Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Collidge fore Dummies

As part of my loan search activities, I signed up on a whim for collegboard.com's SAT question of the day. I figured I would limber up my mind a little bit and see how rusty it's gotten. You can imagine, then, the sudden sweat I break into on seeing answers like this:
Suppose that x quarts of the final mixture of dye will be made. Since it is to be made from equal amounts of orange and green dye, it will consist of 1 over 2x quarts of orange dye and 1 over 2x quarts of green dye. Since the orange dye has 2 parts yellow dye for each 5 parts total dye, 2 over 5 of it is yellow dye. Similarly, 1 over 3 of the green dye is yellow dye. The amount of yellow in the final mixture is given by (2 over 5)(1 over 2)x + (1 over 3)(1 over 2)x = 1 over 5x + 1 over 6x = 11 over 30x quarts

Yeah.

In my defense, only 30% of answerers got this question correct, and it was labeled as "hard." That said, I'm nervous. I thought I'd taken calculus in high school and that would get me out of the pre-calc requirement for the vet tech program. Alas, when I received my transcript, it showed I'd taken trig, and done rather badly at it. (Now that I remember, I used to get into ceaseless arguments with the Russian teacher, because I usually got the right answers, but in a complete bass-ackwards way.) Balls.

It's become worrisome enough that I've started having dreams about it. Last night I was back in college, and couldn't find anything. I had a math class to go to, and while the teacher and classmates were very nice, I'd missed the first class, didn't have the book and was so tired I couldn't concentrate at all. Then I proceeded to wander around campus in what seemed to be a partially-open hospital gown, revealing my ass to all, unable to figure out where I was supposed to be going or where any of my friends were at lunchtime. Curiously, however, it wasn't all panic and exhaustion. I was actually still fairly happy to be blundering about at school, and particularly happy that I'd been assigned a small room to myself with a bed and desk in it in a dorm, where I could nap and study to my heart's content. Strange.

Of course, when I go back to school, I won't have such a room. But I doubt I'll be wearing an actual hospital gown, either.

And the good news is, I still do quite well on the verbal questions. Haven't missed one yet.

Lord, I am in for a change...

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Don't worry. You're smart.

Smart ASS! :) Heee heee heee.

Anonymous said...

I get student dreams all the time. They never end. My favorite student dream: I arrive late for the final. Take one look at it, it's multiple choice -- woo-hoo! But every question is an essay question, and the answers, all numerical. Thus,

1. What themes did the early 20th Century American expatriate authors explore?

A) 23
B) 5
C) .0003
D) 42
E) All of the above.

Stuff like that. I was screaming in the dream, but I woke up laughing :)

claire said...

GAH HORRIBLE.
Not for nothing, but even if you did take pre-calc in high school, i would do it again anyway. Cause you will probably actually USE IT like DAILY, contrary to what we all thought in high school. A refresher would not be a bad idea.

Doug's comment made me laugh..

Anonymous said...

I still dream that I am at college, and enter the lecture hall to discover I am supposed to take my semester exam. It's then that I realize I haven't been to class for weeks, haven't done the reading, and am doomed to failure. I have this dream at least four or five times a year. Weird, huh?

You'll kick ass, no fretting allowed.

evilganome said...

I occasionally have dreams that there was some terrible mix up and I need to take phys. ed. all over again to get my high school diploma. (I graduated from high school 34 years ago, that's how bad it was) I'm surprised I don't have more math nightmares, it was one of my worst classes. You'll be fine.

TigerYogi said...

Good luck Hon! I know you'll do fine! :)

FirstNations said...

i have that dream; i had it last night. highschool, didn't show up on time, didn't have the textbook, looked stupid, was the oldest student, lost in the halls, etc etc yeah crap.
once you get there it will be way less bad than you expected. which i know you know, but still.

that question made me bleed a little out my one ear.