Friday 27 April 2012
Procrastinating, when I should be revising for the upcoming IB exams.
I used to love multiple choice papers more than any other paper, until I took the close to "real" one during my January trial exams. *Nervous laugh* Here's the thing, back when multiple choice questions actually made sense, there was a chance for you to do a 50/50 or get the answer through a process of elimination. Not anymore. In the IB, every single answer they give you, A, B, C, D all makes sense. You see a question and you don't know the answer. No fear, I shall use the process of elimination which I learnt as a kid. Then you try inserting A into the question, that makes sense. You try B, it makes sense too. You try C, oh that doesn't sound too wrong either and lastly, D, it doesn't sound wrong at all.
And then, it's followed by a mental breakdown on the spot, but that's not just for one question. It's for every question. Unless you have memorized the entire (biology) textbook word for word and can apply that to questions (two parts involved, see), you are basically going to end up feeling that exact same, feeling of despair for pretty much 30, 40 times repeatedly. By the time you are done with that first paper, you are pretty much already feeling like you have screwed the entire paper and you would be starting off the next paper feeling at an absolute, high.
Now, being an A1 HL english student, I do feel quite confident with my language skills be it writing or reading but wow, the one thing that never fails to confuse me - questions on the maths studies paper. The thing about math studies is, they spare you all the crazy complicated algebra but of course, they have to bring in all this symbols and logic. I swear, the first time I got transferred down to maths studies and walked into the class (they were doing venn diagrams and truth tables I believe), I just stared, blank. It's like a whole new language. Missing one class of math studies is equivalent to travelling 5,000 years back into the past.
The thing I don't understand is, why. Why does the question have to be phrased in a way that just completely, sounds, crazy? Oh and to make things worse, you just want to rip the paper in half after, realizing the answer and that what the question was asking was something very, very, simple. I can't quite give an example but all you math studies people out there, you know what I mean.
Another thing that bothers me and I'm not sure if it's just me, but does anyone notice the little marks they put in brackets on the side at the end of every question? Yeah, that. Again, very misleading. I can spend 10 minutes staring at part a of question 1 having no clue how to do the question. Then comes a magical moment when I figure it out, only to realize it's worth 1 mark which then makes me think, no working is required so, my answer is wrong. Or, 1 mark being, this is such an easy question that the answer has got to be equally easy and straightforward. Or, the other way around. You solve a 3 mark question easily and then start thinking, it's 3 marks, it should not be that easy.
The way the Psychology Paper 1 has been structured is another funny one. Basically, you would have to answer 3 SAQs and pick from the 3 questions given, 1 to answer for the essay. Now, you may know the entire psychology book and based on the overall content you know, you might just be on a level 6. But if you go into the exam hall and somehow, you were unlucky enough to get just one SAQ that you are unsure about, well there just went that level 6/7. You, are, screwed. I've been there, and done that so I speak from personal experience. My January mocks, I knew almost everything that I thought would appear on that paper from the brain localization, memory, stereotyping to cultural norms and dimensions. And then, that very first question and I don't think anyone will forget that one. That question, stopped us all.
Outline the principles that define the cognitive level of analysis.
One word in my head: shit.
From that point on, everything just went downhill. Who would've thought that one of the questions would end up being about the principles of the cognitive level of analysis aye.
So those are just a few little worries that I'm going to bring into the exam hall with me and I'm hoping PLEASE, don't let history repeat itself in this actual May IB Exam. I do not want to be stunned when I go into that exam hall again staring at questions thinking, "what?". Or, feel like I'm at the bottom of some deep pit because whichever answer A, B, C or D sounds equally wrong, or correct.
PLEASE.
And don't worry, these IB related rants will stop once I'm free from the program on May 18th 2012. I think so, unless it still haunts me at night.
lol'd, 13:42
