Your final exam; Your swan song

Andrew Heanngam Pamei *

Students appearing for Exam at Imphal in February 2014 :: Pix - Deepak Oinam

As the month Feb-Mar ticks in, there comes the season of final exam- A final exam for class 10th, 11th and 12th. I remember how tensed I was during those days of my preparation. Those days were real hard and tense, with the mixed feeling of nervousness and tension overcrowding my tender mind. At times, I would sit up whole night preparing. Nervous, yet cautious not to let myself down with the negative voice of pessimist, I would listen to sweet country instrumental music and at times grab a motivational novel and flip through few pages just for light inspiration.

Yes, indeed, exam days are hard times for students. For majority of the students, during exam days, nights will become days, days will become nights, no games, no laughter, no rest, no watching movies and no listening to any kinds of news. Exams are unavoidable trials of student's life. They are also life's stages to be passed through somehow though they impose great pressure. By saying that exam impose sufferings, one need not fear it, for fear keeps people small. There is no happiness without suffering, no achievement without challenge and no healing without pain, so, one need not be afraid of exams though it's natural that one tends to get nervous as one thinks of it.

Come out of fear as a chick comes out of an egg. Students preparing for this final board exam ought to remember that on the other side of your greatest fear, lives your greatest lives. Consider the sparrows. Carefully watch its nest and prayerfully look at the eggs. Do they think that building nest and laying eggs in them is a burden ? How merrily they do that...! Therefore exam time is also an opportunity to show your skill. It is a rare occasion for you to get ready, and challenge one saying, come on... let me show you who I am...!

There's no denying the fact that success comes from God, as the Holy Bible in the book of Prov. 16:3 says, "Entrust your works to the Lord, and your plans will succeed". It is good to pray to the Lord for success before an exam. It focuses your mind towards a desired direction. But that doesn't mean that one should throw the whole burden of the exams on the ultimate, and then roam about without studying.

On the contrary, it is good to pray for the courage, perseverance and memory power, which are necessary for writing the exams successfully. It is good to pray for the mind to understand the understandable. Pray for the wisdom to present your knowledge effectively on your answer papers during exam. And I'm telling you to pray before exam because prayer brings momentum and lifts the heart above the challenges of life. Prayer may not change all things for you but I assure you, it will change you for all things.

To the ones out there preparing for this final battle, as exam knocks at your door, you might feel pretty nervous by the time you are at the day before the exam. Never let nervousness and fear control you. Defeat your fear with your faith to come out successfully with flying colours. Faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible and receives the impossible.

You know what faith is ? It is believing what you don't see. And the price of faith is that, you'll see what you believe. So, never let doubt and fear be a stumbling block on your journey to success. Let your desire to succeed be much more than your fear of failure. As Paulo Coelho, author of the famous novel 'The Alchemist' says, "Even the whole universe conspires in your favor when you really want to succeed". Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go. So, arise, awake and stop not till thy goal to come out in merit list is reached. Whenever you feel putting like your books aside, know that there's someone studying really hard to kick you out of the merit list.

Who are the champions ? They are just a man, a man with a vision... a man with a dream. Champions are made from something, something they have deep inside them, a desire, a vision. They have the courage to do what is necessary. They have the skill and the will, but their will is stronger than their skill, and that makes all the difference. Will power wins victories. What you think is who you become. Think who you want to be, a topper ? An 80%, or a 70% achiever ? Ok. Work like the person who you want to be and live like that person in mind as if it were already true, then success is at hand, because we become who we think we are.

For some, who are preparing for the board exams, you might be having a hard time. For some, it might be a horrible family situation coming up unexpectedly or financial problem being another stumbling block. I too overcame that. Take courage, don't let that be a stumbling block on your journey to success. One thing you should remember is that, life's greatest heartbreak is arriving at the end and realizing that you could have been excellent but settled average. Please don't let that happen to you.

Success is not winning every battle. It is attaining the ultimate objective. It means winning the war not every battle. So, discourage not, with your previous failures. Get up one more time than you've fallen. For the Holy Bible encourages, "For the just man falls seven times and rises again"-Prov.24:16, and "Do not grow weary in doing good, for in due time you shall reap the harvest if you don't give up"-Gal 6:9.

Education is like a sea voyage, pass through it joyfully. Success or failure in exam depends not on how much intelligence one has, but on how well one uses his or her intelligence. In exam, marks aren't awarded for memorizing your answer accurately, rather they are given for writing answers correctly. One needs to answer only what is being asked, than answering what we know. There is only one way to study so as to succeed, and that way is hard and tough. But make a willful decision to make it bloom with flowers of success despite that toughness. And by taking this way, make yourself aware of your own strength, this is the key to success. How well one studies is more important than how long one studies.

With this season of final exam, I am reminded of a legend of a thorn bird which sings once in its life, more sweetly than any other creature on the face of the earth. From the moment it leaves the nest it searches for a thorn tree, and does not rest until it has found one. Then, singing among the savage branches, it impales itself upon the longest, sharpest thorn. And as it is dying, it rises above its own agony to out-sing the lark and the nightingale. The thorn bird pays its life for that one sweet song and the whole world stills to listen, and God in his heaven smiles, for its best is bought only at the cost of great pain.

And though bitter was the pain, its song would grow sweeter and the song is perfected by the bitter pain of the thorn which pierced its heart. The fierce pang of pain shot through her made her sing its sweetest. And as your final exam begins, I wish you all who are preparing for it, to show your best like this thorn bird, no matter how much pain you endure by studying hard, make your result the best of all, for the result of this exam will echo in eternity, and remember, the best is bought only at the cost of great pain.

Just as the song of this thorn bird is being perfected by its bitter pain piercing into the thorn, let the result of this final academic battle be perfected by the pain of your hard work. Pain is temporary, Do your best. Success is waiting!! Be aware of the strength within you and understand that the banner of success lies by your side.

Wish you all the best and God bless you all.