One Process I dread the most is preparing for exams. So, when I got my first degree in 2015, I was one of the happiest persons in the World because, I felt I could now take a break from the psychological trauma associated with preparing for an examination.
Speaking from a personal point of view, I think examination preparation is such a huge task for me because, I always want to give it my best shut as much as possible. Therefore, sleepless nights to study, group meetings, and sometimes panic attack is the order of the day for me.
I can recall a particular exam I wrote back then in university; I was in 300 level and it was a course on animal feed formulation. This course had to do with figurers. I had to prepare hard because I knew my strength wasn’t so much with math.
As far as I am concerned, I had studied my materials and practiced all the available past question papers in readiness for this particular course.
On the side, I hated the lecturer because, he was in my own opinion, unnecessarily strict, never smiled his mode of teaching was one sided. All I wants was to pass this course and move on with my life, I never wanted to see in in front of any class again.
In my subconscious, I knew I shouldn’t hate him, but I just couldn’t help it. Honestly, I tried to love him, but it didn’t work. I guess the reason is because it seemed that everyone around me didn’t like him too. So, the more I tried to see reasons to like him, the reviews of my course mates and senior course mates didn’t help the situation.
Well, I was determined to pass and that’s why I studied very hard. Maybe four times my regular input to study.
The night before the exam date, I slept early enough so I could wake up early enough (4:00 am).
When I woke up in the morning, I realized it was 7: 00 am. This was the first panic attack because I has a few more topics and calculation steps to revise and I knew that 1 hour wasn’t enough to meet up.
I needed at least 20 minutes to shower and dress up and at least 20 mins to get to the Exam venue, and at least 15 minutes to settle in on my exam sit. At this point I was really sad.
“Your time starts now”. This was the voice of the examiner alerting us that the examination has started. It was a two-and-a-half-hour paper. For the first one hour, I was staring at my question paper and the paper was staring back at me. I looked around and saw my course mates writing. As painful as it was, at this point, I started preparing my self to sit for this same exam as a carryover the following year.
“Thirty minutes more”. The examiner echoed. Suddenly, I remembered the formulas and calculation processes to the examination questions. I quickly started writing as fast as I could. There were 5 questions to answer 3. Each question has subsets and 1 particular question was compulsory. Its amazing how, within 30 minutes, I was able to confidently answer 2 questions.
Maybe luck shined on me, maybe my earlier effort to study came through for me? But I am glad I didn’t have to retake that course as a carry-over course ever!
