Mathematics has always been a subject that I loved. Ever since I was a child I loved Math and always tried to be a step ahead by always trying to learn new topics and go further in the class. In Jamaica to be placed into High School you must take an exam consisting of 4 tests, Math, English, Science and Social Studies with topics ranging from 4th grade to 6th grade. My highest test result was the one for Math getting above 90%. I was then placed into high school and Math was not my strongest subject in my first year. Actually, I ended up failing it and I could not determine the reason but I had to stop worrying and move on.
The next 4 years, my math grade improved significantly, rarely getting a grade below 85, this, in my school was an A. At first I put the blame to my low grade in my fist year on my teacher but he then taught me again in my final two years and I came to the conclusion that it wasn't 100% his fault but I couldn't say that there was no blame on him at all. In the Caribbean the final exams were done in 11th grade, your final year of high school. I did my Math exam a year before, getting a distinction which was the highest grade achievable. Since I did it privately, I had to do it over in 11th grade and I ended up getting the same grade. This came as no surprise to me.
I recently did Advanced Proficiency exams in Math as well as Chemistry, Computer Science and Communication Studies and to my surprise although I passed, Math was my lowest grade and I was very angry with myself. I even tried to query my grade but could not get all the documents in on time so I plan on doing it over this year. I have now realized that the reason why I didn't achieve the highest was not because I didn't know the topics, in fact I understood the topics quicker than most people, but it was because the practice I thought I did was just not enough and I suffered the consequences and learnt from my mistakes and I do not plan to let any time get away from me this year.
The next 4 years, my math grade improved significantly, rarely getting a grade below 85, this, in my school was an A. At first I put the blame to my low grade in my fist year on my teacher but he then taught me again in my final two years and I came to the conclusion that it wasn't 100% his fault but I couldn't say that there was no blame on him at all. In the Caribbean the final exams were done in 11th grade, your final year of high school. I did my Math exam a year before, getting a distinction which was the highest grade achievable. Since I did it privately, I had to do it over in 11th grade and I ended up getting the same grade. This came as no surprise to me.
I recently did Advanced Proficiency exams in Math as well as Chemistry, Computer Science and Communication Studies and to my surprise although I passed, Math was my lowest grade and I was very angry with myself. I even tried to query my grade but could not get all the documents in on time so I plan on doing it over this year. I have now realized that the reason why I didn't achieve the highest was not because I didn't know the topics, in fact I understood the topics quicker than most people, but it was because the practice I thought I did was just not enough and I suffered the consequences and learnt from my mistakes and I do not plan to let any time get away from me this year.
