# I have never suffered a greater embarrassment for an interview...even youll cringe



## TheaterofHope (Dec 11, 2012)

(Warning: This story is painful to read. Prepare to cringe after the second paragraph )

I'm a student who takes heavy Mathematics courses in Uni and got an Interview at a Kumon Math Center yesterday. Upon smashing the light-door against the wall (literally) I met my interviewer and we sat down on a table. There were kids and a couple of High-School students tutoring them or marking tests on other tables. I told my interviewer I just finished Calculus II and Linear Algebra in University, a few minutes of talking ~ and she gives me two test booklets. (lets call them G and H) She told me that her clients (the kids) revise problems off these worksheets. She also told me to record the time I finished them, expecting me to do both.

So I started with G which was 50 questions that looked like these:



> 5[1/3] + 6[1/6] * 7[1/2] = ?


And I thought 5 * 1/3 = 5/3. I didnt know it was 5 AND 1/3...

It took me 40 minutes to do G until my interviewer came and told me to stop. It was so much cheap labour. She gave the booklet G to be marked by a highschool kid which took 5 minutes and when she came back to me she said: *I know your embarrassed.* I looked confused, smirked and she then said I got 17% on the test. I completely ****ing forgot how to add improper fractions since its been 5 years. *"Look at that kid named Nikunj over there who is 12. He does test H. These are smart kids. "* Guess what **** she did next. She started lecturing me like I was a kid on how to do improper functions while waiting for me to say the operands e.g. _2 * 8 = [her].... ... 16 [me] - Yes[her]_. The high-school student who marked and was listening to us it thought I was a scrub since I swear he sneezed to hide a laugh. (I am one irl since I have SA). I finally said something mature and said that I need to refresh my memory on the pre-algebra.

On the door she told me if I want to -to come next week at the exact time and re-take the test again. (G and H). Maybe it was because I actually have real course credits for professional courses unlike the hs kids. _But should I?_


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## ASB20 (Jun 5, 2013)

Honestly, this is one of those times I'd bail.

She sounds like a condescending *******, for one. Secondly, however, if the first time's embarrassing, do you really wanna follow up on a round 2? I know I'd hightail it out of town ASAP. 

As long as you didn't sign any obligation or whatnot, it's not like they can force you. Other opportunities await, and that sounds like an environment that would just crush the soul out of someone.


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## To22 (Apr 6, 2012)

That wasn't painful to imagine, but the feeling of humiliation is understandable. I would just go back and ace that weak *** test lol. Sorry man and good luck.


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## TheaterofHope (Dec 11, 2012)

Zone said:


> That wasn't painful to imagine, but the feeling of humiliation is understandable. I would just go back and ace that weak *** test lol. Sorry man and good luck.


Dude I haven't seen a single number in like over a year lol. And the pressure to complete it while she was in the room and given 50 questions. I blame stress


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## TheaterofHope (Dec 11, 2012)

Still need peoples opinions if I should go back or not


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## tbyrfan (Feb 24, 2011)

Don't go back there. I've heard bad things about Kumon anyway.


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## TheaterofHope (Dec 11, 2012)

So be unemployed... You do realize guys I am asking for courage to got back, not advise


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## livinginfear (Jan 31, 2009)

Why the brackets if it's 5 1/3? I would have thought it was 5 times 1/3 also, generally that's what a separation like that implies. Clearly you're just brighter than the test! If you'd like the job, go back and put those high school students to shame! :yes


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## jesse93 (Jun 10, 2012)

TheaterofHope said:


> Dude I haven't seen a single number in like over a year lol. And the pressure to complete it while she was in the room and given 50 questions. I blame stress


Yea, I can understand this, whenever I'm forced to do pretty much anything and there's someone in the room I feel extremely uncomfortable and pressured. It almost makes me go full retard where I can't even function properly, lol.


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## twilightmoon (Sep 17, 2007)

She seems like a real ***** for smirking and belittling you in front of the other students. Also, I don't see the point of having brackets if it's 5 1/3 + 6 1/6 * 7 1/2 = ? Brackets only serve to confuse people. When I was learning how to do improper fractions in school, the teacher NEVER used brackets to separate the whole number from the fraction...


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## BAH (Feb 12, 2012)

It is pretty common to forget how to solve basic mathematics problems,especially once you are often exposed to advanced mathematics topics. Stop thinking about it too much, no "what ifs",review over the topics that you have forgotten and then go back.


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## Steinerz (Jul 15, 2013)

Math gives me hemorrhoids.


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## Just Lurking (Feb 8, 2007)

Amon said:


> It is pretty common to forget how to solve basic mathematics problems,especially once you are often exposed to advanced mathematics topics. Stop thinking about it too much, no "what ifs",review over the topics that you have forgotten and then go back.


^ This seems reasonable.

If you can handle this "embarrassment", go back and retake the test, and take all this in good stride, maybe laugh about it (or at least not _show_ that you're bothered by it), that may work in your favour for getting hired.

With your credentials, obviously, the tests are just a formality. It's not the test results that she'll be evaluating. How you handle the 'annoyance' or 'stress' of the situation will speak louder than any grade school testing.


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## inane (Oct 21, 2013)

Honey I've got you beat. I went off talking about _Thomas the Train_ during a recent interview, and said to the interviewer/potential manager that he's so "mean!" I needed mind bleach after that one.

At least you were being the professional one in this encounter- her behaviour was not. It sounds like you want to go for it again though, so cheering you on to become one of the most sought after/valuable tutors.


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## Sacrieur (Jan 14, 2013)

You should have told her that her notation was completely wrong.

And you hope that she isn't teaching people that it's right, because they're going to get a shock when they get to uni and the real world when they learn that mixed fractions are NEVER used and that you NEVER, NEVER would use brackets to write a mixed fraction. You would use a single space like 5 1/2 OR proper notation like 5½ or with a horizontal bar. Not that you ever would because of how easily it can be confused. Like gasp, what you did.

It would be more embarrassing to work for her. I feel bad for those kids, who knows what else they're mistakenly being taught. She shouldn't be anywhere near them until she actually reads a math book.


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## lostinlife (Jun 2, 2010)

Sacrieur said:


> You should have told her that her notation was completely wrong.
> 
> And you hope that she isn't teaching people that it's right, because they're going to get a shock when they get to uni and the real world when they learn that mixed fractions are NEVER used and that you NEVER, NEVER would use brackets to write a mixed fraction. You would use a single space like 5 1/2 OR proper notation like 5½ or with a horizontal bar. Not that you ever would because of how easily it can be confused. Like gasp, what you did.
> 
> It would be more embarrassing to work for her. I feel bad for those kids, who knows what else they're mistakenly being taught. She shouldn't be anywhere near them until she actually reads a math book.


Agreed. You were right; she was wrong. Mixed numbers like 5 1/2 would be equal to addition (5 + 1/2). Think of the decimal for the values (5 1/2 means 5.5 as in 5 + .5 = 5.5). 5[1/2] means 5 times 1/2, as you did, and they are clearly different. Any math notation you use should be the same as the calculator input you use. If it's different, they have to tell you in the directions like those SAT questions that use symbols.

In my opinion, the interviewer behaved very unprofessionally. She didn't even get your side of the story before assuming you didn't have the content knowledge. You've been through calculus and linear algebra so you have clearly worked with fractions before so she didn't check to see what led to such a low/conflicting test score. Test scores don't mean anything without context. The context here being that the test was faulty (bad math notation) and not necessarily your content knowledge. I wouldn't want to work for a company like that. I would check out other tutoring companies in the area. Take your talent somewhere where they will respect you.


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## Just Lurking (Feb 8, 2007)

Were brackets used on the test sheet, or did you just use them here for our benefit?


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## TheaterofHope (Dec 11, 2012)

*3 2/5 should be 6/5
*

These were the questions. And without a Calculator it can take some time.


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## Sacrieur (Jan 14, 2013)

Oh yeah that's the right notation.

It was still inappropriate and rude to talk down to you like that.


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## PaintItBlack (May 9, 2013)

I have interview on Monday, I can already imagine how embarrassing it will be, like all interviews I had before...


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## lostinlife (Jun 2, 2010)

TheaterofHope said:


> *3 2/5 should be 6/5
> *
> 
> These were the questions. And without a Calculator it can take some time.


Ah. I agree with Sacrieur that it was still wrong to talk down to you. Everyone has a bad day. I've been a tutoring manager before. You have to support your tutors the same way you support your students when they have a bad day. One data point is not representative of someone's potential.

I will say that the above work looks terribly inefficient to me if that's the way they are showing students to work mixed numbers. You don't actually have to switch all numbers to improper fractions; it is addition as I mentioned above. I see it as:

3 + 2/5 + 1 + 4/7

Then you can add whole numbers:
4 + 2/5 + 4/7

That leaves you easier numbers to work with in combining the fractions. Easy way is to multiply in an X and multiply underneath:
4 + (2*7 + 4*5) / (5*7)
4 + 34/35
4 34/35
(same as 174/35 if you wish to combine at this point).

Hope that tip helps you in the future. Nobody likes fractions. That's probably one of the most reviled math topics.


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## Sacrieur (Jan 14, 2013)

I should point out that the use of × is bad notation.

Also that this is simple arithmetic. But that doesn't mean you can't get creative to show her up.



lostinlife said:


> 3 + 2/5 + 1 + 4/7
> 
> Then you can add whole numbers:
> 4 + 2/5 + 4/7


Pull out the two!

2(2 + 1/5 + 2/7)
2(2 + 7/35 + 10/35)
2(2 + 17/35)

That's how I'd teach someone to solve it. Always look to reduce numbers to their simplest forms.


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## lostinlife (Jun 2, 2010)

Sacrieur said:


> I should point out that the use of × is bad notation.
> 
> Also that this is simple arithmetic. But that doesn't mean you can't get creative to show her up.
> 
> ...


Nice  Factoring is an underrated tool.


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## masterridley (Jan 20, 2007)

I'm confused to be honest. How is that so embarrassing if you just got confused with the notation?

You should have and can still say so, that you were taught in a different notation and that now that you know that, there will be no problem.

If you're asking for our encouragement, I say go!


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## TheaterofHope (Dec 11, 2012)

masterridley said:


> I'm confused to be honest. How is that so embarrassing if you just got confused with the notation?
> 
> You should have and can still say so, that you were taught in a different notation and that now that you know that, there will be no problem.
> 
> If you're asking for our encouragement, I say go!


Its embarrassing because I didn't tell her that. I just said its been a while


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## Klause (May 6, 2014)

If I were you I'd go back there and give her all my subtle wrath.

Also. She's a complete idiot for using the 7(1/2) to call it a mixed number. 

7(1/2) = 7x0.5

7 1/2 = 7+1/2 = 7+0.5


And I learnt it a different way. Which takes longer on paper but quicker in the mind.



*Add whole numbers.
*Find LCM
*Divide each Numerator by LCM, multiply that answer for each numerator divided by the respective numerators.
*Add numerators.
*Multiply total of whole numbers by denominator, add numerator.
*Put answer as numerator.

Its a bit slower on paper but mentally its less work.


3 2/5 + 1 4/7 (3+1) = 4

14 + 20 (14+20) = 34

____________ = 4 34/35 = 174/35
35


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## templar19 (May 12, 2009)

I'm in a similar boat to you: I'm taking a lot of advanced mathematics, having completed real and complex analysis. But I've found that it's very easy to forget a lot of (even very simple) stuff, like mental math, when you haven't done it for awhile. I consistently blow it on multiplication and addition of large numbers. You shouldn't feel embarrassed about doing poorly on the test, if you do feel that way...just spend a few hours reviewing improper fractions and you'll be back up to speed. I'm less certain about your potential employer: I wouldn't be too keen on working for someone who concludes I'm an idiot because I misread some math notation. If money isn't an issue right now, I'd encourage you to shop around a bit at some other tutoring agencies. I work as a private math tutor, and have worked for different companies. People with our background are in short supply, so there are probably many other companies out there that would be happy to give you a job.


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## TheaterofHope (Dec 11, 2012)

I bombed the second test. Apparently it wasn't the notation but pressure on my part since she told me to complete 50 questions in 20 minutes.


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