Finals

Today and tomorrow, we will be having finals.  I had English and pre-calculus today.  The precal was easy as could be.  I finished the test in twenty, maybe thirty, minutes.  And the English was comprised of two essays: a general argument essay and a rhetorical analysis.

I finished the rhetorical analysis feeling really good about it, but the general argument essay was pretty bad.  I didn't even finish (I just scrapped one of my body paragraphs and wrote a hasty conclusion). The essay was about the "vital role" of humorists in today's political society.  So I argued that yes, humorists are essential. I cited an episode of the Colbert Report as well as the Colbert Report and the Daily Show as examples of satirical humorists that spread information as well as reveal the initiatives of the various parties.  The episode I cited of the Colbert Report was how Republicans use 9-11 all the time, and then at one point said that they shouldn't be helping the 9-11 first responders after they had used the 9-11 first responders to get so many legislations passed.  I also argued that I would not have otherwise been aware of that information and that now I am informed at least a little bit.  I argued that it is an interesting way to spread information and allows the many a way to escape the rule by the few.  But I didn't have much info to go by so I had to BS it and I didn't really want to use Family Guy or Southpark because those are way more extreme than other sources.  At least the Colbert Report and the Daily Show focus primarily on politics.

The rhetorical analysis essay was of Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address.  I made the argument that Lincoln meant the address as the starting point for reunification.  And he used emotional diction, religious symbols and allusions as well as parallel structure as the main points.  I talked about how he used the parallelism as the icing that joined together the emotion of the speech with the situation and the fact that he talked to both sides as if they were the sinners who had just atoned for their sins with the Civil War and that he wanted them to look to the future.  I cited specific instances and used a lot of quotes together with purpose analysis.  So it seems like the Rhetorical analysis essay would be an A, whereas the general argument would probably be a C or B at best. 

The English isn't really a final though because it is a combined class with US history that lasts all year instead of one semester.  I have a 99 in precal and I get 3 extra points added to my score at the end.  So that is an easy A.  In English I have a 91 and I get 5 extra points at the end because it is AP.  Whereas I don't need the points for precal and it just seems superfluous; I actually need the extra points for English.  By the end of the year, I should have an A in that class, though.  Next semester is just literature, I think; so it should be easy from here on out.

Tomorrow I have Latin 3 and Honors Chemistry 2.  I have a ridiculously high score in Latin; so that shouldn't matter at all.  The Chemistry I actually have to try in though.  I have a 95 or something, and even though I have 3 extra points, I still have to get something like a 70 to keep my A.  The only reason I am worried is because I have not done that great on tests this year.  So I'm hoping that the State final will be really easy.  I will still be studying pretty hard, but just something easy would be greatly appreciated.  It doesn't help that my teacher has been away from school for the past two weeks and will not be coming back this semester.  So we have to rely on the Chemistry I teacher for whatever questions we have.