From my first University Exam

How I prepared myself for my first big and in-person university exam

My morning desk

Finishing my New Start program feels like reaching a summit—a hollow feeling kicks in and you miss the journey, but that is another post after my graduation that comes next week. I gave the final exam “test” last week. A lot of ideas came with it. I thought I would share it with you.

Before the exam, I wondered what the exam face would be. I think a happy face is a proper exam face. I went with the intention of taking a happy face in the exam setting. Not staying up late cramming the course material, I had a full seven-hour sleep the previous night. I did a bit of review of the course material in the morning, then I went to the gym for a bit of endorphin to fight back against the exam stress. My head was slightly heavy I didn’t have my usual sharpness. I took a long bath and a cold shower—another stress-relief strategy. I was getting closer to the happy face. I briefly went through the course material—the four subjects I had chosen to write my essays.

The exam was to handwrite four essays in two hours, each 500 words limit. I know that sounds bizarre, who does handwrite essays these days except that they wanted to test if some of the students had been using AI’s help with their essays throughout the program and perhaps test the students’ performance under pressure. I had been under different forms of pressure not under exam pressure – at least not in recent years. The last time I took an exam was when I was fourteen – at the end of grade 7. My body has grown out of it now. I didn’t know how I would perform in this exam. I was experiencing a subtle stress of “not knowing”. I had done all of my preparation before. Now all I needed to do was to take a stress-free and happy face to the exam.

After some wandering on social media both as a habit and also with an intention of low mentally demanding task, I went through the driving code quizzes to prepare my brain for a half an hour nap. Doing a disinterested task before sleep tires my brain and I am ready to fall asleep. By the time, I woke up it was 3 pm – three more hours to the exam. It was a perfect time to eat. I didn’t want my stomach to be on my mind either too full or too hungry. After my meal, I did half an hour of meditation to disengage my mind from unnecessary thoughts. With meditation, I often go for separating my consciousness from my thoughts and it helps me to create an ultimate focus state.

Throughout my walk and ferry ride to the university, I maintained my meditative state. I arrived on campus with a fresh and happy face that I intended. Other students had gathered a few hours early for extra preparation but almost all looked exhausted and anxious as if they just come out of the exam room.

I had acute stress under my skin yet it was not overwhelming. I did some free rewriting some poems to prepare my hand and relieve the acute stress before the exam room opened at six. I arrived at the exam chair in the best possible way I could prepare myself. Once I started writing the essays beginning with the easiest one, I was in the flow state. Words and sentences were forming before my fingers without too much effort. I was pleased with my performance. I will be back with the results and see if they are as pleasing.

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