Off-topic Random Thoughts Thread

[checkmatechamp13]

lol... What can I tell ya... I'm a true linguist at heart... B) I did horribly though on the AP English exam... I don't recall what I got, but think the best you can get is a 2 or something and you need a 1 to pass and I failed... That test was bloody hard. I mean I've never felt that stupid taking any sort of English exam before.

 

 

The test is out of 5, and you need a 3 to "qualify", though it's up to the college what they want to do (some only take a 4 or 5, some only take a 5, and some don't take AP credit at all). When I took the test last week, I didn't find it too hard. I wouldn't be surprised if I got a 5, but I have a feeling I got lower (maybe a 4)

[Via Garibaldi 8]

The test is out of 5, and you need a 3 to "qualify", though it's up to the college what they want to do (some only take a 4 or 5, some only take a 5, and some don't take AP credit at all). When I took the test last week, I didn't find it too hard. I wouldn't be surprised if I got a 5, but I have a feeling I got lower (maybe a 4)

 

 

I dunno... That was a good 15 years ago almost, so I'm sure some things have changed, but yeah some colleges don't take the AP credits at all. Looking back on it I'm kind of glad I failed... The English courses I took in college taught me a ton.

[Grand Concourse]

For me the worst part of my HS english classes were anything Shakespeare. Not only was it difficult to understand, but hard to analyze the stuff when taking tests. Any other books to read, no problems, but it was damn Shakespeare that brought my grades down.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

For me the worst part of my HS english classes were anything Shakespeare. Not only was it difficult to understand, but hard to analyze the stuff when taking tests. Any other books to read, no problems, but it was damn Shakespeare that brought my grades down.

 

 

Dost thou not know thy strengths? That's why I did so well in my English classes... In one of my first honors English classes we started reading Shakespeare, so by the time I took AP English we were expected to be able to write essays and understand the material with no problems. The book that I hated the most in AP English was Moby Dick. That was far tougher IMO than any Shakespeare I've ever read. Very dense text, but once you understand the language used it certainly lets your mind sort of meander (in a good way). In college I actually selected two courses that were heavily based on Shakespeare material... One was a poetry course on Shakespeare and I just about always nailed the interpretations of them.

Edited May 25, 2012 by Via Garibaldi 8

[Grand Concourse]

Shakespeare was never my favorite. What I hated was that 1/4 of the grades each year were devoted to that. I never cared for it and never could understand it. I can understand it for college, but not hs.

Edited May 25, 2012 by Grand Concourse

[Mysterious2train]

The test is out of 5, and you need a 3 to "qualify", though it's up to the college what they want to do (some only take a 4 or 5, some only take a 5, and some don't take AP credit at all). When I took the test last week, I didn't find it too hard. I wouldn't be surprised if I got a 5, but I have a feeling I got lower (maybe a 4)

 

 

I just took the AP World History a couple of days ago, I think I did okay but at the same time I think I bombed one of the essays...

The day after the AP, my class had to take a practice World History Regents because our school was selected for some program. Needless to say, nobody took it seriously and we were just causing a ruckus the whole time.

 

By the way, how does the structure of the US History exam differ from the World History exam? Or are they the same?

Edited May 25, 2012 by Mysterious2train

[Astoria Line]

Shakespeare is so boring, but most of the stories are easy, well for me. My regents honors english class just finished reading Macbeth, it was really easy and i got a 98 on the test ; btw regents honors is just below honors in my school). Tbh, i just sparknotesed everything, because it was really pointless and dull to me.

 

I couldn't take AP classes as I'm only a sophomore but I did take Honors Geometry, and Regents Honors english, global history and earth science.

 

Next year for junior year, I am taking Honors trigonometry, AP Psychology, Honors English, Honors Chemistry and Regents Honors US History..

[Grand Concourse]

I made a mistake to take honors trig. That was just as foreign to me as geometry were. Algebra I was really good at. If wikipedia was around in the early 2000s, I would've made a lot of visits there.

[Astoria Line]

I made a mistake to take honors trig. That was just as foreign to me as geometry were. Algebra I was really good at. If wikipedia was around in the early 2000s, I would've made a lot of visits there.

 

 

That's the same as me ! Algebra i had a 95 average, but in Geometry i got all low 80s except for this last quarter where i got a 93). Is trig really hard compared to geometry?

[Grand Concourse]

For me geometry was more about terms and definition (no numbers in the first half). It was totally alien to me. Had I knew what it was, I probably would've taken the regular class. Trig, I could never figure the cos,sin,tan things. I don't even know how I managed to pass that class either come to think of it. All I know is that it was half the grades with algebra being the other.

[Astoria Line]

Its hard for me to remember formulas and such, and I would forget just before the test and in the first semester we had 13 tests/quizzes and failed 8 of them, but still managed a 82 average, maybe my teacher is worse at math than me. In the second semester, it became more of triangles, which i work well with. geometric proofs are the worst! No one in my school seems to know how to do them lol

[checkmatechamp13]

I just took the AP World History a couple of days ago, I think I did okay but at the same time I think I bombed one of the essays...

The day after the AP, my class had to take a practice World History Regents because our school was selected for some program. Needless to say, nobody took it seriously and we were just causing a ruckus the whole time.

 

By the way, how does the structure of the US History exam differ from the World History exam? Or are they the same?

 

 

I took that test last year and got a 4 (that was actually the highest grade in the class. I think like 1 or 2 people got a 3 and nobody else qualified). My class was lucky because on one of the essays, it was a topic we hadn't covered, but it was a DBQ, and the documents basically told you everything you needed to know about it.

 

But yeah, the structure is pretty much the same for both. You have 80 multiple-choice questions, a 10-minute break, and then 3 essays (with one of them being a DBQ). I think the difficulty is more or less the same.

 

And yeah, after the AP test, nobody takes the class seriously anymore, because after all that preparation for the AP test, the Regents is a snap. My US History teacher said that last year, the lowest grade on the Regents was an 89. He told the class to pick up one of those Barron's Regents Review Books, and I got a copy from the library, but it turned out to be a Global History review book (I typed in "US History Review Book", the book came up, and I reserved it, and then when I picked it up at the library, I checked it out without looking at the title), but since he knows I know the material, he didn't care.

 

Shakespeare is so boring, but most of the stories are easy, well for me. My regents honors english class just finished reading Macbeth, it was really easy and i got a 98 on the test ; btw regents honors is just below honors in my school). Tbh, i just sparknotesed everything, because it was really pointless and dull to me.

 

 

Yeah, I found the stories fairly easy to understand. The thing was that the teacher was a PITA because he insisted that everybody stay awake and "not even put your head down because it leads to sleeping". And thinking "So? Everything you're saying and more can be found on Sparknotes". There were points at which I put my head down and when he would tell everybody around me to shake me and wake me up, I'd shout "I'm not sleeping" because how the hell could I shout that out if I were sleeping? C'mon.

 

That's the same as me ! Algebra i had a 95 average, but in Geometry i got all low 80s except for this last quarter where i got a 93). Is trig really hard compared to geometry?

 

 

Yeah, a lot of my friends who got good grades in Algebra thought Geometry was hard. They were like "Oh, he's a bad teacher and doesn't explain it well", and I just thought it was because of the difficulty of the subject. Of course, the nerd that I am, I grasped all the concepts and got something like a 95 in the class (I got an 87 on the Regents, but that was probably because of some careless mistakes because I didn't think the Regents was hard).

 

Anyway, I took Algebra II/Trigonometry last year. The Algebra II part was basically an expansion of Algebra I, so basically if you can grasp the basic concept of moving the numbers around to solve the equations, you'll do fine. Logorithms was a fairly hard topic, and there was also the issue of the trigonometric ratios (For instance, tan = sin/cos), and I think there were one or two other topics that were somewhat difficult, but I scored very well in the class and got a 97 on the Regents.

 

Of course, I'm pissed because the teacher said that if you did well in the class, you could go directly into AP Calculus, but that was only if you were a junior. I was a sophomore and scored higher than most (if not all) the juniors and I had to go into Precalculus instead (which is basically an extension of Algebra II). Now, we have the chance to go into AP Calculus next year, but it's a double period, so I doubt I'll actually sit through the class, and just take the test (even though the teacher doesn't want me to. If I have to, I'll just order the test by myself instead of having the school order it for me)

[Via Garibaldi 8]

Algebra/Trigonometry... Liked and found easy.... Geometry... Ugh... Hated it... The teachers never explain it and there isn't IMO a real formula for some of the answers... Being a linguist I like formulas and logic... Granted sometimes languages have irregularities but geometry IMO just sucks. I did okay though considering how much I hated it.

Edited May 26, 2012 by Via Garibaldi 8

[checkmatechamp13]

Algebra/Trigonometry... Liked and found easy.... Geometry... Ugh... Hated it... The teachers never explain it and there isn't IMO a real formula for some of the answers... Being a linguist I like formulas and logic... Granted sometimes languages have irregularities but geometry IMO just sucks. I did okay though considering how much I hated it.

 

 

I think a lot of it comes down to memory. I mean, for the proofs, you basically have to remember all the different theorems and postulates you learned, and you might have to remember like 12 different ones just to prove one thing. I guess just solving for the different sides is a little bit easier, but you might still have to remember a couple of different theorems to know what numbers to substitute. At least with Algebra, you could kind of see how the different concepts flow into each other, but with geometry, it's just strict memorization and trying to apply what you memorized.

[checkmatechamp13]

Walking 3 miles uphill in the middle of the day, wearing a black shirt. Not one of my better ideas.... I should've at least looked at a terrain map, to see which route involved fewer hills (and I would've probably naturally taken the route with fewer hills had I been given the right address. ) They weren't too steep, but I'm not exactly in the best condition. At least I took them slowly, but I was still tired when I got there.

[B3 Via Av U]

I'm graduating the 5th grade this June!

Also, it's raining really hard in Gravesend.

[VWM]

Opened my pool today

[B3 Via Av U]

Question: If the 59th Street Bridge were to be replaced, would you want another cantilever truss design (current design) or a suspension design? (Verrazano-type design)?

Personally, I think the current 59th Street Bridge is an eyesore.

Edited May 26, 2012 by Brightonkid7

[B3 Via Av U]

Algebra/Trigonometry... Liked and found easy.... Geometry... Ugh... Hated it... The teachers never explain it and there isn't IMO a real formula for some of the answers... Being a linguist I like formulas and logic... Granted sometimes languages have irregularities but geometry IMO just sucks. I did okay though considering how much I hated it.

 

A=0.5hb

C=3.14d

[Threxx]

I'm graduating the 5th grade this June!

Also, it's raining really hard in Gravesend.

 

 

SMH at this elementary school graduation. Degrades the whole purpose. If everything is a graduation, nothing is. This is a reason, albiet small, why dropout rates are so high.

 

Not that bad here in Canarsie, though.

[checkmatechamp13]

A=0.5hb

C=3.14d

 

 

You have to specify that you're talking about the area of a triangle, but otherwise, good.

 

SMH at this elementary school graduation. Degrades the whole purpose. If everything is a graduation, nothing is. This is a reason, albiet small, why dropout rates are so high.

 

Not that bad here in Canarsie, though.

 

 

I thought you lived in Bed-Stuy. Or do you go to school in Canarsie?

[Threxx]

I thought you lived in Bed-Stuy. Or do you go to school in Canarsie?

 

 

My dad's house is in Canarsie.

[CDTA]

I'm pretty pissed that my new ELA teacher decides whether I get into AP next year. I got 90+ all quarters when my old teacher was there, (Who still works for the district, just got promoted cause shes that good) and now this new teacher who has been here a month, who not only sucks, but lost all my work, (she doesn't admit it either) gets majority say. She thinks i'm a crap student, but really it's her. (My grade would be fine (85+) if she didn't lose all my work and not tell me the day before grades close)

[checkmatechamp13]

I'm pretty pissed that my new ELA teacher decides whether I get into AP next year. I got 90+ all quarters when my old teacher was there, (Who still works for the district, just got promoted cause shes that good) and now this new teacher who has been here a month, who not only sucks, but lost all my work, (she doesn't admit it either) gets majority say. She thinks i'm a crap student, but really it's her. (My grade would be fine (85+) if she didn't lose all my work and not tell me the day before grades close)

 

 

If I had a teacher I didn't trust, I'd make copies of all my work (assuming I didn't save it on a computer). At least that way if she says that you're missing work, you can bring in the copies to prove that you did it.

 

Does your teacher use one of those online grading sites (like PupilPath or JupiterGrades or something)? At least that way, it's one extra thing you could use to check (at least if she says it's missing, you know what copies you have to bring in)

[CDTA]

If I had a teacher I didn't trust, I'd make copies of all my work (assuming I didn't save it on a computer). At least that way if she says that you're missing work, you can bring in the copies to prove that you did it.

 

Does your teacher use one of those online grading sites (like PupilPath or JupiterGrades or something)? At least that way, it's one extra thing you could use to check (at least if she says it's missing, you know what copies you have to bring in)

 

 

Yes, she does. The problem was tough, she told me what I was missing the day before grades close, so I found out I was missing about six assignments, and only had one day to do them, not to mention when I found this out, we were in the away game series, so I got home REALLY late. Only was able to finish one assignment. Got a 72. I will still have an 85+ average (for the year), but the teacher can still put me into a regular class. And plus as I said, as far as she's concerned I don't belong in AP, because of this, because shes only been here long enough for that, so she thinks I am a bad student. (and the first week was a horrible first impression but that's a story for another time.) And as I said she head only been there for a few weeks, so I thought she could handle it.

Edited May 27, 2012 by CDTA