habits

I am slowly working through this math situation. Yesterday, I and two of my classmates spent seven hours in the library (four of them with the math tutor) completing our second take home test. I received my last test back, it was a 98%. I was really happy about this. Hopefully I do just as well on this one. I completed everything and the tutor said that it is all right, so hopefully we will see. This professor has decided to give us three of our four tests as take home tests. Unfortunately, the test that will be taken in class is our final. Truthfully, if I had to take either of these tests in the classroom, I would fail. I'm not sure that I would even get one problem right. It was really hard, and none of the material was taught in class. The tutor agrees with us, and she said that she'd speak to our professor about it. Hopefully it will become better in time for the final. Us three students are very proud of ourselves for our hard work on this test. We know that we will do okay because of the effort that we put into it. It's a great feeling. On the contrary, a bad feeling arose when fellow students asked to cheat off of my test.

Earlier in Lit class we talked about the pressures of cheating. Rebekah Nathan didn't lie, it's there. Students do cheat, especially when it's as easy as copying a test for take home. I opted not to share my test because I worked so hard. I felt cheated myself if someone else was to get the answers in 10 minutes for what took me three days. If the other student didn't take the time, I wasn't about to give up mine. I know that the other students that I worked with would feel the same way. I don't like that feeling, because I know what it is like to be confused and want instant help. Althoug I've been there, I don't accept this as someone I should pity. It was already hard to say no, but the hardest part was that the girl asking was my roommate. She said "Hey, can I see your test for math? I completely can't figure mine out." I told her that I didn't have it with me to avoid confrontation, but I know she knew what I meant. I couldn't leave it at that though. I felt terrible because all students have been worried about grades and stressed out, so I sat with her for an hour or so showing her examples of problems in the book like the ones on the test so that she could figure it out on her own. I know she didn't fully appreciate this, but it was the best I could do. The part that made me most angry, is when she finished (so quickly) she's now out for the night partying. This leads to the question of how seriously students take their college education. I don't believe that many students take it too seriously at all. Judging by my roommate experience, one is always out partying and throwing things together at the last minute. Although she still gets A's and B's, I don't feel as if she's learning anything for real. Roommate #2 is very smart, but writes papers at the last minute as well. She'll study for an hour and get an A. It bugs me because I need to spend days studying, but that's just how I work. I guess it all depends.