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[nenjin]

In some way, it's actually kind of comforting to know it's normal to be bad or okay at a lot of things and exceptionally, irrevocably bad at a select few.

If you're the kind of person that has labored under high expectations of yourself growing up, yeah, it's kind of liberating to be like "Nah, I'm actually ok being normal or even bad at some things." It's one more brick out of the wall of ego.

More practically, and counter-intuitively, it can take away some of the paralysis such thinking creates.

[Frumple]

... y'know, for what it's worth regarding that, I'm pretty sure I started making consistently better grades re: uni stuff when I stopped caring or particularly trying to. Part of that is because I'm a goddamn ridiculous test taker (at least re: 99% of what college courses throw at you below the masters level) at this point, but...

If you're already in university and you're still waiting, you're probably mentally fine for 99% of the things you're actually going to do in life.

Though this... man, I freaking wish. Getting the bachelors was a bloody cinch compared trying to (failing to, so far) get a job.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

I'm actually a lot happier in college, because I've relearned caring about my efforts, which was the what put me near the top as a child.

[Skyrunner]

Grades? asdfgjfoemsncje Dx Dx x_x

[Frumple]

There there, sky. We're talking about grades in countries that have sane testing practices. Saner, anyway.

[SalmonGod]

If you're already in university and you're still waiting, you're probably mentally fine for 99% of the things you're actually going to do in life.

Though this... man, I freaking wish. Getting the bachelors was a bloody cinch compared trying to (failing to, so far) get a job.

Getting the job and the bachelors was easy.  The hard part is getting a job that you like and are good at, while being wholly dependent on a job that completely drains you of energy and motivation every day.  It's a test I've been failing for 5 years.

[Putnam]

In some way, it's actually kind of comforting to know it's normal to be bad or okay at a lot of things and exceptionally, irrevocably bad at a select few.

If you're the kind of person that has labored under high expectations of yourself growing up, yeah, it's kind of liberating to be like "Nah, I'm actually ok being normal or even bad at some things." It's one more brick out of the wall of ego.

In my case, it's not that I'm mad that I'm mad, it's that I'm mad that I'm bad at a particular thing which would be incredibly useful to me on a regular basis.

[Hanslanda]

Alright, I feel it bears repeating, if I haven't already said it.

I got stood up awhile back. Which kind of sucks, but she claimed to have a good excuse. Then, last Saturday, I saw her while I was leaving work. She came up, we spoke for a minute... Then her boyfriend came up and spoke with me. I have no hard feelings against him. But fuck sake. If you have a boyfriend, why would you agree to go on a date with me in the first place? And then why would you stand me up instead of just telling me you don't want to go on the date? This is just so rude on so many levels.

[PyroDesu]

Naxza, I'm not even in college yet and I can sympathize (and to those who say they've hit the wall, or that college was a wake-up call; I know what that can look like, my older brother ran smack into it as a wall. Not pleasant to watch, and probably a lot worse to experience).

Also, accounting is one of the many things that seem take a fairly specific frame of mind to perform, especially to perform well. And a decent spreadsheet program. I find there's not that many hidden "gotchas" or rote memorization, though, but a lot of repetition in slightly different patterns with mostly the same numbers and calculations. I'd actually be open to assist with accounting stuff if anyone wants it.

[Descan]

Alright, I feel it bears repeating, if I haven't already said it.

I got stood up awhile back. Which kind of sucks, but she claimed to have a good excuse. Then, last Saturday, I saw her while I was leaving work. She came up, we spoke for a minute... Then her boyfriend came up and spoke with me. I have no hard feelings against him. But fuck sake. If you have a boyfriend, why would you agree to go on a date with me in the first place? And then why would you stand me up instead of just telling me you don't want to go on the date? This is just so rude on so many levels.

...

Seriously?

[Hanslanda]

Yes. It was mind-boggling. First time I ask someone out in ages, and they pull that shit. Urgh.

[freeformschooler]

FFS: Accounting is a nasty sort, I can sympathize on it doing unkind things. For me personally, the whole concept is built on the memorization of various "gotchas" in how you handle the numbers, where they go, better note this particular word, etc. I have difficulty with rote memorization- if there's no meaning to what's going in my head, it falls out the other ear. The only meaning to what I get to most of this is "to make it balance on both sides," and that doesn't work for me. I hates it so.

Similarly, it frustrates me to no end when I'm attempting to communicate with someone and I cannot get a particular point across no matter what I say because what I say only makes sense to me. It's horrible when you come up with this metaphor that just fits your idea and you can only watch as faces go blank as you share it. It's... Isolating to think on a perpendicular.

You know, we scored basically the same thing on a couple of those personality test things, but now I'm really beginning to suspect we're the same person. Anyway, don't beat yourself up over music history etc etc. The thing that's hard to come to grips with is spending those extra 50 hours punching yourself in the face for just one more "A" isn't going to make much a difference on your life 10 years from now, and if it is, you can't predict that easily. Don't worry about the musical stuff if it's not for you, man. The question is "do you enjoy it?" not "would your peers enjoy it if you did it?"

Also, accounting is one of the many things that seem take a fairly specific frame of mind to perform, especially to perform well. And a decent spreadsheet program. I find there's not that many hidden "gotchas" or rote memorization, though, but a lot of repetition in slightly different patterns with mostly the same numbers and calculations. I'd actually be open to assist with accounting stuff if anyone wants it.

Do tell what this frame of mind is like. It hasn't materialized once in the last several months.

[PyroDesu]

Mind now that this is from my personal experience, I could be talking out of my ass for all I know.

I suppose frame of mind was the wrong phrase. It's not a state just anyone gets, it's how your mind works. Not to say that you can't learn to do accounting well if you don't fit the framework, such as it is, but it does come more naturally to some, it seems. It's heavy analytically and logic based, knowing what numbers to extract from where and arrange them in what format, from tax forms (which actually come with a complete set of instructions and give you pretty much all of the required information, the rest supplied by your employer when they give you your W-2 stub), to double-entry record keeping, to budget setups. And even then, most of the calculations and putting numbers derived from them in the correct spot is handled automatically, or can be set up to be handled automatically.

[freeformschooler]

That does make sense. I can understand how someone's mind could be geared to it or how it could be one of the "Easy" subjects (from an outside perspective, Accounting doesn't look that hard).

[Frumple]

That does make sense. I can understand how someone's mind could be geared to it or how it could be one of the "Easy" subjects (from an outside perspective, Accounting doesn't look that hard).

The outside perspective is dumb. Even when you do enjoy and more-or-less grok accounting and accounting principles, there's still a non-negligible amount of effort involved in learning and (especially) doing it. Nothing beyond the incredibly basic is what you can call easy. Simple, perhaps. Straightforward, often. Easy, no.

I... oh. Yeah, I've chimed in your direction about accounting before.

Improvement wise, just dunno. It's hard to say what might help without knowing what's been done, or what does work for you. For what it's worth, I've personally done very, very little rote memorization in the classes I've had... generally the most of it's remembering financial statement forms (layout, etc.), at this point. The rest ends up kinda'... falling in place? There's relatively few basic principles (Mostly what makes an asset/liability/capital(/equity) account, and what that means) in double-entry accounting (and that's the only thing I've encountered so far that isn't just looking shit up (tax-stuff -- memorization in that field is bloody pointless, since tax regulations change constantly) or data presentation junk (budgeting*)) and they're pretty consistent across the board. Puzzling stuff out once you've got that down seems to gets a lot easier... but maybe it's just me, I'unno.

But... yeah, a lot of people have trouble with it. Both my managerial and financial accounting 2 classes have kinda' gotten wrecked this semester (Course average for the final in the former was 66. With the latter, only like 4-5 people, out of 16-20, have passed more than half the tests). The advice I'd give is... just don't know. Maybe say to hell with passing the class, try to get something out of it? Work out spreadsheets for the financial forms, scratch up automated forms for doing most of the work. Outsource the rote memorization to a program, something you can take with you out of the class, into the real world. Make sure you're learning how to read financial reports and what they mean even if you can't remember how to do 'em. Can't get a grade out of it, try to get something else. And bug the teacher about this stuff! Especially if they've come from the workforce (doubly so if it's recent) they should have a good idea of what you'll want to be taking with you even if the work of it's bending you over its knee. Find out what that is and get that down (or at least transcribed into a form you can make use of at some point in the future!).

... in other news, it seems it's gotten to the point the subject of accounting gets me ranty. I... I hope some of that mess helped. Somewhat. Somehow.

*Which is frankly more a data presentation thing than anything financial. Figuring out how to present desired information appropriately -- what you want to say, how, to who, kinda' stuff. You'll do some math in the process, but that's not the point of it, and unless the course teacher's being frankly pedantic if you've got th'display side of it down the rest can be muddled through based off that, because function is going to dictate form.**

**Representative example, something I just finished covering in managerial accounting: Labor efficiency variance. It's asking the question: Were more (unfavorable!) or less (favorable!) hours used doing this activity than the assumed baseline would entail? And asking to give the difference as a dollar amount. What do you need to display, in this case? Difference between actual hours and hours it should have taken, and then displaying that as an appropriate dollar amount. So. Take the difference, multiply it by a set dollar amount (in this case, the $/hour assigned to the baseline -- but, frankly, any amount would do, so long as it's consistent). Bam. Labor efficiency variance. Technically there's a formula involved (Heyo: (AH-SH)SR -- actual-standard hours, multiplied by the standard rate), but. You don't need to know it. It flows from what you're trying to do.