T1B32

OMG I'M SO HAPPY

The HUGE (okay, big) socials test we had today is finally over! OVER!!!!

I spent basically all of Saturday and Sunday studying like crazy for it! It was a Canadian Regional Geography test or something like that, I don't really know how to say it but it involves Canadian regional geography.

So, at first Mr. Chau scared us all because the stations activities were hard(ish), but then he told us what he expected and everyone was like, "Oh my goodness that's awesome." (because we didn't need to know as much as we thought we needed to know--we're Synergy, after all :P). But Mr. Chau posted the answers to the stations on Saturday morning, so I was kind of freaked out because I was scared 2 days wouldn't be enough. Plus, the stations went by so quickly that I needed more time to absorb the information, so I was going to spend more time understanding the concepts.

We also had like a sample test that Mr. Chau said he'd post the answers to as well. When he posted the test answers, that one essay question had me going "WHAAAAAAAAT?" because there were so many things we were supposed to say based on a "Describe the regional geography" question. And I got freaked out all over again, because my answer wasn't enough.

t also kind of, so to say, "took a gamble" with studying this time, because we had 2 parts of each station we were studying, and that was the concept related to the region, and the topography-climate-vegetation of the region. I knew the general idea about the topography-climate-vegetation (for example, continental vs. maritime climate, rolling hills vs. jagged peaks, small shrubs, lichens, and mosses vs. deciduous trees) but I didn't memorize every tree or the exact elevation of every place. I figured that the more important things were the concepts, so I focused on those and the vocabulary. That actually really paid off because I learned the concepts well (like not just for this test, but for general knowledge) and still knew the general topography-climate-vegetation which helped me to understand the concepts better. Also, the concepts give you clues about the topography-climate-vegetation of a place. I understood the main ones, for example, the Arctic has a 10 month winter and short, not very warm summers, because of permafrost, trees are stunted and the vegetation is mostly small shrubs, lichens, and mosses, and also, for example, the St. Lawrence Lowlands has a continental climate, whereas the southern part of the Coastal plains has a subtropical climate, the Western Cordillera has a maritime climate.

I noticed that a lot of my classmates had the same problem I did, which was that we got confused sometimes. For example, my friends said that they could identify (draw) which region on a map had wetlands, but it would be harder to name it. Personally, I knew that the Coastal Plains had 2 concepts related with it, but I for the life of me could NOT remember what else it was besides wetlands (after a LOT of studying, I can now very confidently tell you that it's sinkholes. :P) Also, I kind of got mixed up with hurricanes and tornadoes, but I got that straightened out.

Overall, I'm really happy with the way this test turned out. The actual test wasn't as hard as the sample test (in my opinion--Erica disagrees) but maybe that's just because I know the concepts better. Also, one of the most important things is that I also know the concepts really well, and that's very important too, besides the test, because knowledge and skills are what keep with you your entire life, not a test score.

(And I feel kind of blunt saying this, but I'M SO HAPPY THAT IT'S OVER, NO MORE STUDYING MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA, I'M SO HAPPY :D :D :D)