(Have a loose study routine dude, but HAVE A STUDY ROUTINE!)
Today I had my 3rd Sem Ethics exam, Online exam. And perhaps, at this point, to no one's surprise, I used google throughout the exam. Yah...I cheated in an Ethics exam...not very ethical thing to do you might say. But whatever. It ez what it ez. Right? What has been done, can't be undone, so might as well find some useful wisdom in that then. See, I am applying 'Forward Looking Theory of Punishment' on to myself ("What are the various theories of punishment? Discuss" just answered this question in today's paper)
Lesson 1 : Take it easy dude, But TAKE IT!!
Meaning? Don't stress over a daunting situation, but do not IGNORE IT EITHER. Let me tell you a little about how BHU's online exam works. It's a 4 and 1/2 hour long exam where 8 questions of equal marks are given and you are to attempt any 4 of the 8 (4 questions each of 17.5 marks i.e. 17.5*4=70 marks total), scan them, and upload to the official website before the timer runs out. Sounds easy right? But problem happens when you haven't studied a single thing and you are asked to chose 4 questions to attempt. It's hard to chose between Diary Milk and 5star, but it's harder to chose between Lauki ki sabzi and Tinde ki sabzi, as here, you are screwed both ways.
So here I am, staring at 8 questions, with the timer ticking away on the website, trying to decide which 4 unknown questions I am more likely to find good answers of on google. But wait, there's a catch. You are not the only fisherman at the pond are you? There is also some 10 other students too, trying to google things away in to their answer sheet. (Those bastard cheaters!) So you have to decide 4 question that are covered by enough websites so that potentially everyone will click on a different one so that everyone will plagarize write from a different website and not make all the answer scripts looks /suspiciously/ similar. Understood? Good. Now how to understand which question I am more likely to find such answers with? Well only one way. Start by googling them all and then narrow the ones that have good materials. But hey! look, the timer's ticking, the websites aren't loading, I am panicki'n, this rap verse is going like Honey Singh.
A lot of work. But don't stress it, do your work, visit one task/one website at a time, but DO THE WORK.
Lesson 2 : It’s about drive, it’s about power, It’s about stamina, it’s about endurance, we stay patient, we win the race.
Sprinting to action is required, but when dealing with long things, or things that will have impact even after they are finished, take them at a marathoner's pace rather than a sprinter's pace.
Ok I found an answer to a question on google. But then what? Do I sprint to just start copying the whole thing line by line? No. I take time to read the whole website, understand the zist of it, understand if this is the answer that the question is actually wanting or not, then keep all that information in the back of my mind and open a new tab and begin the process again. Find a new website, read it, understand it, tally it, keep the info at the back of my mind, then repeat. Skimming through the basic of just 3-4 websites gives a good idea what the question wants and how the general direction of the answer should go. After that I can start forming the answer together by connecting the infos I just collected at the back of the mind and start writing on paper.
Now do the whoooole thing 4 times. Yah, that will take some endurance and patience from you. A little long process I understand. Takes extra 10 minutes per question to do all that than just copying the first answer I find on google. But it helps me make sure that I am writing an answer (by mixing different website's material plus my own thoughts while reading them) that no one else is writing.
Tortoise wins the race. The more you mature, the more you will learn and realize the truth in this. Put a little extra effort in to what you are doing, do some extra research than others, do a little better than everyone else. And for all this, stay patient in the process and develop the stamina and endurance required for it. Bit by Bit.
On this topic, I would love to paraphrase a lesson from the book What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami - 'The people who are running ahead of you in a marathon in the beginning, won't even finish the race. Don't worry about them'
Lesson 3 : 4 = 1 (4 is equal to 1)
(Deal with it ᕙ(▀̿̿_̿̿▀̿ ̿) ᕗ)
I framed a brilliant answer for my first question and started writing a very good and detailed answer. We can write at maximum 3 pages per question, and I was on my 3rd page for the first question when I realized something. All the 4 questions that I am attempting have equal marks. The 4th question that I will attempt is having the same 17.5 marks as this first question that I am attempting.
4 = 1. I was spending too much time on writing details for the first question, so much so that I realized I have spent 1 hour and 30 minutes just for the first answer. Oh no. That's not good. At this pace, I may not even get the time to write the 4th answer.
We often overestimate the importance of the first thing that we do and grow over attached to it. When objectively speaking, it is equal in worth just as much the next task or the task after it or the task after after it or the task after after after it... In some case this surely not true, but in some case it is true, and identifying which one is which can save a lot of hassle. Going to jogging on the first day is as important as going to jogging the next day, so don't grow over attached and jog 5km the first day. Opening Duolingo is as important as opening it the next day, so give 5mins each day rather than spending 30mins on the first day.
I changed my pace and somehow made it to the 4th answer in time, though the handwriting got a little squiggly by the time I reached there.
Lesson 4 : Don't just watch F.R.I.E.N.D.S, have them.
(Dost dost reh gaya? Ya na raha?)
"You search question number 3, I am searching question number 5. If you find good websites, send the link, if I find, I will send the link" A conversation with one of my friends mid exam (I would love to reveal the name, but I don't want him to get in trouble as some of my professors read this blog sometimes. Hello prof!!)
Yes I did search the websites on my own, and write the answers on my own, but it would be incorrect if I say I did all the findings on my own. If would receive a link, read it and find it good then that saves plenty of time doesn't it?
So have friends, but have good friends. Have friends that you can trust or don't have friends at all. But if you do have friends, make sure to do things yourself too that enables him/her to trust in the friendship too. You certainly don't want friends who keep sending you bad links in middle of the exam to waste your time or friends who support you with fake moral support while you take some stupid decision in your life.
Lesson 5 : Just another brick on the wall.
(My favorite neo-noir film's favorite dialogue)
Remember...at the end of the day...it is night. Nothing special. Nothing extraordinary. No matter how good you have done something OR no matter how bad you have done something, you can not un-do that anymore. That thing now is just another brick you have already cemented in your past.
I finished my 4 answers half an hour ago of the designated time, but the submission website kept crashing and so did my internet connection. I tried uploading the papers, but only 3 out of 10 papers got submitted. So as a desperate last attempt, I stopped trying to upload them and sent the answer sheets as a pdf to my professor instead and texted him explaining the whole situation. Will he check the email? Will he evaluate the answers negatively because I have sent them via email than uploading them on the website? Will he eat scrambled eggs before checking my answers? I don't know. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ So why stress over things that I don't know and can't know?
I tried my best, I wrote the best answers I could write in those 4 and a half hour, I understood some concepts in those 270 minutes that I hadn't read about in 19 years on my life (yes, I actually understood the concepts before writing them on the answer sheet). I think this all counts more than what I get scored on the test. I may get good marks, I may get bad, but now that the exam is over, all that is over too.
No matter what we do, after we have done it, it is just - it ez what it ez.
BTW, the blog ends here. Have something to say? You can always comment down you know :)
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