Tests

I always tell people about the most difficult test I took in my life.  It was in 6th grade chorus class.  The teacher played 2 notes and we had to say if the first note was higher or lower than the second note. This test annoys me so bad. I got 5 of 10 correct. Which is what you can end up with if you just flip a coin. Other people I talked to loved that test. It sure helped their grade or something. I hated it. No matter what I do, I can't get better at it. He didn't even make it easy like picking something at one end of the piano and something at the other. Sometimes I can tell those apart. But he'd play an F and then an F# or something so similar.  I've complained about that test for years.

In the car today I thought about some other awful tests I hated.
In 8th grade, we had a test in music class where the teacher played a clip of a song. I think the clip was only a few seconds long. Then we had to say what type of music it was (multiple choice and I think 7 choices). Then we had to either write the name of the song or the band that sang it. I forget if there was another portion of the test too.  Now you didn't have to get every artist/song listed. I think you only had to list 35 of the 65 so there was some buffer there.  It was still awful. Apparently the songs were "popular" so they should be easy. Also other songs were like "America the Beautiful" or "Star Spangled Banner."  I think there was also a portion of the test where you had to say if the beat or something was a 1, 2, 3, 4 count, 1 and 3 count, or 2 and 4 count. To this day I still have on idea about the 1 and 3 or 2 and 4. How do you know where to start?!  I got a 59/100 on that test. But I think people did so horribly that he added a curve so it was like it was out of 90 points instead of 100.

Another awful test was in elementary school. I forget which grade since it was in music class and we basically had the same teacher each year. But I'm thinking third grade. The test involved the teacher playing a clip of a certain instrument being played and we had to write down what instrument it was. I don't even ever remember going over it or getting a score. I just remember hating it. I remember thinking piano was the only one I got right. BUT I probably even got that one wrong.

Do you have any tests that stick with you?  It's funny I mention the 3 above and don't even think about my MAU (Modeling and Analysis of Uncertainty) test in college where I did poorly but it was all material I could learn and did but this music stuff seems impossible.