Hell if anything (at least for me), doing it in front of complete strangers makes it way worse. I freely admit ignorance to people I know even slightly well;

Hell if anything (at least for me), doing it in front of complete strangers makes it way worse. I freely admit ignorance to people I know even slightly well; they already know I'm a certain level of intelligence, so I don't worry as much about one contradictory data pt. By contrast, in front of strangers, the only thing they'll know about me is my ignorance in that situation.