Yesterday, I got the results from the math skills test that I had to take at NCSU last week. I'd mentioned in a previous post that I'd planned spend the weekend prior to the test reviewing, but I gave up on that idea when I realized how hopeless it was. After 20 years of successfully avoiding polynomial equations, cosines, calculations of conical surface areas, and the rest of it, a few days of light review was going to do nothing for me. It turned out to be just as well that I didn't invest as much time preparing as I'd planned: while I might have been able to answer 2 or 3 questions that I skipped on the test, the majority of the questions left unanswered involved trigonometry, which hadn't even been on my agenda for review.
So, the result: It was a near-total massacre. We're talking Little Bighorn.
The test is scored so that one point is awarded for each correct answer while a quarter-point is deducted for each incorrect response to discourage blind guessing. Out of 50 questions, I answered only 18. And of those 18, I only answered 7 correctly. Ouch. Final score (rounded): 5 out of a possible 50.
Still, it was enough to allow me to take precalculus instead of having to start back at basic algebra. But who knows: it might be that a month from now, I'll be wishing I'd taken basic algebra anyway. As with so many things in my life at the moment, we'll see.
Wow, that's rough. Good for you for hanging in there, though. Math is scary!
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