"Don't peak too soon"

When I first registered for college classes this fall I felt pretty nervous about how I was going to perform. I mean, I hadn't worked parts of my brain for about 13 years.

"Will I be able to derive information from stories/poems?"

"Do I even know how to write a paper anymore?"

"Will it be hard for me to keep up with everyone else?"

"Will spelling words like 'rhythm' cease to seem difficult to the point of avoiding them all together?"


In search of these answers prior to the start of the semester I turned to some friends who I find intellectual and were noticeably jealous that I'm attending college at a less....traditional age. Well among those friends one of them, of whom will remain nameless, gave the perfect advice. Here he saw a budding new college student ready to take on the world, eager for learning, and motivated to excel. Then he put the whole thing in perspective.

"Don't peak too soon."


I'm sorry my friend, but I may be failing you.


It all started the day I took that mid-term for psychology.

>>>>>>psychology side note<<<<<<<
I found out the professor is younger than me. That hurt the team. Thanks Bunker Hill for laying it on easy my first semester.
>>>>>>psychology side note<<<<<<

I ended up getting 100% on it. Shortly after this I started noticing patterns from teachers in all of my classes. Every time I raised my hand, no matter who was already talking, they would immediately start the motion of calling on me. I became an instrument in the process of teaching...and I recognized this. When the students would go off on some tangent that didn't apply to the situation, or when they would just be interpreting literature in all types of wrong I would raise my hand. The teacher would pretty much react somehow like "ummmm, yeah Angel, that's great......yes Benjamin!?" This would allow me to not only achieve a high participation grade, but also save the professor from having to skew the class under his own power of lecture.

This has gotten a little out of hand, though, for music class. First it all started with just the fact that I wanted to make sure I participated......and then I would wait about seven seconds to see if anyone else would answer because if I didn't answer, then Kingjames would have to damn near beg us for answers. Well I finally received a new found status as "class asshole" recently when KJ said the immortal words of: "Anyone but Benjamin."

This makes me wonder that if I NEVER speak again in his class for the rest of the semester, will I receive an "A" in class participation? Have I inadvertently completed extra credit for this class already if I keep participating at this rate?

A few days later I decided during psychology class that I was going to leave early. The students (particularly one) was just too damn tough to take. I went up to the prof during break and asked if it was cool I take off because I had to run to the airport (yeah I don't really know why I picked that) and his reaction was quite literally "You have a 100% in this class, I don't really care." The following week we had the final.

>>>>>>>>>side note<<<<<<<<<<
for this class, and now my College Writing class, I chose to take them in a mini-semester format. I go twice a week for 3 hours each shortening the entire class to 7 weeks, hence why I already took the final for one of my classes.
>>>>>>>>>side note<<<<<<<<<<

He told us the final would be 75 questions. Since the 50 question mid-term was finished in 22 minutes, I quickly determined it would take me between 29-30 minutes. It took me 25. I'm not sure what I specifically scored but I received my first college grade for an entire class yesterday: an A.