Math Test :/

So far, in my approximate 20 months or so in Hwa Chong, academically things have been pretty smooth for me. I didn't really worry too much about any tests whatsoever, and I wasn't actually extremely nervous about the results after the test. However, just recently, I had possibly the most difficult test so far.

It was a math test, and I just took it two days ago, on Wednesday. It was about geometry, more specifically congruence and similarity of triangles, and certain circle properties. All along, geometry was one of my weak areas in Math, as I found it hard to be able to look at the diagram and visualise to solve the question. Therefore, I was pretty nervous and worried for this test, and I studied rather hard for it.

Now, I have this extremely bad habit in math; when I encounter a difficult problem in any test paper, I tend to panic during the test, and as a result am unable to concentrate on the other questions, costing me precious marks in the test. Fortunately, the first two questions were mildly acceptable, and I was quite relieved that I was doing pretty ok in my weakest area of math. However, when I reached the third question, I was stumped. I managed to comprehend the diagram, but when it came to answering the questions, I was absolutely befuddled. I had the feeling I was missing something, but I just couldn't put my finger on it! I tried to look at the question from multiple angles, but it was to no avail. The question seemed like absolute gibberish to me, and I made the bad mistake of working on the question for a long twenty minutes. Even after twenty minutes, I still failed to solve the question, and even worse, it was already 11, and the test ended at 11.30; I also had 4 more questions to go, excluding the question I was stuck on. By that time, I was already extremely panicky, and to add to my woes, Question 3 was worth a whopping 12 marks, and as the test was upon 40, losing the full 12 marks would seal my fate to an A2 at the most. The next 3 questions were manageable, but the last question, Question 7 was another mind-boggling problem. Like Question 3, I simply could not find the solution to the question; I felt that I was missing something painfully obvious, but I just couldn't spot it. By then, there were about 5 more minutes left, and knowing that I would not be able to solve these two problems within the short span of time, I hurriedly did some working on the paper, hoping to salvage some method marks to increase my grade. Although there were only 2 difficult questions out of 7, the painful irony was that these two questions accounted for 19 marks, which was almost half of the total 40 marks of the test paper. Therefore, it is easy to see why I got so panicky during the test.

Although I was extremely frustrated and disappointed during the test, after the test, I felt like this was a wake-up call, and a rather apt one too. Admittedly, I was probably playing more than I was supposed to these days, slacking a little more on my studies, even in Term 3, which can be described as the final hurdle before the end of year examinations. This test helped me realise that academic life wasn't as smooth-sailing as I had previously thought, and in order to consistently succeed, I needed to put in a great deal of hard work. Soon after the test, I reasoned to myself that the test was already over, and there was no point harping over something that cannot be changed. The test was over after all, wasn't it? What's the point of being all sad and moody over something that cannot be changed? I decided to get over this disappointment and work towards the next test. I'm expecting a B4 or so, worst case C5, but I have decided not to be too demoralised by this. The most important thing now, in my opinion, is to actually get over this, and work even harder for the next test. Most of my classmates also found the test extremely difficult, but for me, I do not see this as a hindrance to my school life. Rather, I see this as a stepping stone for me to work harder, and for me to do even better in future tests, regardless of subject.

Cheers,
Roystan