yay?

I got an A on my physics midterm! That is, of course, with a curve. Without a curve i got a score on the order of a 68%. Nevertheless I got an A. Which, of course is excellento!

This is where the conflict arises. Out of the 30 potential points, I recieved 21. However, Sam, who is a lot better than me at physics, and one of the two people who I always run to for help only got a 20. No big deal right? I suppose not... yet. Then there's genius-boy George. George, is as I already mentioned, a genius. If he's not, he's pretty close. Well, genius-boy George got a 16. What is wrong with this picture?

Moreover, based on my actual knowledge of the problems, I feel like I should have gotten a 10. I felt like I should have gotten a 10 right after the actual test, and I still feel like I should have gotten a 10. I understood one problem. I answered it well. I should have gotten a 10 on that problem minus a few little points for silly little things like vector arrows. The other two problems I didn't understand. In answering the other two, my aim was to get as much partial credit as possible, since I was well aware that there was no way that I could answer them. In my opinion, the amount of partial credit I got for these two questions was excessive. In the third problem, I essentially got 2/3 of the points for successfully differentiating a vector equation for position. I didn't fully understand what I was doing, or why I was doing it for that matter. Moreover, in part of the third problem, I completely randomly guessed, and I managed to get 2 points for that. Also, in some freak coincidence, I managed to get full credit for the first part of the second problem. This is purely because I wrote some random equations I knew, and set them equal to eachother, not because I understood the physics in anyway.

In short, the reason I feel conflicted is because I feel that the score on my midterm overestimates my understanding of physics. Moreover, the scores of George and Sam, particularly George, underestimate their physics ability. Especially in the case of George.

In the case of the second problem, George read too deeply into the problem, and interpreted it as more than a simple gravitational rotational orbit thingy problem. He therefore did it as such, and recieved minimal credit for it. Moreover, in the third problem, he actually proved (though incorrectly) that the elliptical orbit could not be a result of gravitational attraction to the center of the ellipse (not the foci, the center). However he was wrong. I randomly guessed and got it right.

Basically, I don't think the test or the grading of the test for that matter, accurately reflected our knowledge of physics. While George and Sam, especially George, know much about physics, and did not do remarkably, I managed to get a grade twice as good as what I had expected, and deserved, merely by squeezing partial credit out of the graders. Therefore I feel conflicted because I do not feel like I deserve the grade that i got.

At this rate I'm going to get an A in physics.... crazy!