no I am serious, there is only one book(after elementry school) that it took more than a day (I read 5 hours at most out of the day)to read and that book is Romance of the Three Kingdoms. that was because I didn't buy the book, I got a online version, and my parents never let me on the computer in extended periods of time.

Post some original fiction and I promise I'll look. Fanfiction makes my head hurt.

On a more relevant note, HoP, however much of a genius you think you are, you CANNOT read a book, like, say the Iliad, in 4 hours. I too am a very good reader. VERY GOOD. But I have no delusions about my abilities. If you think you can finish college reading even in a day, you're in for a nasty surprise.

I completely agree with Ih8. I'm a Comparative Literature major, and I get a rediculous amount of reading to do. Even if I only have 30 pages or so, the language in which they are written hinders my time. No only that, but when you reach College, you won't be able to just read the book for shits and then write some report about the plot. You'll be going through each page with a hi-lighter underlining quotes and passages you can use in your papers. You will be forced to slow down. I used to and still am a rediculously fast reader, but for school it takes me an extreme amount of time to go through my readings because I want to get the most out of them possible so I can write a conscise and informative paper.

As for writing, I'm sorry HoP, but it's a part of life that you're going to have to get used to. You'll have to write papers in College and although some Professors won't care about your writing, you will eventually have to take a Composition class for writing credit and then you'll actually have to write papers with proper grammar and spelling. Professors expect you to be able to write a legible and grammatically correct paper and won't bother giving you another chance to write it; they'll just lower your grade.

Incidently, I don't doubt that you're smart and such HoP, but I can't take your argument about writing when your spelling is like it is and your lack of punctuation. I understand that people don't pay attention to how they write in the forums, but you should really pay more attention to how you write, it can get irritating to read one long sentence as an entire post.

Ih8: Amazing that you brought up the Iliad cause that's what I was going to bring up.

HoP: I'm an English/Poli-Sci major. I've been a very strong reader all my life and writing is my life, so it's not like I'm a dumbass or a slow reader. I'm currently reading "The Iliad" for Intro to Lit and "The Cherokee Removal: A Brief History with Documents" for Intro to U.S. History as well as "Frankenstein" for my first-year seminar.

I'm sure you've read TONS of 'tough' books in the two years you've been out of elementary school. Nevertheless: none of these compare to the amount and density of things you'll be reading in college, should you go to college. None of what we're saying is to scare you or make you afraid of college; we're simply informing you that you shouldn't expect it to be a breeze, cause a breeze it ain't. You will need to put a LOT of time and work into college classes, and writing will almost definitely be a big part of this. It does depend on your major of course, but no matter what major you have you'll likely have to do some writing and you'll almost definitely have to take a composition or college writing course like Batgirl said.

So, out of curiosity, do you have any idea what you plan to major in at this point? Or areas you're at least interested in?

Edit: Wandering Actor: My writing's better than yours and it's original! ;) BAM! Actually, your link didn't work. But still. CLICK MY LINK AND YOU WILL SEE.

(highonpawns you don't need to quote an entire post every time you reply, it clutters and lengthens a topic consierably)

If you can read "Great Expectations" (the non-abridged version) in 4 hours.... something is seriously wrong with you. (And I'm pretty sure most people have to read it sometime in their school careers.

And I agree that writing is essential, and fun most of the time. ^^ If you don't know how to write well, (at least at a high-school level) then you're going to come off as "unschooled" to other people when you've graduated and into the real world. And all of those creative writing exercises they make you do keeps you refreshed with your writing skills, if nothing else.

If I might add another thing: You mentioned a talent for mathematics. If you should go to university or college and enter a scientific field, you will almost certainly end up having to read papers or theses. The language used in these slows down the reading of them considerably, and if you have a number to read and then review it can take quite a long time.

As to spelling and grammar in writing: Everyone else has pretty much covered the topic. The only thing that I can add is that for myself very bad grammar and spelling is an issue. It significantly slows reading, and if I encounter writing (including forum posts) with very bad grammar or spelling I tend to skim it, and thus do not take in the author's points very well.

I must admit, my spelling (and probably my grammar) is far from perfect, although I do try. I'm not saying that perfect spelling and grammar is necessary, but the better it is the more effective your writing becomes.

As to the balance between reading and writing in schooling: You make a good point of the severity of the imbalance, but I suspect that some imbalance is best. While reading certainly aids writing, the opposite is also true. On the other hand, poor writing is more serious than poor reading, and good writing is more difficult than good reading.

As to the word "necessary": This can be a problem word for me; I have to consciously think about it. For some reason I often find myself wanting to insert another 'c'.

I'll be frank, HoP, your writing here makes you look like an idiot. And if you're going to be typing CVs, or processing memos, or doing any kind of computer-related paperwork at all, that sort of writing is only going to give yourself trouble.

That said, I agree that more emphasis should be placed on reading. Reading *is* a form of practice for writing, after all, and it adds knowledge. Still, you can't neglect writing - all that knowledge is useless if you can't express it.

Hey, just because I use a created universe, dosen't mean the work isn't original. I make sure to include at least ONE original character, which is usually the main character. But anyways, to get back on topic:
I think we should stab to the heart of the matter. HoP, you seemed upset that the writing on an SAT would lower your score. Take this into effect then: the collegeboard is also going to take away analogies to try to balance the test. Everyone knows that analogies are usually the hardest part of the verbal test, so your scores should stay in the range you want them to, considering you just practice your writing. In most college writing, i.e. application essays, your going to get asked a question like: "Explain a difficult situation in your life and how you handled it." The Collegeboard dosen't give a flying fuck about your life or how you handled it. They just want to see how good you can write by checking for content, structure, grammer etc. Also, they were supposed to make the math problems harder, but seeing as how your such a math :bmage: you should have nothing to worry about. :D

Dante, there are people here with FAR worse spelling and grammar than him...unless you meant he looked like in idiot for posting this thread, in which case he's just guilty of youthful naivete.

There are some people on these forums who use NO punctuation, lousy grammar, and don't even attempt correct spelling. I very much want to hurt these people, because they come off sounding like complete idiots, and because their posts are SO FUGGIN' HARD TO READ!!!

I know EXACTLY what Shiney meant earlier...it annoys me too >_<

Dante, your point about reading is a highly valid one, though the schools would doubtless screw it up somehow. I prefer reading, and I think it is very necesary for proper education, if only my school wasn't more interested in teaching us what different literary terms are....