Confession is good for the soul
Jan. 20th, 2006 12:14 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lotusbiosmI have a confession to make. It's not something I've really kept as a deep secret or anything, it's just something people aren't aware of.
I'm not actually a good student. Oh, I do well in school- I try to do at least some of my reading, and my work is always turned in on time and is usually done according to the instructions. (I have a problem sometimes with hitting page minimums) I participate in discussions and I do well on tests and all that stuff. Professors like me, classmates think I've done all the reading (and even ask me for advice on papers), all is well. But really, I'm not as studious as I should be, or as many people seem to think I am. What I have gotten by on so far is the intellectual equivalent of sitting there and looking pretty. I have a really good memory, and I'm good at picking up the thread of discussion and at expounding on things. I'm a good writer, and for a good many years that meant I could avoid having to worry about any actual content.
And I have to write upwards of 65* pages this semester, not including my writing requirement or comps. *gulp* Part of what makes this hard is that I've never been very good at writing long papers. I'm good at 3-5 page papers, and I'm great at exhibit labels (which is good, because that's what I want to do). I'm not good at finding ways to fill 20 pages, especially on research papers, because I am such an excellent procrastinator that despite having checked out all the necessary books weeks in advance I will not start a paper until it is really too late. I'm good at essays and analyses and book reviews and the like though.
*one 20-page paper, two 10-page papers, one 8-10 page paper, and one 15-page paper, plus incidental extras.
ETA: I'm not looking for paper-writing advice- I know how I should do these things, I just don't do them the way I should (well, I probably could use advice on how to be less concise).
I'm also not looking for reassurance that I am, indeed, smart. My intelligence is one of the only things I have been consistently confident about my whole life. And that's not me trying to sound arrogant, that's me saying that I know that I'm smart, and I've been told it many a time. I just make the argument that one can be good at school and be smart without necessarily being a good student, meaning someone who is studious and who does all his/her work in an organized, timely fashion. In the same way that you can be naturally athletic and perform better on the field than someone else who trains harder but isn't as naturally talented. But I do thank you for the support. :)
I'm not actually a good student. Oh, I do well in school- I try to do at least some of my reading, and my work is always turned in on time and is usually done according to the instructions. (I have a problem sometimes with hitting page minimums) I participate in discussions and I do well on tests and all that stuff. Professors like me, classmates think I've done all the reading (and even ask me for advice on papers), all is well. But really, I'm not as studious as I should be, or as many people seem to think I am. What I have gotten by on so far is the intellectual equivalent of sitting there and looking pretty. I have a really good memory, and I'm good at picking up the thread of discussion and at expounding on things. I'm a good writer, and for a good many years that meant I could avoid having to worry about any actual content.
And I have to write upwards of 65* pages this semester, not including my writing requirement or comps. *gulp* Part of what makes this hard is that I've never been very good at writing long papers. I'm good at 3-5 page papers, and I'm great at exhibit labels (which is good, because that's what I want to do). I'm not good at finding ways to fill 20 pages, especially on research papers, because I am such an excellent procrastinator that despite having checked out all the necessary books weeks in advance I will not start a paper until it is really too late. I'm good at essays and analyses and book reviews and the like though.
*one 20-page paper, two 10-page papers, one 8-10 page paper, and one 15-page paper, plus incidental extras.
ETA: I'm not looking for paper-writing advice- I know how I should do these things, I just don't do them the way I should (well, I probably could use advice on how to be less concise).
I'm also not looking for reassurance that I am, indeed, smart. My intelligence is one of the only things I have been consistently confident about my whole life. And that's not me trying to sound arrogant, that's me saying that I know that I'm smart, and I've been told it many a time. I just make the argument that one can be good at school and be smart without necessarily being a good student, meaning someone who is studious and who does all his/her work in an organized, timely fashion. In the same way that you can be naturally athletic and perform better on the field than someone else who trains harder but isn't as naturally talented. But I do thank you for the support. :)
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Can't fool me!
Date: 2006-01-21 07:02 am (UTC)Re: Can't fool me!
Date: 2006-01-21 04:35 pm (UTC)It's that I'm not studious. And people think that I am because I'm good at school (but you're Evelyn, you always do the reading!), and I felt that it was time to make sure that every one knew that I spend too much time watching TV and reading LJ and not enough time doing homework. But it's gotten me this far, so hey, I can't be that incompetent.