"Your dad had studied in this school." - Mom said, standing outside the examination center.
----
It was the first paper out of the three papers scheduled on that day. There was an unexpected format change. Till last year, candidates had been given empty notebooks to write the answers (that allows you a sort of freedom to attempt and reattempt the questions, if you get them wrong in the first go).
Not this year. We were provided with a booklet containing 12 pages. Each page had a question written at the top, and we were supposed to answer the questions in one shot. A shiver ran up my spine. I was not in the habit of answering questions in one go. I needed my reattempts to get an answer correct.
I looked at each and every question, trying to find a simple question that I could answer at one go. Not one question seemed to match the requirement, and each and every question seemed to have some trick involved in it. Sweat broke across my face, and I couldn't move my hand for a long time. Eventually, I tried to attempt a question or two, but couldn't scribble beyond two lines, meeting a dead end in both the questions.
I estimated that I had lost around half an hour in my feeble attempts to solve those questions. I stole a quick look at the watch, and then did a double take. The watch told me that I had already spent 1 hour 15 minutes in the exam, and only 45 minutes were left. Fresh sweat broke across my face, and my whole body was drenched in a few seconds.
I realized that I won't be able to clear the exam, at least on that day. But somehow, I was not ready to buckle down. No part of my mind was ready to accept the defeat. I did what my mind told me: "Do one question at a time. Forget about the one page issue. Just solve, we will see what to do if more space is needed."
Next 45 minutes passed in a ziffy. So did the other two papers of that day.
---
One month later, I was queuing up outside an internet cafe, with at least 5 set of parents and children trying to have a look at the results. Something cringed inside my stomach as I hit the submit button, and the five seconds needed by the website to fetch the result seemed like an eternity. And then, there was the result in front of my eyes. I closed my eyes, breathed a sigh of relief, and mumbled a thanks to God. When I opened my eyes, I was probably the happiest that I had felt till that date.
---
In retrospect, whenever I look back at that JEE exam, I think about what could have happened if I had not wasted that hour and fifteen minutes. The reflections have taught me not to be surprised by life's surprises, but to prepare an action item and work on it.
Each and every candidate who has taken that exam, has his or her own learnings from that exam. I believe no other exam could have taught what JEE taught me, and the learning derived from this exam is what makes it special. Its non-repetitiveness, surprises, application of concepts, tricky questions are unique features, and should be available for future generations to derive their own learnings.
----
It was the first paper out of the three papers scheduled on that day. There was an unexpected format change. Till last year, candidates had been given empty notebooks to write the answers (that allows you a sort of freedom to attempt and reattempt the questions, if you get them wrong in the first go).
Not this year. We were provided with a booklet containing 12 pages. Each page had a question written at the top, and we were supposed to answer the questions in one shot. A shiver ran up my spine. I was not in the habit of answering questions in one go. I needed my reattempts to get an answer correct.
I looked at each and every question, trying to find a simple question that I could answer at one go. Not one question seemed to match the requirement, and each and every question seemed to have some trick involved in it. Sweat broke across my face, and I couldn't move my hand for a long time. Eventually, I tried to attempt a question or two, but couldn't scribble beyond two lines, meeting a dead end in both the questions.
I estimated that I had lost around half an hour in my feeble attempts to solve those questions. I stole a quick look at the watch, and then did a double take. The watch told me that I had already spent 1 hour 15 minutes in the exam, and only 45 minutes were left. Fresh sweat broke across my face, and my whole body was drenched in a few seconds.
I realized that I won't be able to clear the exam, at least on that day. But somehow, I was not ready to buckle down. No part of my mind was ready to accept the defeat. I did what my mind told me: "Do one question at a time. Forget about the one page issue. Just solve, we will see what to do if more space is needed."
Next 45 minutes passed in a ziffy. So did the other two papers of that day.
---
One month later, I was queuing up outside an internet cafe, with at least 5 set of parents and children trying to have a look at the results. Something cringed inside my stomach as I hit the submit button, and the five seconds needed by the website to fetch the result seemed like an eternity. And then, there was the result in front of my eyes. I closed my eyes, breathed a sigh of relief, and mumbled a thanks to God. When I opened my eyes, I was probably the happiest that I had felt till that date.
---
In retrospect, whenever I look back at that JEE exam, I think about what could have happened if I had not wasted that hour and fifteen minutes. The reflections have taught me not to be surprised by life's surprises, but to prepare an action item and work on it.
Each and every candidate who has taken that exam, has his or her own learnings from that exam. I believe no other exam could have taught what JEE taught me, and the learning derived from this exam is what makes it special. Its non-repetitiveness, surprises, application of concepts, tricky questions are unique features, and should be available for future generations to derive their own learnings.
awesome content from heart
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