Exams rant

Originally posted on Oct 27 2006 on my Friendster blog.

Note: Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Fitri to one and all... Enjoy! And to all CM's friends who I KNOW read this; *wags finger* You guys are very bad...

Does anyone remember how it was during exam-time in high school? I can't seem to remember. I do know that I was doing 10 subjects (10 exams!) and yet I was not half as stressed as I am now. How did we all do it? How did we face 8 and more exams at a time without fuss while we NOW freak out, go without sleep and drink enough coffee to float a battleship when we only have 4 exams? It doesn't make sense.

Is it because more is at stake? In high school, we were automatically promoted to the next grade whether or not we passed. In tertiary education, FAT HOPE. You fail = you do it all over again. You fail enough times and badly enough, you face the uni committee and explain to them exactly why you failed. Which has always struck me as funny. If the poor sods knew why they were failing, they would've fixed it right? Why wait until they get summoned for a hearing to get their flash of inspiration? Even if they knew why they were failing, does telling it to the university help them pass? Can't see that it does.

How many out there with a degree actually end up working in their field of study? Not many that I know of, even in my circle of acquaintances. The business systems grads end up in sales (selling everything from software to coffee to fish), the commerce ones end up all over the place and the most interesting ones have not yet got a steady job. There are those few that end up with decent jobs in their field of study, but they are the minority. Even then, some have a quarter-life crisis and decide that they don't want to do that for the rest of their lives. How like that? No choice but to stick it out.

*big sigh* Just for the record, I have 2 papers on Mon and Tues, then my last paper the Mon after that. Which means I'm a little nervy, which explains my ranting. Wish me luck and I'll tell you how things went when I've recovered. Cheers!