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Do you guys make tests harder than they actually are?
Posted: 2003-11-17 03:21pm
by Trytostaydead
I have a tendancy to overthink a damn question when in fact it's pretty straightfoward. Damn, it's annoying. I mean, you come up with an answer that's "techincally" correct but not what the question was asking.
Such as my physiology test asked for the numbers of the hydrostatic pressure between the two ends of a capillary. And I just sat there thinking what they mean by hydrostatic pressure since it can be taken about a gazillion ways given the context. The first way I thought about was the obvious drop off of about half from artery to vein. But then I began to think it was a trick. It must've been asking about the hydrostatic pressure in regards to the different pressures outside and in. And models always say it's zero with no difference between the two ends.
And that's the way TTSD's mind works.. it takes the difficult route always.. DAMN YOU BRAIN!
Posted: 2003-11-17 03:25pm
by Admiral Valdemar
In my first year exams for uni, I wrote two sides explaining gel electrophoresis. It's a pity the question asked about the polymerase chain reaction.
Posted: 2003-11-17 03:29pm
by Zac Naloen
my friend does that... he says he doesn't understand what the question wants.. cos he's thinking its something rteally complicated, when in fact its really straight forward and obvious.
Of course sometimes he's right and the question is just goddamned vague.
Posted: 2003-11-17 03:40pm
by Rye
Happens to me alot. Like ages ago, when i went to an induction thing at burger king, they asked where bacteria come from, i was thinking abiogenesis and evolution, they were talking about not washing your hands.
Posted: 2003-11-17 03:43pm
by Colonel Olrik
Oh yeah. Once I came to a point where I deduced in two pages the entire equations for the flow of compressible fluids moving at mach speeds, instead of simply applying the one-line given formulas. Afterwards, the Fluid Mechanics II teacher asked if I was insane.
Posted: 2003-11-17 04:36pm
by Howedar
I've done it quite a bit before, but I'm getting better.
Posted: 2003-11-17 04:39pm
by Soontir C'boath
This is what is happening in my Physics class right now and it is starting to piss me off. Easy concepts and for some reason I OVER THINK THEM!~Jason
Re: Do you guys make tests harder than they actually are?
Posted: 2003-11-17 04:43pm
by Kuroneko
Trytostaydead wrote:I have a tendancy to overthink a damn question when in fact it's pretty straightfoward. Damn, it's annoying. I mean, you come up with an answer that's "techincally" correct but not what the question was asking.
Used to hapen to me a lot, also.
Trytostaydead wrote:Such as my physiology test asked for the numbers of the hydrostatic pressure between the two ends of a capillary. And I just sat there thinking what they mean by hydrostatic pressure since it can be taken about a gazillion ways given the context. The first way I thought about was the obvious drop off of about half from artery to vein. But then I began to think it was a trick. It must've been asking about the hydrostatic pressure in regards to the different pressures outside and in. And models always say it's zero with no difference between the two ends.
You're not quite as bad as this guy:
Neal Stephenson ([i]Cryptonomicon[/i]) wrote:They gave him an intelligence test. The first question on the math part had to do with boats on a river: Port Smith is 100 miles upstream of Port Jones. The river flows at 5 miles per hour. The boat goes through water at 10 miles per hour. How long does it take to go from Port Smith to Port Jones? How long to come back?
Lawrence immediately saw that it was a trick question. You would have to be some kind of idiot to make the facile assumption that the current would add or subtract 5 miles per hour to or from the speed of the boat. Clearly, 5 miles per hour was nothing more than the average speed. The current would be faster in the middle of the river and slower at the banks. More complicated variations could be expected at bends in the river. Basically it was a question of hydrodynamics, which could be tackled using certain well-known systems of differential equations. Lawrence dove into the problem, rapidly (or so he thought) covering both sides of ten sheets of paper with calculations. Along the way, he realized that one of his assumptions, in combination with the simplified Navier-Stokes equations, had led him into an exploration of a particularly interesting family of partial differential equations. ...
Posted: 2003-11-17 04:58pm
by Embracer Of Darkness
I had this problem in school, and still do at college. I even make basic mathematics tests seem difficult to myself.
Posted: 2003-11-17 05:25pm
by Andrew J.
I'll do that every once in a while, but usually I'm not paying enough attention to think about it too much.
Posted: 2003-11-17 10:27pm
by baelfire1945
I do the same thing a lot in my econ course at the UW, but I've gotten better in my other classes.
Posted: 2003-11-17 10:59pm
by Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi
I actually think I make tests easier than they actually are, which is why I get bad grades on them.
Posted: 2003-11-18 12:03am
by kojikun
Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi wrote:I actually think I make tests easier than they actually are, which is why I get bad grades on them.
You sure youre not just a git?
Posted: 2003-11-18 01:01am
by SpacedTeddyBear
On my last calculus exam, I forgot that e^lnx=x . It screwed me so badly....
We're getting back our tests tommorow. I'm scared.
