Life Update
by shiningsunnyday, Sep 17, 2016, 5:40 PM
So the previous post is quite a honest description of my life past midnight. As for what goes on during the day... here's how things are going.
School
Relationship with girls
Math
School
AP Comp Sci
AP Chem
Multivariable
AP Physics 1
AP Stats
So the project grade for HTML web design came out - I received an astonishing 23/30. My jaw dropped in astonishment, and I rushed right to the mythical door inside which lives the 7-foot beast that assigned me the grade.
As I entered, he was watching Miss America or something, and he quickly waved me goodbye - telling me to come the next Monday.
"But-"
"I forgot your rubric at home. Come back next Monday."
Over the weekend, I went through all 5 stages of grief - from denial to acceptance. Maybe I'm not so smart after all. Maybe I shouldn't have ever considered pursuing computer science - the same field my dad pursued, maybe I'm just not smart enough.
The next Monday, I blasted Fantastic Baby on my (now-functioning) earphones as I melodramatically approached the door.
Removing my earphones, I entered.
As I entered, he was watching Miss America or something, and he quickly waved me goodbye - telling me to come the next Monday.
"But-"
"I forgot your rubric at home. Come back next Monday."
Over the weekend, I went through all 5 stages of grief - from denial to acceptance. Maybe I'm not so smart after all. Maybe I shouldn't have ever considered pursuing computer science - the same field my dad pursued, maybe I'm just not smart enough.
The next Monday, I blasted Fantastic Baby on my (now-functioning) earphones as I melodramatically approached the door.
Removing my earphones, I entered.
Conversation (somewhat exaggerated) wrote:
Me: Mr. M, about my uh.. um..
Mr. M: WHAT? *watching the news on Youtube without pausing*
Me: My grade...
Mr. M: Oh my bad it was a typo should've been an A (27/30).
Me: Wha-
Mr. M: Must've mis-clicked. Now get out.
Me: Can I see which points I missed tho-
Mr. M: You already have an A. Now get out.
What a troll.
Mr. M: WHAT? *watching the news on Youtube without pausing*
Me: My grade...
Mr. M: Oh my bad it was a typo should've been an A (27/30).
Me: Wha-
Mr. M: Must've mis-clicked. Now get out.
Me: Can I see which points I missed tho-
Mr. M: You already have an A. Now get out.
What a troll.
AP Chem
I have to work harder on this one - since I'm the youngest in the class and never took an introductory chem course, but I've been slipping by reading the textbook and stuff. There was a test last Friday, and in preparation I went to my teacher to ask a long list of questions I've accumulated from doing the worksheets/readings.
After this conversation, I realized that honestly, the teachers here don't give a **** about your interest level for the content or your learning. They're just concerned about doing their job and making sure the students don't fail so they can get paid and do something else - like watching Miss America.
Conversation wrote:
Ms. M: Hurry up, I've got a meeting to rush to.
Me: Um ok so um what is the trend in the um first ionization energy across transition metals
Ms. M: Not on the test. Next.
Me: But-
Ms. M: Next!
Me: Why does the melting point of metals increase down the group?
Ms. M: I'll let you think about this yourself.
Me: Is it because the London dispersion for-
Ms. M: I'm not going to answer. Next.
Me: Is it on the test tho-
Ms. M: If it was, I would've told you the answer! Next!
Me: Um ok so um what is the trend in the um first ionization energy across transition metals
Ms. M: Not on the test. Next.
Me: But-
Ms. M: Next!
Me: Why does the melting point of metals increase down the group?
Ms. M: I'll let you think about this yourself.
Me: Is it because the London dispersion for-
Ms. M: I'm not going to answer. Next.
Me: Is it on the test tho-
Ms. M: If it was, I would've told you the answer! Next!
After this conversation, I realized that honestly, the teachers here don't give a **** about your interest level for the content or your learning. They're just concerned about doing their job and making sure the students don't fail so they can get paid and do something else - like watching Miss America.
Multivariable
Still trivial, but on the day of the test the sub happened to be my 8th grade teacher who moved to Switzerland to teach but came back this year. He told me how I was special back in 8th grade - being the first person to complete all of geometry after getting placed out of Alg 1. Pretty special moment.
Apparently this unit we're finally going to use integrals to do some cool stuff, so yay no more reason todaydream about E zone out of class.
Apparently this unit we're finally going to use integrals to do some cool stuff, so yay no more reason to
AP Physics 1
I'm starting to really get upset about this class. I got rejected 2 weeks ago for trying to switch to Physics C, so I'm really going to be stuck in this class for the whole year. We're still doing kinematic equations, which is just read question - pick an equation - plug and chug. Upon flipping through the textbook, it looks like what we're doing this semester won't get harder than circular motion and torque, stuff I already learned the past spring break using my Morin book for mechanics, stuff we even did in Multivariable already. In my conversation with the Physics C teacher, he kept insisting I didn't have the problem-solving skills and critical thinking skills necessary for the class, since Physics C is supposedly more theoretical in nature, and how students are all struggling. I kept asking for him to at least allow me to demonstrate to him I have the capabilities, but, which were futile. I weep for the state of gifted education in the US...
Also I freaking have a C in this class for not turning in some assignments (which even after I turned in 10 days ago, he hasn't been able to grade due to being "too busy"). Refer to my post last week to how a typical class looks like.
Also I freaking have a C in this class for not turning in some assignments (which even after I turned in 10 days ago, he hasn't been able to grade due to being "too busy"). Refer to my post last week to how a typical class looks like.
AP Stats
So the first test (which I ended up getting an A- in after some more additional arguing) kind of swept the whole class and the second test was much easier.
Trivial.
Trivial.
Relationship with girls
Math
Today I mocked 2010 AIME II and got an 11/13 (answered 13, two sillies, one of which was off-by-one). For reference, USAMO cutoff was 208.5 in 2010.
Yay so my computation skills are finally returning. I'm starting to realize the nature of AIMEs - they're honestly more annoying rather than hard. Aside from P15 and P12, the problems were all straightforward and bashy in nature. At this stage, the difference-maker in my score is really how fussy I am with my steps and my mental stamina (which varies with how much sleep I get, as shown by the difference of my score with 6 hours compared to 11 hours of sleep). My only concern is the issue of stamina, cause my messed up circadian cycle forced me to take a nap at the 2-hour mark, so I ended up finishing the last hour a bit later. If any of you have any strategies for stamina, comment below!
For those who're trying to improve their AIME scores, I suggest once you can get a score of 7 (sillies included, and also take a recent one as in post-2010, excluding the 2011s, 2016 II (hard) and 2013, 2015 II (easy) AIMEs), there's no point to keep doing AMC/AIME problems - definitely start doing some olympiad stuff like JMOs, old ISL AGCN 1's, WOOT, or ACoPS. This is essentially the same philosophy as V_Enhance's "Against Perfect Scores."
As for now, back to more WOOT/olympiad problems!
Also, some shameless advertising.
Yay so my computation skills are finally returning. I'm starting to realize the nature of AIMEs - they're honestly more annoying rather than hard. Aside from P15 and P12, the problems were all straightforward and bashy in nature. At this stage, the difference-maker in my score is really how fussy I am with my steps and my mental stamina (which varies with how much sleep I get, as shown by the difference of my score with 6 hours compared to 11 hours of sleep). My only concern is the issue of stamina, cause my messed up circadian cycle forced me to take a nap at the 2-hour mark, so I ended up finishing the last hour a bit later. If any of you have any strategies for stamina, comment below!
For those who're trying to improve their AIME scores, I suggest once you can get a score of 7 (sillies included, and also take a recent one as in post-2010, excluding the 2011s, 2016 II (hard) and 2013, 2015 II (easy) AIMEs), there's no point to keep doing AMC/AIME problems - definitely start doing some olympiad stuff like JMOs, old ISL AGCN 1's, WOOT, or ACoPS. This is essentially the same philosophy as V_Enhance's "Against Perfect Scores."
As for now, back to more WOOT/olympiad problems!
Also, some shameless advertising.
This post has been edited 3 times. Last edited by shiningsunnyday, Sep 22, 2016, 3:34 AM