Thursday, January 19, 2012

Straight Bs

My 5th grade teacher once told my parents that I was the most straight-B student she had ever seen.  Since then I have been plagued with a few A-grades, a few C-grades, but mostly B-grades.  Not that there is anything wrong with B-grades.

Im currently attending a month-long school in Florida.  I was learning a bunch of information and I thought it was all clicking.  Unfortunately the passing grade for this school is 85% (that is a B).  The first test had 50 questions.  To prepare for the test, we had a few study groups, tried to get a little more direction out of the instructors, and did a little last minute cramming on the way to class that morning.

We got to class and started the test.  About five questions into the test, I started cursing quietly.  I got a little more confident around the middle of the test, and then started cursing when I thought about how many questions I might have missed.  I dropped my test booklet with the instructor in the back of the room and then went to another instructor to get my answer sheet checked.  To NOT let my 5th grade teacher down, I got eight questions incorrect which means my score was an 84%.  The instructor told me that I would need to stay during lunch and after class for extra training, and would have to retest the following duty day.

I went over the questions I missed.  As I read one of the questions and answers, I said to myself, the answer is obviously B I remember marking it.  Turns out I didn’t know the difference between B and C on that one…

I realized what I was incorrect on and the other seven questions I got wrong.  The only problem was that 25% of the test questions were going to change for the retest.  I studied the day before the retest on my own, then with the other eight people that failed, and again in the morning before the test.

If I were to fail the retest, then I would have a training review board in front of multiple Lieutenant Colonels and full-bird Colonels and I would have to explain to them why I failed the test twice as well as why I thought I should remain in the course, also my leadership back at home would be contacted.

Needless to say when the retest started, I was slightly nervous.  I took the test, however, I was nervous about three questions.  I got those three wrong, but I passed!

Two days later, today, we had our second test.  Only 30 questions on this one, that means that you could only miss four questions and still pass.  I only missed one question!

That is all from Florida for now!  Enjoy!

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