Friday, August 28, 2009

College Prep

Tuesday in Fern's Algebra2/trig class she had to take a placement test. Huh? Wouldn't they already know which class the kids should be in? Didn't they do that last year at scheduling time? Apparently not. Yesterday she messaged me, results are in and she's been moved up to the top level class with an American, English-speaking teacher. That was one of my biggest worries about this school year for her, getting a teacher she couldn't understand and not doing well as a result. The subject is hard enough as it is.

Class requirement: a graphing calculator. They will be teaching the class to the TI-83 and although other models & brands are acceptable, the student is responsible for learning how to use it on their own. The TI-83s retail for about $150, though the warehouse stores have them for $100. I found many on eBay and tried to bid on one which had about 12 minutes left to go.

It had been so long since I'd bought anything on eBay, I'd forgotten my password. So I had to reset it. They don't let you change it to anything it's been before. Which just makes it easier to forget in the first place. And harder to reset. I had to keep trying new passwords until I didn't get the "you've already used this one" message. Finally, after ten minutes, I get logged in, and placed a bid.

The eBay interface has really changed since I was on last. Now they have a active count-down clock, you don't have to keep reloading the page to see how much time is left. The number of bids and the current price also automatically updates so you can watch your cushy bid margin dwindle away to pennies before you actually win.

I hate bidders who bid $xx.01 on something. Really? Why'd ya have to do that? Now that makes my winning bid $47.01. Where's the take-a-penny leave-a-penny cup when you need it? Sheesh. This isn't The Price is Right. Well, ok, maybe it kinda is. But still!

Hopefully the seller will send it ASAP so The Girl won't be behind in class by too much. Not a good way to be the first week of school.

Wonder what else I need on eBay?


 

2 comments:

just me said...

I hate that stuff too. E is SO thrilled to be done with math - and frankly, I'm not sorry either. But I do wish she'd stuck with Spanish one more year. You don't really learn any language in this country until after 3 years at the HS level.

Hit 40 said...

Wal Mart has them for $95. The calculator is easy to use. She will figure it out in no time.

And..

I love to balance my check book with the fancy TI-83 due to the large screen that scrolls the numbers on one screen for me.

I agree that the school seems a little disorganized testing them on the first day??? Very odd.