Thursday, October 30, 2008

sometimes i feel like Calvin; a misunderstood genius.
especially when it comes to taking exams. ask me anything on the lymphatic system or the body's innate and adaptive defenses, and I'll teach you everything i know. but seat me at a desk with a list of thirty five multiple choice questions and a time limit, and I'll only be able to answer 75% of them correctly. is it fear of failure? i dunno. maybe it's the atmosphere. i can smell tension, like dogs smell fear. (wow did i just compare myself to a dog?) but there are a few factors that make it worse.

1. snifflers-i know it's wintertime and you just came in from the cold. but do us all a favor and stop off in the bathroom to blow your nose. or take a second before you leave to stick tissues in your bag.

2. tappers-it may help you think better when you're tapping your obviously-fake-looking nails against the desk, but it's a subtle
noise that gets under my skin and slowly drives me insane.

3. whisperers-i totally get that some people need to read the questions out loud to themselves (more than once, sometimes) in order to understand what it's really asking. but dude, go sit on the other side of the room! there should be whispering and non-whispering. because I'm totally ordering non-whispering.

4. talking to yourself-this is even worse than whispering. firstly because there is no pretense of whispering. this is straight up talking out loud. and it's not reading the questions out loud. it's little remarks like "ooh i know this one" or "oh darn, what's the answer again?" these are the people who have an annoying habit of sitting in class and letting everyone know exactly what is on their minds. really, some people should come with a censor option.


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9 comments:

Anonymous said...

o wow- i would not wanna be in class with you... u'd just analyze me! too bad ur not a psych major

frumcollegegirl said...

nah, during class these things don't bother me. it's only when it's quiet and i'm trying to think,and there are little noises in the background...

i actually enjoyed psych. stayed tuned, though. in two semesters i'm doing psych in nursing...

Anonymous said...

what about noisy whisperer daveners?

Anonymous said...

You should have a post on those people who just won't freaking shut up during class.

Anonymous said...

don't your professors say anything to them?

Jewish Side of Babysitter said...

I know exactly what you mean about taking tests, for some reason before the test I'm always the one explaining everyone the concepts, and then when it comes to the tests there's always some questions where I don't know the answer based on the wording or whatever it may be.

I learned to carry tissues with me for that reason, and yea those snifflers can get annoying.

the tapping does sound annoying, reminds me of those that click their pens a million times.

that sounds confusing to hear them whispering the questions out loud while your trying to think.

I never heard people doing the talking remarks part. Most professors have a rule of no talking during a test. So not many people think of calling out stuff.

interesting that you sent this from your phone?

nmf #7 said...

I totally agree- it's hard to concentrate when everyone's doing stuff during a test.
Although- sometimes, if you listen to the whispered conversations from student to teacher, you may find out a hint to help you with the questions....good or bad- I don't know.
In agreement with anon 10:31- it drives me almost insane when the person right next to me insists on davening Shmoneh Esrai at a decibel I can hear. Not only is it distracting, but S"E should be said for one's own ears only.

frumcollegegirl said...

nah, my professor doesn't care if people talk in class. she sees it as making the class more interesting. it doesn't bother her.

yea, noisy whisper daveners are annoying too, but i feel like i shouldn't complain about them, being that their having a conversation with The One Upstairs.

Ookamikun said...

The tappers are actually using morse code to communicate with each other and compare the answers. ;-)