Math test corrections and test habits

In high school, a page full of corrections with x’s used to be the worst and most embarrassing thing that a teacher could ever write on a test or paper. I recall this happening often in AP Biology where I failed a majority of the tests. I thought that this was the worst it could get and soon I became immune to it.

However, after spending several years in a major that I care little about, I have come across something much worse than x’s: the question mark.

 The question mark is the professor’s expedient way of saying WTF on paper without making it too obvious and hurtful. I say this because I’ve also done the same when correcting ESL writing samples. A sentence like “The monkey eated bananas and had to do a pee” justifies the use of a question mark. So, when a professor gives me one on a test, I try to see it from his point of view:

Professor: “Hmm. Okay, it clearly seems that she doesn’t know what the answer is since she rewrote the question to fill up space. Oh, but wait, there’s a little more written… oh it’s just the question restated using symbols to replace the words. Where the heck is the answer? This deserves a question mark.”

And for the times I don’t write just the question-

Professor: “This isn’t an answer. This doesn’t even make sense. Why am I even reading this? QUESTION MARK.

As much as I love partial credit, at times, I leave the answer section blank for the the teacher’s sake. But then I have nothing to do for the 2 hours allotted for the test and I don’t want to leave early because the professor will ask me questions like, “Oh, was the test too easy?” or, even worse, “You didn’t study…AGAIN” QUESTION MARK. Instead of leaving early, I doodle on the test or write poetry. I found that it is safer to go with doodling because my bio teacher actually graded the poetry I wrote on a test once and asked me if there was something we should discuss. Therefore, doodling has been the simplest way to burn 30 minutes and sometimes it gets positive response from the teacher… or at least one that isn’t an “X” or “?” .

Doodle #1:

Doodle #2:

Doodle #3:

 

If you have any tips or experiences from tests, I’d like to hear them! I’ll be in college for the remainder of this decade, so they might come in useful.

Edit: Even worse than the question mark is a written request from the professor to study for the final. So far, I have received two of these.