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Personal Narrative: I Was Foiled

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I Was Foiled I chose to take AP Biology in my sophomore year of high school, which I quickly learned was a very demanding course. Even the instructor agreed there was too much material to cover before the AP test. This meant that we flew through each unit, and had very few opportunities to earn extra credit. The one opportunity for extra credit granted that year required to build a water strider, an insect which walked on water, using a small amount of aluminum foil and six toothpicks. This insect had to remain floating on a body of water for at least one minute in order to receive the extra points offered. Believing that my grade could benefit from the extra points, I was determined to meet the criteria for this assignment. Unfortunately, being the procrastinator …show more content…

In an effort to form an insect similar to my other prototypes, I easily shaped the foil into the bug’s body. The antennae had become protrusions from its head, and its eyes were mere indentations. The legs, however, were much more challenging to fabricate from aluminum foil, and because they were separate from the water strider’s body, I had to attach them somehow. By 1:15, I had finished my creation’s legs and was working on a way to attach them to its body. Time and time again, I attached a set of legs to the bug, and they repeatedly either fell off or were too flimsy and caused the bug’s underside to touch the water. After my fifth attempt to find something that worked, I glanced at the clock. In my daze, I thought it read 1:30 but couldn’t be sure. Sleep was beginning to overcome my senses. “You should really go to bed. You look exhausted. It’s not like it has to be finished, you’re not going to get a zero if you’re not done,” my mom told me. She also looked terribly exhausted and in desperate need of sleep. Giving in to her will, I resigned, unable to continue. “Okay. I’ll head

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