Hey everyone welcome back to my blog! As a matter of fact welcome back to my world! Okay so based on the title you could already guess that I'm probably going to rant about a test that I failed.....Well don't worry this wasn't just a regular test.
So as you already know by now I am taking an intro to communications course and I will talking ( or should I say writing) about my experiences with the material I learned in class and relating it back to my life outside of class. This week I learned about verbal communication and all the things that define it. If you would like to read some some the articles from my class you can find a link to the materials done below :). Sadly this post will be focusing on my experience during my test than the actual material that was on the test.
Test By Myself... Like A Big Girl
"Okay! Put away all your notes, its time to take the test!" -Professor Levy ( Intro to Communications)
The first thing I was told was that I would be taking my test twice. Now I don't know much about you but I barely like taking my tests once let alone taking it twice, but I managed to keep my mouth shut. As it turns out the class was told that we will be taking our test first as individuals then together with our groups. I could handle that I thought to myself I just end up getting a hundred twice. Who doesn't want that right? So here's the twist the real reason why test was unlike any other test that I have taken before..... we were told that we were betting on our tests. Yes you heard that right I bet on my test. Only thing was I didn't win any money at the end or even get the satisfaction of passing my test. Here's how it goes for each question you are given four points. For each answer you can either distribute these points or bet all your points on one answer. Can you guess which option I did most? Well you guessed it! I took this test thinking that I had everything all figured out. I took it thinking that I studied there's no need for me to even distribute these points I am very positive that the answer is A or B and so forth. Well this tactic which I thought was actually a good one at the moment ended up biting me in the butt instead of bringing me a reward.
Looking back at the test I realized that communication is very complicated. Not because I had gotten my answers wrong but because I had interpreted the questions wrong. I realized that everyone is different and that what one person may see one way another person could see in a whole different sense or lighting. In total I have learned to read questions carefully and try to my best abilities to interpret and try to understand the questions being asked.
Taking the same Test... with My Group... YIPPIE!! ( Can you sense the sarcasm :) )
I wasn't too excited about taking the test over with my group (as anyone who has had experience with group work and activity can attest) but I participated anyway. Now while I bet on my first test I played the lottery on the second one. Gasp!! Hard to believe yes I know. But each group was given a lottery ticket scan tron thing and for every answer you believed was right you would scratch off the letter and see if the answer you picked was indeed correct. At first every thing was all fine and dandy and the group was all smiles and cheers we all came up with the same answers. But all bets were off once everyone had different answer choices for the same question.
Trust me guys its A!... NO its not its B! Who do you believe?Which answer did you pick?....UHHH I picked D!
Taking the test over with my group members further emphasized my thought everyone is different in the way they interpret things. I t was not that no one knew the answer it just that we all understood the question differently and came up with different answers. In this case I would say that their was noise during our communication for the group activity because no on understood each other when questions came up where we all had different answers to the dame answers.
Conclusion
Communication is only effective is the people who are communicating understand each other. IO failed my test because I did not understand the questions or the way they were worded correctly. My team almost failed our test because we each understood the questions differently and also did not take the time to listen and try to understand each other.
If you would like to read some of the articles my class read on verbal communications here is the link.....
Click this Box...trust me you wont regret it! :)