LCI application submitted

[topaz]

Just sent off my completed evaluation exam for the LCI seminar the weekend after next.  It wasn't long -- 50 multiple choice, 25 true/false, and 10 short answer -- but cripes, some of them were hard.  At least one question ("what is the most reliable guide for monitoring your level of power output when bicycling on level ground in still air?") appeared to have no prior art anywhere in our class literature -- or, as far as I can tell, on Da Intarwebz.  Moreover, I am convinced that the question about how to change a flat tire has no correct answer, and was planted strictly to guarantee that no one can achieve a perfect score on this test.

Anyway.  Now I have to start practicing parking-lot drills.  They're also going to assign me something to present in class, in order to evaluate my teaching ability.

Public presentation.  Now that's something that reaches down and invokes cold, clammy fear in my lizard brain.  But hey, that's what this is all about, right?  Right?

Comments

[gothtique.livejournal.com]

Don't present to the "whole class"... talk to them one at a time... from the front of the room.
Seriously, run a pattern in the back of your head, making a point to look at every person in the room as you speak. Between remembering what the hell you are talking about and trying to run the subroutine, your little lizard brain will be too busy to freak out.
It works for me anyway.
Good luck!

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

yup, something like that. I do try to remember those things and usually succeed. And when I'm talking reasonably well in my element I generally loosen up before long. But it doesn't quite keep me busy enough to keep from doing the freak-out thing :-)

Thanks for the good wishes!

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

What a weird question. Do they want 'gear ratio * cadence' or something? Glad it's over for you now.

Rah rah and good luck, especially on the public speaking part!

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

The available answers were something like: (a) your velocity; (b) how hard you're breathing; (c) your cadence; (d) your level of perspiration.

None of them really made sense to me based on what I understand about the definition of "power" (work divided by time) and how you'd measure it on a cycle, so I took a guess.

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's awful. Given those answers, I'd guess (a), but that question is fired.

[harimad.livejournal.com]

The answer I thought of before seeing the possibilities was "your legs." Based on what I know about running - wherein a runner who can self-monitor generally ends up with a constant heart rate - I'd guess (b).

I read the question, but not the possible answers - to Cruiser who *immediately* popped out with "Your cadence." In the tone of voice that indicates its the only possible answer and who could possibly think otherwise. I, on the other hand, stared at him as if he'd grown another head.

Cuz that was freaky.

[ursomniac.livejournal.com]

See and that's the funny thing. If ANYONE had said to me when I was a kid that I would LOVE writing reports and doing presentations, I would have laughed like hell.

Of course NOW the one project where I would be doing that doesn't want me to EVER write anything and NEVER to do any presentations whatsoever, so I'm really REALLY depressed.

I miss being a valued contributor...

[harimad.livejournal.com]

PS - I've had worse questions. Most memorably one of my Bar exam essay questions. The question was carefully designed to make it look as if the guy were breaking & entering and robbing but a careful reading yielded that none of the required elements were present (the door was slightly open => not breaking, the guy had no intention of taking anything when he walked in => not robbing, etc.). The question was "What might the guy be charged with?"

The answers they were looking for were B&E and robbery, with a long explanation of why he wasn't actually guilty of these things. He might, with equal reason, have been charged with barratry, treason, or "crimes against nature" - these being just as unsupported as a B&E charge.

Alas. I knew that my score wasn't going to be good enough for me to get away with being a wise-ass so I went with B&E. To this day, I have the fond hope that a better student than I chose the higher course.