I'm smart

OK, maybe I shouldn't claim to be smart, but I do know I'm not dumb.

As a way of assessing how well I have been teaching and how well my students have been learning in Organic Chemistry, I am going to administer the ACS Standardized Exam for Organic Chemistry. This way, I can measure my students to their peers around the country.

What I want to know is whether my teaching is effective or not. Are my students learning?

I received the exams a week ago and as they sat on my desk I became more and more curious. I wondered what I would score if I took the exam.

Well, I took the exam. There are 70 questions and I didn't have a 2 hour block to devote to it. So, I took the exam 15-20 questions at a time when I had some free time.

Of the 70, I got 69 correct. The one I got wrong was a result of me being stupid. I should have gotten it right. I can't and won't divulge what was on the exam or what I got wrong. That would violate something, I'm sure. But, the one I got wrong was me thinking a nucleophile was going to act as a base when it was just a nucleophile...I was stupid for screwing that up.

The good news is that I am in the top 100%ile for organic chemistry students. All I can say is that I better damn well be in that bracket or I have no business teaching organic chemistry.