Logicless Logic

Exam stress

i am sure everyone knows that examinations are just around the corner. important exams at that. 'O'levels for secondary school students, promos for jc1's prelims and then A levels for jc2's. it's not an easy life being a student. in fact, it's quite stressful, even more so when faced with a crucial exam which could make or break your future. however, this is not my point. my point is the major behavioural change in many people when faced with stress, most evidently during the examination period.

i, being an ex catholic high boy, was "trained" to fail exams with a smile on my face. after all, failing tests count for nothing. what was important was the final year examinations. thus, catholic high students[or a majority of them], study strictly last minute. by last minute i mean mugging through the night before the examination. thus, the timing of examination is not a problem[i got this idea from ozy's blog]. because whether the exam is 2 months earlier or later, we will be playing right up till about 4 days before the 1st paper, in which we start to panic and mug. failure to do so will result in failure. like during my secondary 3, year 1 days. but i digress.

back to point on behavioural changes. this was much less evident in my secondary school due to what i mentioned above. in jc however, i notice that recently, even up till 50 odd days before the exams, my classmates have mostly become rather tense and uptight. it isn't a sudden change. it is a gradual increment of tenseness in them. an interesting point to note is that my class has 3 catholic high boys out of 4 boys. the rest are of the opposite gender, the so called fairer sex, ladies(this term calls for severe questioning), women. so while the catholic high "gentlemen"[actually only i am a gentleman] and lone sji boy are still having fun and sleeping during lessons[less already], the rest all around us are frantically scribbling notes with their pencils, pens, working out maths sums, highlighting notes, etc. any noise we attempt to lighten up the atmosphere is met with either

a. contempt
b. disgust
c. dirty looks
d. sarcastic "ha-ha very funny" laughter with an equally sacarstic face and sometimes even
e. genuine laughter/smiles but more of relief/whatever they are thinking of anyway than anything else they are thinking off.

however, i realise a-d may be because what we say is supposedly funny in catholic high[men's brain] but not funny to females of our class[woman's brain]. this includes teasing[67.8%], dirty jokes[30%], others[2.2%]. i realise choice e may be from the 2.2%, which isn't much. again i am leading whoever reads this off-topic.

what i mean to say is that, even though exams are around the corner, everyone feels stressed. it's just the degree of it. heck even this catholic high boy is feeling the heat. doesn't want a repeat of sec 3, year 1. there is no need to get catty just because you feel stressed and a little noise gets on your nerves, gets your blood boiling, tearing your hair out. ok maybe you can get a little catty instead of tearing your hair out but not too much. and by "you" i mean a generic "you". not refering to anyone in case anyone thinks of it that way. if anyone reads this in the 1st place.

anyway, i really understand why people do get a little more easily agitated under stress. however, i do not think that getting agitated helps. by being agitated and maybe giving the hair dryer treatment ala alex ferguson to someone else, you might increase the other person's stress, as well are your own. so take it easier[?]. every problem should have a solution. so now that i have addressed this problem, i will provide a solution. RELAX! but not to the extent where you don't give a shit about the exams. how to relax? only person who knows is yourself.

HOWEVER, if you really relax too much and "could do better" for examinations[anyone who reads this], i will not take any responsibility. this post is written purely for fun[in case anyone decides to take this seriously. it's the exam period and people take whatever they read seriously]. do not take me seriously at all. unless i sound serious. even then, take note in what i say because sounding serious may not be equals to seriousness itself. i am rambling on. i shall end with some serious advice.

A LITTLE BIT OF RELAXATION WON'T KILL YOU. too much may harm your academic performance though.

justin.

ps. actually i have nothing more to say. this "ps" thing was purely for wastage of precious time in which you could have used to study. but the fact that you[if anyone] are/is reading this means that you are not studying which means you have alot of time to waste reading this sentence which rambles on and on.

posted by justin @ 2:22 PM