Taking a Break

I'm going to take a break from blogging about just myself, and post about someone else. This guy I know was in a fitness course last year, and the marking system went as follows:

• 50% of your final mark is based on attendance and effort.
• 20% of your final mark is based on homework completion and assignments.
• 30% of your final mark is based on your summative assignment.

Pretty straight forward, as any individual would think. The complete opposite was the truth; the average in the course was a 68% and the guy I knew had 94%. That mark is very exceptional in a course with an average of 68%.

My friend kept telling the story of how he did so well in the course, and how he was so strong, and so on. He kept telling it until someone asked him if that was the best mark in the class. He went silent. That probably wasn't the best question to ask him.

It turns out, that was the worst question to ask him:

"No, it wasn't the best mark. Do you want to know who got the best mark? The damn cripple. You know why he got the best mark? Because he showed up a little more than I did, and he worked hard on the assignments and did his homework every time. Do you want to know his mark? He got a 95. 95. One mark more than me because he showed up a little more and didn't miss his homework a couple times."

I feel sorry for the guy. In a course full of weight lifting and getting active, the guy with a broken leg got a better mark. Only because he showed up more. Moral is: don't skip.