I Came, I Saw, Did I Conquer?
“Wake up to reality! Nothing ever goes as planned in this world. The longer you live, the more you realize that in this reality only pain, suffering and futility exist” — Madara Uchicha
By this time two weeks ago, I made a statement which was, “If I survive this coming two weeks, I’ll write about my experience”. So here I am, two weeks later, apparently still alive and as expected the past two weeks wasn’t funny. While most of my course-mates had 9 exams to write, unfortunately, I had 11 due to two carryover courses. Honestly, this affected my self-esteem a bit, because I would be having a conversation with someone and get complimented on being smart, and I’ll just throw a reply discrediting it. Yes, I understand that exams aren’t really a test of one’s true knowledge but trust me when I say failure hits different when you taste it.
I knew the task ahead of me was something I had never experienced before. I tried my best to not think too much about it. I would be lying if I said some crazy thoughts didn’t cross my mind, but it’s all fine now. For someone with lots on his hand, I felt I was too calm. Maybe it was because of the Word of The Week verse Job 32:8 I heard from my fellowship on 21st February. A major issue was the clash those carryover courses had with our main departmental courses. We tried our best to resolve them but it was like our efforts just wasted. At that point, I grew a strong dislike for Nigerian Lecturers because there was nothing stopping my department from adjusting the time for the exams. Surprisingly a day before one of them, we got to know the time of the external carryover course (EE211) was adjusted. How that happened still remains a mystery to us.
1st March, the D-day came and we had our first paper, COS333 Operating System. The exam was not what I expected, it went well and smooth. I was happy at the end of the day and hoped the rest of my exams would turn out that way. The next day was COS303 Introduction to Microprocessors, and again the exam went well. This was a course we had doubts about because the material was too bulky. That same day I had to rewrite EE211 and I can’t confidently say it went well, it got to a point in the hall one of my alter egos was like, “You failed this course when you were supposed to pass it, how sure are you that you would now?” I just had to discard that thought and wrote the nonsense I knew. The next day we had COS301 Introduction to Digital Design. This was a course that would leave you more confused after each lecture and the exam was a different thing from what we feared, it went well. COS313 Switching Algebra came next on Thursday 4th. It also went well, at this point I was like, “Am I sure I am not inside a genjustu? Is this all a dream or trap? Because these exams have been going smoothly”. Little did I know next week had other plans for me.
Monday 8th and I had two exams at the same time, yup. The other carryover MTH215 was 9–12pm, same with my departmental for that day COS341 Computer Architecture. There was an elective that I didn’t pick by 3–6 pm the same day. Since efforts to convince the lecturer to shift his course failed, we were only able to get an hour delay. Meaning COS341 would start by 10. We hoped MTH215 would start on time, but as they say, “Man proposes, UNN disposes”. If memory doesn’t fail me, we started by 10:36 am, LOL, I knew I didn’t have time to do anything much. I just rushed the questions I was very sure of and submitted. I quickly ran to the venue of COS341 which had started since(saw people coming out) and was directed to another venue. I rushed there, took my question paper and script and then it dawned on me. Why was I seeing questions from what I wasn’t taught? Question 1 had 10 sub-questions added to them and nothing from it was in the material we read for the course. Did my best and left.
Tuesday the next day, COS335 System Analysis & Design exam came. The questions were beautiful but the time allocated for the exam wasn’t enough. This was a course that had lots of diagrams involved and I couldn’t finish all but I did well. Quickly went home that evening because I knew nothing about the course I had in the afternoon the next day. I slept well and woke up with zero knowledge, was able to solve a few past questions after cramming some formulas and I went for the COS311 Numerical Methods exam. This course is maths in disguise, no cap. I was expecting to answer question 1 and two others only to start and hear “Answer any 4 questions.” Answered the 3 questions and just did vibes and insha allah on the remaining one. Finally, we had two last exams, one departmental and one general. Our last departmental came the next day being Thursday, COS331 Compiler Constructor wasn’t funny. The time wasn’t enough, the questions were too much and not set properly. Which one is question 2 and question 2a being different things? I just wrote what I could and said at least I am not failing the course.
The last paper for the semester came the next day. CEDR341 Introduction to Entrepreneurship. Omo, reading for that course was vibes and insha allah. I was like I would wake early and start the textbook and finish it before my batch enters, LOL, the lies we tell ourselves. Ended up strolling to get a haircut and playing around. It was around 12 noon I tried to read the summary I had, didn’t even finish it, just skimmed some pages before I got an update that our batch would soon go in. Had to rush to the exam to the venue and I was reminded by how much I missed CBT exams in UNN. After a while, we got in and the exam was a breeze, fun and nice. I was finally finished with my exam and my joy knew no bound.
I got to hear of my namesake, a Biochemistry student who committed suicide two days ago and I couldn’t stop myself from thinking, “What if that was me?” At this point, I am still sceptical about how my results in some courses would be but if there’s anything I am happy about, it’s the gift of life. I have tasted failure and unlike how Motivational speakers put it, it’s not something I would wish for anyone. Then again falling lots isn’t what matters but how quick you are to rise back up. I have learnt not to expect too much and how short life is.
Special shoutout to all the Indian Youtuber that helped tutor me this past few weeks. Special thanks to my Flatmates; Ben, Philp, Red and Val we spurn each other to study faster this period. Those study questions we asked ourselves and answered helped during some exams. Shoutout to Jessica, who was constantly asking how I was coping with all and checking on my mental health. Finally special thanks to you who took the time to read this, like I always say, I just write out what comes to my head. So did I conquer? Well time will tell.
At this point, my schedule is kinda free, so if you got plans or anything, we could talk about it.
