Exam Blues..

Last few weeks have been hectic: exams, quizzes, tests, assignments, seminars and what not - you name one, you got one.. The merciless professors successfully managed to seek their vengeance on us for we enjoyed ourselves in the quick, short vacation, that was Diwali!

So my seventh semester, theoretical exams started today.. By now you think it would mean quite light only, but I still managed to screw up the very first exam.. Its a boring one - Bio-process Principles, one of the rarest subjects this semester that I have good internals in!

My favorite part was supposed to be the 10 marks question based on Stoichiometry, as they usually seem very interesting to me in the class.. Amidst boring questions forwarded to us throughout the syllabus, it is a proactive mathematical workout, with definite answers.. sort of a refuge!

However, usually in my case, before the 'calculated' rise comes a 'trigonometrically tragic' fall.. So much that I enjoy solving mathematical problems, I basically 'SUCK' at them! Yes, mostly my answers come wrong because I'll always have some different highly innovative approach compared to that of other petty commoners, who actually solve them perfectly!

So, we got this question today, based on material balance - where I had to balance the Left Hand Side and Right Hand Side of a biochemical equation and find out the unknown molar coefficients.. A sitter, I know, do NOT remind me.. and what better, I had practiced this particular type of sum more than once! It was a lottery question, where I had hit the JACKPOT baby!

I almost cried out of joy (in my mind.. or at least I did a double barrel roll in there..) It was a guaranteed solid 10 marks.. made me believe that there is a God, watching me from up there!

But then the God decided to ponder over my deeds and..

'Thou swear by my name, you son of bitch!' is what God must have thought, as I got super wrong answers in the first attempt (got negative molar coefficients' values!) of the sum.. I looked at it, seriously this time.. Double barrel roll would have to wait..

Second attempt - same wrong answers.. then I decided to do it fully on the programmable calculator that can solve simultaneous equations with 3 unknowns (its when I'm trying to defend my intellect, that I swear by the technical advancements of my calculator.. what an irony!) However, I got same answers, as that just wasn't of any help!

A frustrated third attempt was made with similar results.

But this made me happy, for it was a convincing evidence of it being a wrong question.. I decided the values must be wrong as even though it seemed that I got the wrong answers, they were the same for every attempt! After all, how many times can a person go wrong? (I should've known better..)

Frustratedly triumphant, I wrote, in capital letters..

'THE QUESTION GIVEN HERE MUST BE WRONG, AS THE ANSWERS COME IN NEGATIVE VALUES.. AND AS THAT JUST CANNOT BE, THANK YOU FOR WASTING MY TIME!'

...

I blasted out of the exam hall as the frustrating ordeal came to a close and immediately consulted my notes (considered, doing that might give me a positive insight over asking the commoners - they usually disappoint me after every maths exam!)

Well, guess what, I was wrong.. everyone else, including myself in the past, have done the sum and got good promisingly positive results for this sum.. What The 'F'!

I think I should try finding who's to check my paper before he starts swearing by thy name..