Barely Sliding By
So... I've always just slid by in school. In middle school and high school I really did no work at all except the stuff that I absolutely had to and took huge short cuts on the stuff that I did have to do. I got through the first semester in college fine, and I'm actually doing really well in a few of my classes. However, one class in particular, Electromagnetic Physics is a real b***h!
I get full points on all the labs, but the guy that grades the tests and homeworks... I just don't know what his deal is... I mean, I surely don't deserve a ton of points on any of that stuff, but this guy just will not give points for partial work... I mean, I do a bunch of the steps correctly and get the wrong answer, and he just strikes the problem through and writes "0." I've talked to him about it before, and been like, "Well, I used these equations properly, but I just didn't do (blah blah blah)," and he just responds with stuff like, "Well, the point was to (blah blah blah)" and nothing changes. It's really annoying.
But anyways, I'm in grave danger of failing this class. This is probably the first time that this has happened. I never do well on any tests, but neither do the greasy-haired, neanderthalic, drooling morons that populate most of the rest of my classes. The two tests I've had in this class, however, have just been absolutely horrible. Way below the class average. I mean, obviously I need to study for the final, which I never do, and actually put effort into the remaining homework assignments, which I also never do.
Does anybody else have this kind of problem? Has anyone else just slid by in every subject until encountering somebody who just won't have it? I'm just not interested in the subject. Well, I mean I guess it is kind of interesting, and it's certainly stuff that I need to know, but it's just the way that people do science is so idiosyncratic and loaded with terminology, that it's just a headache to even thing about.
This is a little off, but why is a freshman taking Electromagnetic Physics? Sounds a little advanced.
Anyway, yeah, my poor study habits and inability to take notes leave me vulnerable to the day when I actually have to apply myself the way that everyone else must. At the moment I can skate along fine because I'm pretty far ahead of everyone on the bell curve (and I expect to be among the best as a matter of ego if nothing else). Graduate school makes me queasy though, because I'm going to be paired up with students closer to my inate abilities who have skills that I simply don't.