Need to Rant!

[Forum Explorer]

I am so angry right now that I need to rant a little so I can calm down.


Now for context, I have a midterm in a class that I'm struggling with so I spent about 8 hours studying yesterday as well as an hour each day before in the week. I get into the midterm and as expected a large portion of the test is fill in the blank question. I am horrible at fill in the blank questions because I'm bad at names. I would honestly have to look up the names of all of my profs and TAs because I can't remember them. So 75% of this test is fill in the blank questions. **** :smallannoyed: more then I expected. But that would only annoy me a little. Till we get question like this:

NO has what type of signalling to the cells?

You mother-******* piece of ****. :smallmad: What is this question? This isn't testing my understanding of how cells communicate with each other. This isn't testing my knowladge of how the body regulates different processes. No this is testing my ability to remember one small trivial piece of crap fact that you gave as an example and takes up exactly one sentence in my notes! :smallmad: Can't you be bothered to ask real questions that are actually relavent to the course instead of a ******* memory test! :smallmad:

Apparently not because another question is asking what type of cell is affected by an obscure type of mushroom! :smallfurious: Dammit it all to ****. :smallfurious: Why can't you give me real questions! This example isn't even in my notes because you brought it up in class as an extra example! :smallfurious: If you couldn't be bothered to right it the **** down why should I remember it?:smallfurious: Why is remembering this mushroom even relevant!!!! This doesn't even have to deal with anything else in the class! How the **** do I study for this ****? :smallfurious: Do you really expect me to remember every single word in the couple hundred slides over the last few weeks?!! How am I going to study for my final where I will need to remember the entire god-damned course! :smallfurious: This isn't exactly a large test so every mark is worth quite a bit and you throw crap questions at me that test my understanding of this class about as much as a game of trivial pursuit! I know you don't really care about your students and that the testing is done just as a easy way to make students actually study your notes and go to class but for God's sake! :smallfurious: This is getting out of hand! You might as well have asked me how many slides there are in your notes! It has about the same relevance with these sort of questions!

And its not like you are incapable of good questions. A couple of them came up in the test as well. But even those questions were really just blatent memorization as well with no test of understanding. For example:
Name the three main cells in the Averolous (almost certainly mispelt) and their function. Good this question is relevant. But all I have to do is remember (which is hard enough for me) I don't have to explain why their function is important or how they do this or anything! :smallmad:

....Ok feeling a little better now. I have to admit I nearly lost it in the middle of the exam and my neighbor actually had to ask me to calm down because I kept stabbing my exam with my pen in rage.

Anybody else have a rant they need to get off their chest? Or comment on my rant?

[Asta Kask]

It's an intracellular receptor, isn't it?

*checks Wikipedia*

Yep. Guanylate cyclase.

[grimbold]

*gives forum explorer a reassuring pat*

i hate tests like that
:smallfrown:

[Saposhiente]

Bad system of education is bad :smallsigh:

[Con_Brio1993]

Reminded me of this strip

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_0voejU7y9bk/R0HNdK5LmWI/AAAAAAAABJg/Fi3jeXOjyjg/s400/calvin+and+hobbes.jpg

edit: Wish I could have found a bigger image. Text is hard to read.

[Objection]

Reminded me of this strip

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_0voejU7y9bk/R0HNdK5LmWI/AAAAAAAABJg/Fi3jeXOjyjg/s400/calvin+and+hobbes.jpg

edit: Wish I could have found a bigger image. Text is hard to read.

Here is the text:

Panel 1: 1. When did the Pilgrims land at Plymouth Rock?
Panel 2: 1620.
Panel 3: As you can see, I've memorized this utterly useless fact long enough to pass a test question. I now intend to forget it forever. You've taught me nothing except how to cynically manipulate the system. Congratulations.
Panel 4: They say the satisfaction of teaching makes up for the lousy pay.

[Triscuitable]

Here is the text:

Panel 1: 1. When did the Pilgrims land at Plymouth Rock?
Panel 2: 1620.
Panel 3: As you can see, I've memorized this utterly useless fact long enough to pass a test question. I now intend to forget it forever. You've taught me nothing except how to cynically manipulate the system. Congratulations.
Panel 4: They say the satisfaction of teaching makes up for the lousy pay.


I used multitouch for the first time to zoom in on the strip. Cool function.

[danzibr]

I suggest making flash cards.

[Anxe]

I don't think making flash cards would work because you wouldn't know what material to put on the flash cards. However, sending a severely edited version of the first post to the professor may help the situation for future tests.

[Dark Elf Bard]

However, sending a severely edited version of the first post to the professor may help the situation for future tests.

He might be way too intimidated to even speak, even edited...:smalleek:

[grimbold]

Reminded me of this strip

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_0voejU7y9bk/R0HNdK5LmWI/AAAAAAAABJg/Fi3jeXOjyjg/s400/calvin+and+hobbes.jpg

edit: Wish I could have found a bigger image. Text is hard to read.

Con Brio is on point

[Dark Elf Bard]

[QUOTE=Con_Brio1993;12166969]Reminded me of this strip

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_0voejU7y9bk/R0HNdK5LmWI/AAAAAAAABJg/Fi3jeXOjyjg/s400/calvin+and+hobbes.jpg

Then, Calvin grabs a machine gun and goes nuts on the test.

[Comrade]

You know what I hate?

****ing furniture stores.

Seriously.

[Mutant Sheep]

You know what I hate?

****ing furniture stores.

Seriously.

Yes. This. A thousand times this. The stories from my brothers alone are just so... augh.

[grimbold]

You know what I hate?

****ing furniture stores.

Seriously.

they are...
not fun

[Dark Elf Bard]

You know what I hate?

****ing furniture stores.

Seriously.

UGH!!!!!! I WISH THEY WOULD JUST DISAPPEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!:furious::furious::furious:: furious::furious:

[Trekkin]

<Rant>

I've had a similar experience with certain of my biology tests. Being asked to recite empirical data from the professor's friends' papers is...trying.

Thankfully, my stem cell lab professor has a solution to issues like this. He gives two tests during the year. One is entirely recitation, albeit of relevant things like how to culture cells. The other is almost entirely synthesis and reasoning based on provided data. Almost everyone does horribly on one and very well on the other, and it averages out to be a hit to our grade, but not a devastating one.

[Deathslayer7]

I had a teacher who asked really specific questions in a book.The test was to make sure we were reading the book. One of the questions was "What color was the squirrel in the tree?

What does a damn squirrel have anything to do with the book? <.<

Needless to say we weren't happy about that and we never let her live it down. We used to refer to it as the squirrel question.

And for those interested, it was gray.

[pffh]

I had a teacher who asked really specific questions in a book.The test was to make sure we were reading the book. One of the questions was "What color was the squirrel in the tree?

What does a damn squirrel have anything to do with the book? <.<

Needless to say we weren't happy about that and we never let her live it down. We used to refer to it as the squirrel question.

And for those interested, it was gray.

Yay colour questions. I had a couple on a biology test:
On this picture please colour the starch red. I'm red/green colourblind so that was fun.

[Dark Elf Bard]

I had a teacher who asked really specific questions in a book.The test was to make sure we were reading the book. One of the questions was "What color was the squirrel in the tree?

What does a damn squirrel have anything to do with the book? <.<

Needless to say we weren't happy about that and we never let her live it down. We used to refer to it as the squirrel question.

And for those interested, it was gray.

What was the story? My teacher asked a similar question: the answer was gray...


...Maybe we had the same one?:confused:

[Karoht]

Remembering facts is one of those annoying things about knowledge.

You know a fact. Grats. Doesn't mean you understand it.
You know how different atoms react. Grats. Doesn't mean you're aware that there's an isotope that breaks the rules.

Yes, these kinds of questions that test your memory seem trivial.
On the other hand, lets take a driving exam. I'd say that knowledge of the rules of the road is pretty important. If you forget what a stop sign means, someone can end up dead.

But when it's obscure trivia, the test is really just at test of memory and participation. It's really just testing if you were awake during that part of the lecture and bothered to note some weird factoid.

Now if it were testing your ability to remember it AND apply it somehow, then it MIGHT be relevant to test for in the first place.


And yes, furniture stores suck. Except Ikea, which doesn't completely suck.

[evil-frosty]

Bad system of education is bad :smallsigh:

This is solely the teachers fault. So I do not see how it is the systems fault. Sure he is a part of the system but he is only one component.

[Blisstake]

I hate questions like that. I had one in psyche that basically asked me what the name of a principle (that isn't true) of hypnosis that was off-handedly mentioned in the book. It's not even an official term, the book just picked something that made sense!

Which made it a bit easier to answer, but I'm still a bit annoyed about what the instructors think are the most important questions to answer.

[TheCountAlucard]

Unrelated, but I feel like ranting myself, so...

I friggin' hate it when someone is telling me that I'm missing their point. :smallmad:

I'm fully capable of reading your post; if I'm replying to it, chances are that I've done so. If I don't quote it in its entirety, I'm only responding to that one little piece of it, probably either to comment on it or disagree with it. Oftentimes I try to do so in a light-hearted or humorous way. However, if I do quote the entire thing, I'll often break it down piecemeal to discuss it bit by bit. Part of that's because I do that regardless of whether I actually break the post down, and it's a lot more annoying to have a response that's just a blob of disorganized text.

If I am disagreeing with you, I generally have a reason for it - either I don't like your idea, or perhaps there's a factual error in it. However, if I have replied to it, I have read your post. Part of the reason I may be "missing your point," though, is because you haven't laid out all the details, or perhaps that your opinions on the subject differ vastly from mine. These things happen, but they don't mean I'm "missing" anything.

Even more annoying is when someone other than the person I've replied to is telling me I've missed the point. :smallfurious: Oh, yeah, because you clearly have perfect knowledge of what the other person's thoughts and intents were when typing up the post I've replied to. :smallsigh:

[Choco]

Unrelated, but I feel like ranting myself, so...

I friggin' hate it when someone is telling me that I'm missing their point. :smallmad:

I'm fully capable of reading your post; if I'm replying to it, chances are that I've done so. If I don't quote it in its entirety, I'm only responding to that one little piece of it, probably either to comment on it or disagree with it. Oftentimes I try to do so in a light-hearted or humorous way. However, if I do quote the entire thing, I'll often break it down piecemeal to discuss it bit by bit. Part of that's because I do that regardless of whether I actually break the post down, and it's a lot more annoying to have a response that's just a blob of disorganized text.

If I am disagreeing with you, I generally have a reason for it - either I don't like your idea, or perhaps there's a factual error in it. However, if I have replied to it, I have read your post. Part of the reason I may be "missing your point," though, is because you haven't laid out all the details, or perhaps that your opinions on the subject differ vastly from mine. These things happen, but they don't mean I'm "missing" anything.

Even more annoying is when someone other than the person I've replied to is telling me I've missed the point. :smallfurious: Oh, yeah, because you clearly have perfect knowledge of what the other person's thoughts and intents were when typing up the post I've replied to. :smallsigh:

Well... the thing is, anyone that disagrees with me obviously didn't get my point. I know this because if they did, they would realize how brilliant I am and how lowly and dumb they are, and they would be saying how much they agree with me and how I have enlightened their meager existence. Just sayin...

Back to being somewhat, maybe half-way, alright fine, PARTLY serious, your point brings up something that usually makes me foam at the mouth...

What I hate is when I ask someone a question or make a statement, and the first thing out of their mouth is "You wouldn't understand." Nevermind that I went through a much worse version the exact same problem you are dealing with right now and can probably give you helpful advice on how to cope, you are so quick to assume that your problems are so unique and special that no one else could possibly understand.... That's fine, I'll just go over here and do something fun while you play emo.