Struggling Through

     Well, last week I took the AMC 10 A. In my school, Magnet High School, there were ~40 students invited to take the AMC 10A, and we did it in the middle of the school day. Luckily, I was allowed to skip Spanish, easily my least favorite class. However, I wouldn't celebrate that fact for much longer.      When I got to the test room, I discovered a bunch of tables lined up in rows, similar to how it was arranged when I took the AMTNJ, a different math competition from December. On the AMTNJ, I got 10/15, an incredibly disappointing score for someone who can normally score 13-15 on practice tests. As I sat down and took out my pencil pouch, I heard the test proctor say, "No compasses allowed". Instantly, I turned my head. How could they have us take this test without compasses? It literally says in the test booklet that we were allowed to use them! Luckily, this mistake was quickly rectified, and we were able to get started with our tests quickly.      As I started