When I entered high school, filled with hopes and aspirations for the coming four years, my older, knowledgeable sisters succinctly described the best and worst parts of the high school experience for me. The most wonderful part, they exulted, were the various extracurricular activities and performances. And the very worst things ever, they solemnly warned, were Regents!
I began school with their words ringing in my ears and quickly realized that indeed for most New York high-school teenagers the word Regents strikes a chord of fear in their hearts. The state-given exams are given at the end of year-long courses and they introduce students to a totally unique and difficult manner of testing. However being that I was an above average kind of student with no major difficulties in any areas I never found myself trembling in fear at the prospect of the major exams and coasted along two years of Regents with nary a ripple.
That is until that subject named math pulled me out of my complacency. I had always struggled a bit with the subject and it was definitely not my idea of a favorite pastime. However it wasn’t until 11th grade when we hit upon trigonometry that I totally lost it. I sat in math class day in and day out with the numbers floating above my head. I didn’t grasp a single concept and couldn’t even do the simplest examples!
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