"I know math and the subject very well, but I don't apply myself in class so I don't get great grades."

I heard this excuse once in awhile. But I think its nonsense most of time because I think most cases the person tries to admit he's doing poorly while trying to look smarter than he really is. Thoughts?

i think i know it, but i don't, so i screw up, thats my excuse

my thought: if they know math, thay may not appyly them selves in class or doing homework, but thay still should do well on the test. i mean, if thay "already know it", why should thay apply themselfves in every day practive?

Except that they DON'T do well on the tests.

Bottom line: If you don't do well on a decently written test, you don't know the material. That's what tests do, they test your knowledge of the material.

For me it's "I know I am not that great at math period, but I could be a lot better if I applied myself."

I always got good grades on the tests, but completely ignored everything else..

I wish when I was in school there were a way to take a test on a subject, prove you already know it, get your credit, and move the freak on...

Would have saved me alot of time...

I'm pretty much like that, too. Proved it on tests. Great test grades, but I still often failed the class. Proof that grades do not reflect a person's knowledge and that the grading system is pathetically constructed. Why the hell should I fail classes when I prove on tests that I know the ****? Would someone please explain that to me?

It's just the man keeping me down.

I'm that way with every subject. Why bother applying myself if all I have to do is have it told to me once. I ace tests yet don't bother with homework and end out with a b average.

JediKirby

Wait till you get to college. Bahahaha.

Yeah.

That strategy fails to work pretty often.

I should know. =(

Tests confirm if you know it or not?..Not really, some people can draw blanks on tests, might get too nervous and end up forgetting, etc... I practically failed high school english, but that is because i really didn't apply myself. I could write amazing essays if I wanted, but when it came to school, I just didn't care.

I ended up writing a lot of essays for my girlfriend's massage therapy classes (which are very hard if you know what massage therapy entails learning/researching) and ended up getting 90's on all of them. I tried for those, because I cared.

In most cases, I'd say the excuse is bull****, but I'm sure there are actually people out there who know the material, but are just too lazy to do any of the work.

But isn't the blanking out and nervousness, most cases, the panic from realizing that they don't really know the material?

except for on the countless occasions that i've gone into a test, written the answers, then come out and thinking about them. realising that some of them were completely wrong, then getting the right answer in my head.

tests just make you weird, especially those horrible 3 hour ones.

No. In one of my exams a week or so ago I managed to forget fundamental facts that i've known since I was 15. I spent about 3 hours staring at the paper, knowing how to do everything except the critical first step. It was an easy paper, but exam-room syndrome means I probably failed.

Personally, in math I am very good at it. I understand how to do it often times a lot better than the rest of the class, and I'm in AP Calculus (BC test). On numerous occasions I've helped several of my classmates to try and understand some part or just help with a problem. But I honestly suck at tests. For the simple reason that I am slow and methodical when I do math. Unlike some whizzes out there, I take my time doing math, and its not something I can really change. So on tests I tend to do well on the problems but I almost always run out of time. Hell, in elementery school they forced me down to the intermediate math class because I was "struggling" with the math. I just wasn't able to do their stupid little timed math tables as fast as anyone else. I knew all the answers but I was just too slow to get it all done in the 60 seconds they gave.

So yeah, that's why I'm not on Math Team, didn't do so hot on the math portion of the SAT, and didn't do so hot on the AMC.

As pointed out above, No.

Granted, there's test anxiety and other things mentioned, but for most, when you fail a test, it's because you simply don't know the material. Unless the test is poorly written, which in my first post, I excluded.

Eh..Not really.

For me it's: I could learn the material and get straight a's in math, but I don't apply myself enough to learn the material.

How so? If you're not suffering from test anxiety (this includes mind blanks, et al) and the test is well written, how can you fail it and still know the material? Sans purposly not filling in the right answers, but that's irrelevant. Honestly, what you're saying falls under the stigma of an angsty "fight the machine!" teen attitude instead of taking responsibility for your own actions.

1. I have tourette's syndrome.

2. You can have test anxiety.

3. You can have no syndrome's, no test anxiety, and just not really care

4. You can have no test anxiety, yet you get confused and think one thing, put it down as the answer, only to realise after you hand it in that your answer was incorrect.

All I have to say about that excuse is, if you don't apply yourself, then you can't possibly prove your statement of your strong knowledge of the subject.

Still, things can become strange... how does one english paper I write come out with a 85/B- when I applied myself to the fullest, and then one I totally BS'ed come off with an 95/A? Granted, there was a two year gap between them, but it was the same teacher... maybe I'm just better at Bs-ing than actually writing...

Anyway...

I don't prefer to exercise the usage of larger, more sophisticated vocabulary for fear of sounding like a bombastic fool.

My excuse to blow off vocabulary

Me too. I never do homework, I got 89% in my report card. Fair enough for me.

26 on my ACT which is pretty good, yet my H.S. gpa was a 2.7 since i didn't give a **** about school junior and senior year. Out of my graduating class (70 some kids) I came in 10th from the bottom in terms of GPA (that year) but I was in 6th best on the ACT... O well

Blaming your disability is lame.

And this is coming from someone with a disability.

Excuse me?

1. I'm not blaming my disability.

2. Do you have a ****ing clue what Tourette's Syndrome includes? It's not just the typical blurting of swear words every 5 seconds. I have a learning disability as well, making me slower at learning things, with Tourette's Syndrome also comes ADD or ADHD, and sometimes OCD, which I have both of. Regardless of what you know/think, Tourette's can affect someone's ability to write a test and excell academically at times, so get your facts straight before you accuse me of both blaming my disability, and claiming it's not a valid excuse anyways.

It happens all the time on physics and math exams. You know the material, but the professors feel it's necessary to make the problems extremely complex and difficult to do.

there was also that time i got real stoned and drank a bottle of vodka before an exam.

oh boy did i need to piss.

man, homework is worth a lot more at my school. I don't do any homework, ace most tests, and end up with a c or low b. pretty much the only tests I might fail would be in enligh for books I haven't read, but I can write kickass essays even if I haven't read the books if I pay attention in seminar. I'm good with essays. Anyway, not a complaint, I don't work for the grades, so i don't get good ones, but where I go, if you don't do homework, you get a B or C. and I don't do homework

Same here. I hate it when people use excessive large words that no one knows, like 'quixotic' and 'temperamental', two examples. For one, I usually won't understand them, and for two, it makes them sound really annoyingly smarmy. :/

what kinda people do you know?

i would bet 99% of my friends know what temperamental means.

Temperamental isn't a hard word to understand, even without reading a dictionary. As long as you're over 16 you should understand its meaning at least by then. Hopefully.

Temperamental suits me since it sums up my personality. At least one side of it.

heh, I kind of use big words in everyday speech. but not really in an obnixious way (I don't think), it's not like I go around trying to think of the biggest word I can to say what I mean, it's just what naturally comes out, probably for readin so much.

There's a select small group of people who hear the word 'test' and freak out, and are unable to function.

I'm guessing 95% of the people on here who say they're that person are lying, and just don't apply themselves...meaning they dont' know the material. Seriously, it's not anybody else's fault that you don't apply yourself, and you're not still smart if you don't. Knowing said material is what makes you smart. Really, I mean I've taken 2 years of german, never applied myself, and gotten C's (barely). I'm not going to go around stating that I know German because I know I don't know the material--and my test grades show that.

The only subject I could see you saying that with is MAYBE HS level physics. Damn tricky bastards make it so that you could mess up on one thing and fudge the whole test.

Anyways, it's as simple as--stop making excuses. You don't know the material, you're not smart, so stop acting like you're so damned smart when you don't really know the material. That's what makes you smart. Saying that "Oh, I could know it if I tried" doesn't make a difference one way or another...when you don't know it.

I probably repeated myself many times, so yeah, I'll write that off as tiredness considering the fact that I just woke up from a four hour nap.

1. I said excluding things like test anxiety. Tourette's is certainly another story. I'm talking about situations without complications.

2. See #1.

3. If you have that attitude, you probably never learned the material in the first place. If you have a "pfft school is for losers" attitude or similar, there's no way you would have actually known the material in the first place. Voiding the "I'm smart/know the material and I just don't care" thing.

4. I would group that under test anxiety or lack of test taking strategies.



If you mean unfair or poorly written questions, as I said, that doesn't count, become some professors are just incompetant. If mean one of those "I knew how to do it but the test was way too hard" probably means you really DIDN'T know it, or didn't practice it nearly enough.

I used to blame the test, the professor or other factors to try to cope with the fact that I just didn't know what I was doing. If you study the material and practice all the problems you'll be tested on, there's no reason you shouldn't ace it (excluding reasons outlined above).

Bottom line: If the test is fair, you don't have test anxiety or any disorders, and you KNOW the material, you should ace the test. Getting confused about the question (provided it is fair and well written, as said) is no excuse for getting it wrong. Most professors will let you ask for clarification about the wording anyway - and if you are constantly confused about each problem on each test, there's something else wrong. Like, dyslexia.

I get around a 94-96 average GPA, without studying a damn bit. I just get to the point where if I can get above a 3.5GPA without doing jack, I just don't feel the motive to spend 2 hours to study for a Chem test to get a 98 instead of a 93. Frankly, I'm happy with what I get.

I do somewhat have a case of test anxiety. Not so much I worry about it, but I always forget something that seems to be big on the test.

I really don't know what would happen if I really applied myself to school. And frankly, although it makes me sound like a lazy ***, I don't really want too. If I have to, I can defintly apply myself (like I do at work and such). But I'm content with how I do now.

And at this point, I'll draw some wisdom from good ol' Calvin and Hobbes. Not so much on this topic, but relating to education. He points out how he got a "D" for getting a 75% on a test. When you think about it, knowing 3/4ths of the material is a lot, and he points out that if everything and everyone operated at 75% capacity, the world would be incredibly different. Good Ol' Calvin and Hobbes, how I miss thee.

Heh. That's actually an interesting idea.