I got my Physics quiz back today. The quiz had only one problem on it, and it happened to be the problem from the homework that I hadn’t understood very well, but hadn’t yet bothered to worry about. So I spent the first part of the time alloted trying to solve it in a way that I realized wasn’t working. About the time I got on the right track, (as it turns out) she announced” “5 minutes left, you should be well on your way to finishing.” So I rushed though one or two parts, and then wrote down the rest of the process I would have followed. But I was actually stuck, and even if I had another hour, that was all I could have done. I had an equation with the Normal Force, the coefficient of Static friction, and the Friction Force, but couldn’t solve it becaue of too many variables. I finished, thinking I’d failed it, or maybe gotten 6/10.

I got the quiz back, and realized she gives more partial credit than I was aware of. I ended up with a 9/10. The only comment that she made on the test was that I needed the equation max static Friction=coefficient of Static friction*Normal force. (It’s really hard to write it out, so I’ve tried to draw it. See it to the left.) It’s a really good feeling to see that you’ve gotten 90% on a quiz you thought you’d failed. It’s an experience I hope never to repeat, though. That is, i hope I never have a reason to think I failed a quiz.