This was the past, the failure, that I did not want to recall; it is, however, the one that I learned from the most. Studying was a concept that I did not entirely grasp when it came to my precalculus course in high school. The class should have been simple enough for me to pass with a grade above a B. This is what my colleagues bragged about as they carried on with A’s on their tests; this is what I tried convincing myself of. I remained under the assumption that my grade carried the most value the same way others did. Eventually, it occurred to me that herd mentality does not always guarantee the most favorable results. I practiced the questions the teacher assigned. I did the homework that he wanted us to do. I did nothing more and nothing less. It was not until the trend of dissatisfactory grades on tests continued to worsen that this metaphorical water that I had put myself in boiled hot enough for me to notice. By the time the test came around, I finally realized that I was only listening to what I wanted to hear. It was about doing more than the bare minimum in class and understanding the work as well. Even after this revelation, I was still trying to figure out the remainder of the seemingly unsolvable …show more content…
The cumulative knowledge that I gained in the two years prior put me right back where I first failed, precalculus. Instead of taking it as a failure, I embraced it as a second opportunity to better understand where I went wrong. I realize now how much my past affected me; but, that is not going to stop me from making better decisions to correct those that I made before. The answer to that one, infuriatingly frustrating question, “[o]btain expressions to define the function f ^−1…” was now posted online for everyone to see including myself. I was able to point out what I did wrong and what I needed to do now that I was already past my first precalculus class. It should have only been reasonable to stop my endless quest for answers now that this puzzle was solved. It should have only been reasonable to put all of this behind me. It was and is still is not solved, however. The solution to the puzzle- this one exam question, is not the end result of the work that I put into my classes in the past, present, and future; the solution is in the knowledge that I gain and the decisions that I make while trying to solve the question throughout the course of my past, present, and