Chase Dent

Failure

I remember that in the fourth grade I had a math test. The test focused on long division, which at the time was a difficult skill for me. On the day of the test I walked into class, like any other day and I sat down. The room was a small room for the class size. It was hot and had no windows to let air in.

            When the teacher said we were going to take the test I felt extremely nervous. I began to take the test. I just sat there, agonizingly bored, listening to the second hand on the clock tick as time slowly passed.  Each stroke of the pencil felt more and more difficult as I worked. I doubted if I had gotten any of the questions correct. One unbearable hour later, the bell rang and I hadn’t completed the test. I told the teacher I wasn’t done and she said that I would have to finish it the next day.

            Since I thought that I had gotten all the questions wrong I figured when I got home I would study. The school day ended and I got on the bus and rode home. Once I got home, me being my procrastinating self, I waited until night to study.

            I just sat in a chair doing example problem after example problem. I noticed as I was doing them that I off by a digit on some of the problems. I thought to myself, “That’s it! I am wrong by one on the review questions so I must be off by one on the test!”. I decided that was enough studying because I thought I figured out the reason why I knew I was wrong.

            The next morning I awoke and had the upmost confidence in my “discovery” I had made last night. I strode into math class ready to take on the test. I sat patiently all through class waiting for the teacher to ask me to complete the test. Eventually the bell rung. I thought the teacher forgot about the test so reminded the teacher. She told me I could take my test in my next class when I finished my class work.

            After the teacher told me when I would take my test I went to lunch. I walked into the overcrowded and insanely loud cafeteria to eat and thirty minutes later I went to science class and sat down. I sat and worked through science and when I was done I walked up to the teacher and said, “I need to go to my math teacher and get a test I need to take.”

            “Okay, take the hall pass”, my science teacher replied.

            “Thanks”, I responded.

            I walked down the hall and walked into the math room and said I was ready to finish the test. The teacher handed my test to me and told me to come back when I was done. I walked confidently back to the science room and sat down. I finished the last problems and then I subtracted one from every solution. My reasoning at the time was that if I was wrong by one on the review problems I did, I must have been a digit off on the test.

            Once I finished I walked to the teacher’s desk and told her I was done and had to turn the test in. My teacher told me to go ahead and I strolled back the math room.  I turned in my test and walked out feeling confident that I passed because my previous answers must have been wrong.  

            The next day I walked into math class, the teacher was handing the graded tests out. I sat in my seat patiently awaiting my grade hoping that all of my work and review paid off and I would receive an excellent grade.

            Eventually the teacher placed my test on the table. The test was face-down and I excitedly flipped it over. To my horror there wasn’t an A brightly displayed in red ink on my paper, but a large F written in ink screaming failure. As I examined my paper I realized that on the paper all of my answers were incorrect by one. I was shocked by my results. I saw that my original, half erased answers, were the correct ones. The rest of the day I was in a dazed state as I came to terms with my failure.

            I have since learned to be more confident in my abilities. If I had gone with my original answers I would have passed the test with an exceptionally good score. I now know that for the most part, I should trust my first instinct and go with it because it’s most likely to be correct.