By Thiumi Gunasekera
The first thing I would like to ask you is, what is something you fear the most? Is it something you fear on the surface like that multifaceted clown from IT, or something deep inside, like you not being good enough for people whom you admire? Or can it just be the exams that frighten you so?
Well, today happens to be your lucky day as I will be talking about the most important aspect of exams for the benefit of you guys seeing it in a different way. First of all, let me affirm you that exams are the catalysts of staying grounded and organised. They test your abilities, your limits, and confirm your strengths and weaknesses. Yes, this may sound cliché and all but trust me on this, exams are there for a reason. Just like how our species of humanity is on this earth for a reason, exams are a stepping stone further of a reason. Definitely yes, they can change your future life, but remember they can’t determine it: that’s up to you and yourself only.
Being a student myself, it’s been a hard journey getting to where I am now. A hard, picky, unsure one which I will be sharing with you today to change your state of mind towards exams and start to work toward them more, instead of despising them. The first and foremost thing about exams is to never be scared of them. What is there to be afraid of? That’s not even the main point of exams; your abilities make exams what they are. Your mind, your strengths, your confidence is what fills that piece of paper. But I realised over two years ago that students aren’t afraid of exams, they’re afraid of failure.
Look, failure can be a positive thing when you begin to fly again. It’s not a negative thing until you look at it in a different way. Think about successful people right now who created colours to paint the world in the past; to shed a little light on their past-flaws we see in ourselves today. Remember, no one’s perfect. They weren’t either when failure rejected them and beat them repeatedly, but that didn’t stop them from getting back up to win the race. Humans have gone through hard times such as the plague and the Spanish flu that tore the world apart just as COVID - 19 did to us, which in turn changed our whole future. But they won the battle their own way not because of some piece of paper that they kept writing on for 2 hours a day.
Failure can break you down, but at the end of the day it guides you to the right way.
The last thing I can tell you right now, is don’t panic. Revise as much as you can with proper breaks. On the way, don’t lose your path, keep trying and trying until exams start. Don’t delay studying, do daily revision from the concepts, topics you like from each subject. Revise your written notes as well as answering questions and answers.
Just be strong and study hard. Remember, failure isn’t something you can be, it’s something you can learn not to be. There’s no shortcut to success, it’s all about the hard work you put in. You can do this!
All the best guys!
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