A question was posed to the class today in organic chemistry and three possible answers were put up on the board. The question was how many possible products could result from the chlorination of 2-methylbutane. The choices were a) 2, b) 3, and c) 4. I counted 5 carbons, of which two were identical, which left 4 unique carbons, each with at least one hydrogen. So I was about 90% sure that it was “c.” The professor asked if anyone thought the answer was “a,” and no one raised their hand. Then, a strange thing happened. See, there are about 25 people in the class, but any time she asks a question like this, some people are not sure enough to answer… so sometimes as few as half the class will venture a guess (which is why she sometimes uses electronic remotes so that we can just key in our answer free of social inhibitions.) When she asked if anyone thought it was “b,” every single person in the class raised their hand, except for me. I counted 20 other people in class that day. And you know… my confidence plummeted.
There is an experiment you can do where you get about 40 people in an auditorium, and ask a question with an obvious answer. But unknown to your test subject, the other 39 people are on the take. They’re instructed to confidently answer incorrectly. And when the test subject is asked, he will invariably fight against his better judgement, and answer the question incorrectly as well.
For a moment, I thought that was going on, but not before my confidence in my answer dropped precipitously. “Does anyone think it is ‘c’?” she asked. I winced and raised my hand. You only live once. “Mark?” she asked quizzically. The expression on her face seemed to say “your test score suggests that you are understanding this stuff, why would you answer this incorrectly, especially after everyone else got it right?” Oh boy. Then she smirked. “Would you like to explain why everyone else got this wrong?” Why yes, yes I would.
Somehow I don’t think this is going to help my humility deficit and my mindset of “me against the whole world.”
Don’t be surprised if there is an accident in lab involving acid, my face, and the other people in the class who already hate me. What they don’t get is that I was really bad at general chemistry. Like, excited to get 75% on a test bad. I was getting C’s while they were getting A’s, so it’s simply my turn to be good at something. I just happen to be good at the one thing that almost everyone is bad at. I did the same thing with Financial Accounting. But pigs will fly before I ace a Biology test.
My apparent aptitude for organic chemistry has definitely created some tension between me and my girlfriend, of the “shut up… no… I don’t want to see your test… I can’t even talk to you right now” variety. Just wait until Spring when we’ll both be taking organic 2.
Mike says
I know what that’s like. Freshman year I had a friend who got so pissed at me cuz I got a hundred on my first genchem exam. I shouldn’t have told her, she wouldn’t talk to me for a week. People can be overly sensitive about that, so I learned not to tell anyone unless they specifically asked. And when they ask I’m still careful, unless I did terrible. Then I don’t care, cuz it doesn’t bother me when someone else does better.
JoeBruin88 says
O-Chem. Yuck.
I failed that class the first time I took it. Then I got one of the highest scores in the class the second time. Go figure.