Intermediate Algebra became my life--I even lost my boyfriend over it

I wasn't able to make it all the way through the Intermediate Algebra class the first time around, so I took it again a year later with a different teacher and at a different campus (same school).

My counselor talked me into it, against my better judgment and will. The unfortunate facts were that you couldn't graduate college unless you passed both Intermediate and College algebra with at least a C. I was attending college with the goal of graduation, so I took the abuse again and signed up.

The class began at nine in the morning and met three times a week. This was a shorter than normal class lasting only an hour, for which I was very thankful.

My professor was Victoria Strauss and she was strict.

I sat in the second row so that I could see the board and write everything down for further studying and a deeper understanding at home. I really had to write at a high speed to get it all down.

I will say that she was able to explain everything in a way that even I could understand. If you had a question, she would stop and go back over it in detail until you got it. She was a good teacher in this way.

What was so bad, is that my teacher tested us every time we walked into the class. She would never tell us, she'd just spring it on us. That's three quizzes a week minimum, as sometimes she'd up it to two tests a day. I can still picture her at home every night typing up more tests and quizzes to give us, like a mad scientist.

This constant barrage of tests were awful, and I noticed people dropping out of the class like flies. Every week, fewer people remained. I hung on as long as I could.

I did all the homework, and I really was grasping Intermediate Algebra. But when "factoring" showed up, that's when I began to lose my grip on the subject matter.

I came to class early and hit my teacher with numerous questions. I was spending literally hours a day doing homework and studying algebra--never mind my other classes.

It was a living nightmare, and I thought college was supposed to be fun.

Algebra seemed to take over my life. I ate, slept and drank algebra and I was getting more unhappy by the minute. It was making my life miserable.

I did have a boyfriend, but when algebra took over, I didn't even have the time to call him, much less see him. I was high strung over the seemingly hundreds of tests. I ended up losing my boyfriend and I blamed the algebra takeover. I called his number and some other woman answered. I found out that he had moved in with a divorced woman in New York, and he didn't even tell me goodbye.

My teacher gave us a take home test and I worked hard to find the correct answers. Even though I had all correct and should have made an A, she said she didn't like the way I got the answers and gave me an F. This was unfair and wrong grading.

She then gave us an in-class test and me and this guy worked hard on it and got a good grade, but then she said that she decided not to count that one. I was getting discouraged.

Despite these set backs, I was amazingly getting a C minus in the class. But, if I made one more D or F on one of the hundreds of more tests to come, it would put me in the D's for the final grade, which would not count as passing. So I decided to walk down to the office and fill out a drop slip.

It felt like a heavy weight had been lifted off of my shoulders when I withdrew from the class. Only now, I have to re-take it yet again.