The Test
I sit down with my PP that I just
printed, still warm in my hand and grab my favorite pen and a highlighter. The
big test is tomorrow. 10 questions, all multiple choice. The teacher isn’t my
favorite though. Some of the questions have up to 16 different choices! Who
does that? Mrs. Saratoga does on a daily basis. Not only does she give tests
that are hard as hell, she gives them almost every day! Some would call her the
worst teacher ever, but me, I am in love. Mrs. Saratoga isn’t the only one to
give out the difficult tests. Many teachers around the country give out these
tests as well, though sometimes only 3-4 days a week. At least they all give
you a study guide a couple days before and tell you EXACTLY what’s on the test.
Alright back to studying.
I love numbers. You almost have to
be in this game. Mrs. Saratoga, Mrs. Belmont, and Mr. Canterbury all teach
Math. They expect a lot out of you but if you can get their test questions right;
you are as good as gold. Alright let’s look at question 1.
A word problem of course, they
almost always are. 1 Mile. 3 year olds. ALW 65000, Turf. I read the problem
over and over to get a good understanding of what the questions is asking. Now
I look at the choices.
·
Choice 1 & 2 don’t look like they could be
the right answer. They seem kind of crazy to even consider. Why would Mrs.
Saratoga even ask a question like that on the test tomorrow? I guess we will
see if she does.
·
Choice 3 looks like it could be the right
answer. Seems to fit the criteria of what the question is asking. I put a star
next to choice 3 and move on. 7 choices on this particular question, let’s move
along.
·
Choice 4 is enticing. I still think I like 3
better but 4 is my favorite number… That has to count for something, right? 4
always was a favorite last time and did not do very well for me. I got a
question wrong last time when four was involved. I think I will pass.
·
Choice 5 should almost be written in different
ink. Why is this choice even near this question Mrs. Saratoga, come on, you can
do better than that. I take a big X and write it across this choice.
·
Choice 6 looks mighty nice. There are some nice
connections that would make it perfect for the right answer to this question,
maybe even better than number 3. Another star next to 6. Onto the last choice.
·
Choice 7 looks like it was in a question not too
long ago. I remember seeing this choice but now it is in different company. I
think it was mentioned in the last chapter and now it is back in another class.
A higher class. I don’t think this choice is part of this question. I’ll pass.
So we are down to 3 & 6. Which one is it going to be? I
could pick 3, but damn am I going to be mad if 6 is the right answer. I could
pick 6 as my top choice and 3 as my 2nd choice? We are allowed to do
that in Mrs. Saratoga’s class. I would feel really good if they were both the
right choices and the two best answers. I decide to look over the question one
more time and take number 6. When question 1 comes up tomorrow I am picking 6
and moving onto question 2 before I doubt myself.
I walk into
class the next day and Mrs. Saratoga greets me with a smile as she always does.
She is a little older, but I still love her. I take out my pen and get ready
for the test to begin. 2 Minutes until the test begins, she yells out. I am
getting nervous, am I sure that number 3 isn’t the best choice? Should I change
my mind, should I stick with my gut? Should I just guess? No No No, you have
done your homework and studied for this test, you got this! The test is about
to be released; I take one last breath and exhale.
And…They’re off!
As you have just read, I take each horse race as a test. The
PP that we receive from DRF or other sites are the study guides, and the horses
are the choices to the multiple-choice test. You can look at hundreds of
different things before you analyze a race and some might lead you to the right
answer, while others will leave you out in the cold. Maybe I am the only one
who thinks of a day at the races this way because I am about to go into my first
year of teaching but I think there are tons of similarities between a test you
take in school and a horse race. Let me know what you think about this post. I
am new to the sport of horse racing and would love to hear what all of you
think.
Have a good day,
Jared
If you like my writing and would like to see a couple other things I have written, visit my other blog HERE and follow me on Twitter @Jared_Hines27
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