haha, not that i’ll be taking any exams any time soon. just reminiscing moments of those days and nights spent reading and revising for exams. now that IIU mates will be having their exam around this week, take this as a tribute you guys. savour those exams while you’re still at it. sometimes we don’t realise how fun exams are. haha. not nerdy not geeky, just smart.

people have different ways of learning and studying for exams. i have friends who would write/copy down notes over and over again. that’s how they will remember the points. i don’t. in fact i hate writing down notes again and again, doesn’t matter if the notes i copied during class were a hell mess. but my impromptu notes are mostly readable.(puji diri sendiri nampaaaak)or better, i don’t write notes at all. like for Dr Wan’s Myth,and Research Methods classes, or Dr Fatimah’s Contemporary issues class, or Dr Fadzilah’s Evangelization. i prefer reading the textbooks and handouts, and write down comments and points by my lecturers on them.

and colours! colours are the most important study materials for me, highligters, coloured pens, they play major parts in my study. i remember through colours and pictures, even the layout of the page, if i want to recall important points. mindmaps also help alot.

and i love staying up nights and sacrificing weekends just to revise. baru terasa mcm budak universiti~

i learnt to not study last minute the hard way. seriously. i couldn’t sleep, i almost got a nervous breakdown because i realised i had more lots to cover. and exam paper will be the next morning at 9, past 2 am, i still haven’t covered half the topics. and this involved memorization of verses. i continued reading till 8 am, got ready, zombied and blurred, i knew i forgot 60% of the things i’ve read. and prayed all the way to exam that i would be able to answer the questions. but hey alas, i managed to answer two questions at mediocre, and leave out, with the utmost willingness 1 question because i remember 0 points on the question at hand. i was sleepy and i couldn’t think. kan chiong la weii…tapi rileks jer, tak payah nangis-nangis, i brought it upon myself, so face the muuuussiiicc.

but that was the last of ever trying to procrastinate studying. it was a scar, a knock on the head, a slap on the face that i will remember everytime it’s near to exam period.

i tried to study constantly after that. except if the subject disinterests me. i tried to because there were always other things coming through, programmes, tests and assignments to be done. but i tried to at least understand the subjects, if i couldn’t memorise them.

but i’m not a memorizing person, while there are friends who are able to memorize whole pages. i just don’t. and lazy to anyway. i read and read and hopes it stays in the mind.

and submitting assignments just days before exams. i remember doing two assignments (for research methods and myth subjects) back to back, two nights in a row, without sleep. and there’s one time, i decided to ‘ran’ back to singapore on a saturday morning, just so i could find books at the libraries here for my literary reviews on my assignments and research. but it was worth the impromptu decision(also for myth and res.methods). but it was the satisfaction and the relief of having known you put your best in your research. and when it’s all printed out and ring -binded, looking so fresh and cool to the touch. this is it. my hard work. the feeling’s euphoric sometimes.

and there was the assignment i did with much care and details, for Pak Aris’s Malaysia Society class, knowing he is notorious and strict with assignments, though his gentle and soft spoken nature belied all those. still, i did extra hard, double checked more, just so i could get some good grade from him. and it paid off. i got highest for it. such a huge relief taken from off my shoulder upon knowing my grade.

and there was social change’s research, with another strict lecturer, Mdm Pute Rahimah, head of Sociology department. i had the worst group. for one thing, we couldn’t agree to a topic till this one senior in class, decided to take up the research as his own. he decided everything on that. i was grateful for that actually, looking at my groupmates’ immaturity and non-initiativeness. i was grateful the senior planned out the research, designed the questioonaire and i helped him in doing the lit reviews, and editing the write-up. the grammar mistakes were just ridiculous. but these we learnt. we got through it. not our best but i learnt alot from the senior.

studying at the library. with the girls. was a motivational factor. you saw your friends all around you reading, you will start reading. though of course there were times, when we want to destress, we chatted, we joked around, or surf the net. or check out other library users. Zaimah, Fana,remember that arab guy we, or was it me, kacau2? we left anonymous notes at his reading corner? and checked out his expressions when he saw the notes? he’s cute right?? that was hilarious and everyday turning up atthe library just to see whether the arab guy will sit at the same corner wearing the same red shirt. haha!

exam day, i don’t like bringing my notes along, but sometimes i did bring them, i don’t know why. but actually, it’s more scary to read notes when you’re minutes away from the exam hall. but seeing other people reading them, it’s pressurising, and you ended up reading as well.

and my fave memory of all, getting the last seat, at the very back of the hall, next to the door. there’s people coming in and our throughout the two hour exam period! i don’t know what these people are doing?!! and the ultimate human avalanche when 500 students taking the same exam paper (though mine is a different subject and ended 30 minutes after theirs) pass my table. i had to stop writing, and thinking, just to let these people out. it took almost 10 minutes!! but alhamdulillah, i got through that paper.

there’s few more memories, but i’ve written much. time’s up peeps. submit papers!

All the best to those having exams!!