The Night Before an Exam (and you’re panicking).
For a sense of timing:
This is being written the night before my Statistics midterm.
We’ve all been in that position at least once. It’s the night before your exam and you don’t feel ready. You’re not prepared at all. Everything you thought you know, you don’t, and your friends are asking you questions on topics you haven’t seen before. Colloquially, the moment is known as a “big oof”.
What’s the first thing you think of?
Redbull. Coffee. Monster. All-nighter. Grind time. #Hustle. Fuck. I’ll defer this. Can I defer this? What’s the weight. Should I switch programs? Maybe I should just drop out. I’ll become the next Steve Jobs. Or Bill Gates. Whichever one dropped out.
Sometimes, you’re just overthinking it. You’re ready, but you’re stressing so much that you forget what you do know, and then you stress even more. The solution? Take a walk. Stop studying. Stop answering questions. Get away from everyone who’s studying, and do something completely unrelated.
But other times? You actually don’t know anything. You haven’t studied, haven’t done the practise problems, and you know, deep down, that if you do fail tomorrow, it’s your fault. What do you do now? Bathe in self-misery?
Nope.
Tempting as it is to cry, you’re going to have to take a moment. Take a moment to breathe. Take a moment to stop thinking about how the exam is going to go down. To stop thinking about the exam. Yeah. DON’T think about the exam. Instead, think about enjoying whatever you’re learning right now. Don’t think about the final outcome. Go with the moment.
Does this work?
I don’t know, but I’ll find out tomorrow, during my Statistics midterm.
Cheers,
Lance
