I am a third year student of the University of the West Indies. Twice a year on campus, students go into a mode that is a bit scary. At the end of every semester, students begin to study for their exams. They take it very seriously. So serious, they pull “all nighters” one after the other until Finals are over.
With this level of studying comes a lot of stress. As I mentioned before students, or rather most students, take studying seriously. Students in fear of staying back an extra year in UWI, or being yelled at by their parents, or allowing the GPA to dip below the “graduating with honors” level, study hard.
Students at this University have been known to commit suicide for failing courses. There is a cemetery on campus dedicated to students that have died on campus. To me, failing a course is not an excuse to take my own life. However, students’ mentalities are different. There are those students on campus we refer to as “A”-aholics. They shoot for “A’s” in their examinations, and if they get anything less than a perfect ‘A’ they repeat the course. I on the other hand, am different. If I get a “B” in my courses, I do a victory lap around campus.
After Studying and going into the examination.
Students on campus, believe it or not… do not cheat. The reason is that the security is so tight that it is impossible to cheat during exams. If you are wondering if I ever tried to cheat, the answer is “no”. There is No phones, no pencil cases, they check your hooded jackets before you come into the room, they check your hands, arms, hair, and anywhere you can store answers.
After students have written their final exams, you can see an expression of happiness on their faces. Now is the time to enjoy vacation time.
The questions I pose to you all are:
Do you think that students take studying seriously, or not serious enough?
What are some of your experiences with respect to examinations?
Have you ever considered taking your life, or dropping out of school, or go into a state of depression over your examinations?
