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 Stupidest mistakes on an exam? 
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Okay, we've all had these.
These are mistakes you make on an exam, and you're ready to kick yourself immediately after you hand in the paper.

Don't get what I mean? Let's do an easy one (for me to recall):
Amino Acid sequence: C-H-I-M-P
(Just some backgroung - 20 main amino acids, each one has a name, a 3 letter abbreviation, and a one-letter abbreviation, along with certain numerical constants)

C - Cysteine, got that perfectly, even got that pesky number.
H - Histidine, got the number, even got the imidizole ring to attach,
I - Isoleucine. Got the correct branching and length.
M - Methionine, very simple.
P -

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Phe stands for Phenylalanine - which is a benzene ring. Pro is Proline - where the side chain swings up and attaches to the nitrogen.
Phe in the one-letter abbreviation, is F. P is proline. Wouldn't you guess what I put on?

And during the exam, I even thought "gee, I was expecting a Proline on this exam - unusual that she gives Histidine twice, and no Proline"

Luckily, it may have cost me only 2 points, but when you fight for these points, every one counts.



Go ahead - post yours.


Mon Oct 03, 2011 7:35 pm
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Pokemon Master
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I don't know about my stupidest mistake, but my most frustrating ones are... hm.

Last year, I took AP Calculus AB. It was a rigorous course, but I toughed it out, and wound up getting a 5 on the exam. Now, I'm taking BC with the same teacher; this first semester is really boring for me, because I know a good portion of it already. But I almost always miss something on the daily quizzes, by forgetting a negative, or making some really retarded mistake. It's so frustrating :frustrated:

Other frustrating ones are when you overthink the question. For instance, when you think of the answer, but instantly dismiss it because it's too simple an answer or something. Those always make me feel stupid.

So, yeah... there's some really bad mistakes I've made before. Ideally, these will disappear with time, however :p

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Mon Oct 03, 2011 8:21 pm
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Meh, I can't say I'm the smartest tool in the shed, so P-L's post went right over my head. For someone like me who hasn't even bothered to study something like that. Yet, I suppose I never had the chance before, so I won't flatter him with how smart and intelligent he is. ;o

I'd say my greatest weakness was exams. I could make bundles of errors just because I'm nervous. Plus I can sit there reading one question about ten times in a row in my head, worry about how much time I've wasted already, how much time I have left, if I'll even answer all the questions or not to even reach the last page, wondering why I'm sitting here when I know everyone beside, behind, and in front of me are all smarter --- and it could be the simpliest question in the world.

I can't say I remember a "simple" mistake. But I just could never relax under a timer and under pressure. It's a life skill I was never good at.

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Mon Oct 03, 2011 9:58 pm
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Haha when I was in the first grade I slipped up in a spelling bee and spelled "dark" "D-A-R-C-K" and immediately blurted out "whoa wait no it's 'D-A-R-K!!!!'"

Still got that boot.

Next year, though, I got third place at county. The next year, second. For a while I didn't do 'em, then made a comeback and bit everyone's heads off at county on "persuasive" (at some point they stopped doing school spelling bees though, beyond "okay best spellers in the grade, fight it out") in seventh grade and went to state. Didn't place or anything, though, "exacerbate" got me. Don't think I did it in eighth. Maybe. "Homage" seems more like a word I'd've missed in sixth and those middle school years are all in a lump at this point.

Those were the times. The grandeur! The splendor! The obnoxious paper cut-outs of bee clip art! Ahaaaa... Now I'm just like some kind of guru people go to when they need to spell things in their text messages, if they care. Or maybe they're trying to avoid having "ceiling" become "cerebellum." I dunno.

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Mon Oct 03, 2011 10:41 pm
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I don't know about my stupidest mistake on an exam. I took AP chemistry and got a 4 on the exam all because of things like a missed negative or a misread graph, really easy and simple things that I just looked over. Conscept wise I knew all the material it's just the little things. I also got a 5 on my APcalc exam but on the tests in class I would overlook something and get a lower grade. Oh well what's done is done and life goes on.

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Tue Oct 04, 2011 9:42 am
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I'm sure nothing beats skipping a question by accident. -cough-someoneneedscontacts-cough-

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Sun Mar 25, 2012 12:50 pm
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The last page was stuck to the back of the second last page, it had the questions that were worth the most. My teachers look.
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Fri Apr 20, 2012 2:20 pm
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Pokemon Master
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One of my History Exams wrote:
5. C
6. C
7. C
8. C
9. C
10. C
11. C
12. C
13. C
14. C
15. C
16. C
17. C
18. C
19. C
20. C
21. C
22. C
23. C
---
94. ~
95. ~
96. ~
97. ~
98. ~
99. ~
100. ~

The tildes are when I fell asleep and drooled. I was tired. I stopped mid-93, which was a short answer.

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Fri Apr 20, 2012 6:04 pm
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Samurott wrote:
One of my History Exams wrote:
5. C
6. C
7. C
8. C
9. C
10. C
11. C
12. C
13. C
14. C
15. C
16. C
17. C
18. C
19. C
20. C
21. C
22. C
23. C
---
94. ~
95. ~
96. ~
97. ~
98. ~
99. ~
100. ~

The tildes are when I fell asleep and drooled. I was tired. I stopped mid-93, which was a short answer.

My respect for you has increased greatly.

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Fri Apr 20, 2012 7:22 pm
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Surprisingly, I passed with a 65.4%. Pure **** luck, not kidding.

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Fri Apr 20, 2012 7:39 pm
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Samurott wrote:
Surprisingly, I passed with a 65.4%. Pure **** luck, not kidding.

My respect for you has increased slightly.

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Fri Apr 20, 2012 7:42 pm
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Quote:
GhostPony750 said he likes my Venusuar rank. :'(

lol :3

My worst mistakes:
1. Didn't know what to do in a math exam: Watch the circle, think about how it looks like pacman, and draw a pacman maze with little ghosts.

2. Answered: ''Toaster'' in a question on a Science exam.

That's all :D I was pretty good at school, so no many problems

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Last edited by GhostPony750 on Sat Jul 14, 2012 1:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.



Fri Jul 06, 2012 11:26 am
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I always get at least 1 stupid answer whenever taking a chemistry exam, mostly because the material is so boring that my eyes start glazing over. (Of course, I do get some of them wrong because of that, but that doesn't mean that none of those were dumb mistakes.)

Well, in organic chemistry it was boring, anyway. General chemistry was fun.

And at least all my exams tend to be on Scantron.

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Fri Jul 06, 2012 11:53 am
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When I used to study science it was biology, chemistry and physics all in one, and I had the worst teacher imaginable who didn't let us do the required mandatory experiments which would have helped with learning them, let us watch videos of other classes being taught physics instead of doing it himself, and got another teacher in to teach us biology because it's "not his strong point".

Consequently I never studied before the first of two exams we had, ever, (one was a state exam and one was a practice that he had to do) and I labelled the urethra as uterus. I actually got the 2 marks for that question, so was it really a stupid mistake? Guess not. :P

I then dropped biology, chemistry and physics. No regrets!

In my recent really important English exam I spelled cacophony and crepuscular wrong...not too stupid but really annoying considering I know the words. In my equally if not more important French exam I heard "twenty ten nine" and since French people count numbers like that I wrote 39...when really I dont know where I heard that ten because the answer was 29, not to mention the fact that the weird counting only starts at 70. And to think I got all the hard bits right! Hurts my soul. :(

Lastly in my Irish oral exam I had to describe a picture then ask the examiner questions on it (dont really see the point in it but it's an easy way to get marks) and I tried to say "Who is to blame for the accident" which is SO basic, and I said "Who on the blame". Stupid syntax. Realized it was wrong straight away and by the look on her face but I couldnt remember how to fix it until I walked out. :|

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Tue Jul 10, 2012 8:17 pm
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Quote:
I labelled the urethra as uterus.
God, that would hurt.
Well, I calculated my score on my physics exam and learned that I could flunk it and still pass, so I took it anyways. There was this short answer section about light waves and I had to do ACT bubbling for this part so I was like OHSHI-. Here's what I put.
I wrote:
Since I'm running out of space, I'll put the answers on the back of this page. For now, enjoy this drawing of a puppy.

Yes, I drew the puppy.
For the answers, I drew a rainbow with a pot of gold, minus the gold, and a leprechaun with a rage face.
Exam Grade: 87.5%
Like a baus.

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Tue Jul 10, 2012 8:45 pm
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