Cracked the Boards or yourself?
I have always been an average kind of student. Even though, I excelled in co-curricular activities, I was always in the shadows (read: ignored) by my school teachers. The reason given to me was poor grades. Initially, I was very vocal about the decisions and so when I blurted out the way the most undeserving people were elected as house captains, I was asked for a justification on why I blurted out the truth. Later, I started learning to take these things in my stride by just remaining a mute spectator.
I was always head-strong on what I want from my life. I personally believe that the marks scored in examinations matter to a very limited extent in the overall scheme of one's life. These results bring an initial euphoria, or a surge of disappointment, based on not what we have scored but on what others have. I personally think in our over-drive to compare ourselves with others, we've forgotten the basic truth that the purpose of examinations is to better your own performance, year after year.
I remember having spent most of my school years competing bitterly for every single mark and trying to mug up all the Physics laws and definitions just to save the reputation of my school. I knew my limitation that I could never reach the position of where the toppers were. The most stressful aspect that is related to the board examinations is, "what would others think?" My good-for-nothing neighbour Ashita marched in on June 4, a few hours after the HSC results were declared with a triumphant look on her face, I immediately knew she was upto something. "I've nailed Sandhya's lie. She said her son has scored 87 percent. It took me full three hours to enter all possible roll number combinations to find her result on the website. The aggregate is mere 82. Huh!" I congratulated her at the effort for investigating such a startling piece of news and advised her that she turn into a professional detective. It just reminded me of how crazy we have become in a bid to compare ourselves with others on the basis of marks.
Examinations is one thing where I guess we all have to pay our dues in terms of stress and tensions. So for now, I am heaving a huge sigh of relief since I completed my 14 years of vanvaas of life with 60%, which I believe is great for an average student like me.
I was always head-strong on what I want from my life. I personally believe that the marks scored in examinations matter to a very limited extent in the overall scheme of one's life. These results bring an initial euphoria, or a surge of disappointment, based on not what we have scored but on what others have. I personally think in our over-drive to compare ourselves with others, we've forgotten the basic truth that the purpose of examinations is to better your own performance, year after year.
I remember having spent most of my school years competing bitterly for every single mark and trying to mug up all the Physics laws and definitions just to save the reputation of my school. I knew my limitation that I could never reach the position of where the toppers were. The most stressful aspect that is related to the board examinations is, "what would others think?" My good-for-nothing neighbour Ashita marched in on June 4, a few hours after the HSC results were declared with a triumphant look on her face, I immediately knew she was upto something. "I've nailed Sandhya's lie. She said her son has scored 87 percent. It took me full three hours to enter all possible roll number combinations to find her result on the website. The aggregate is mere 82. Huh!" I congratulated her at the effort for investigating such a startling piece of news and advised her that she turn into a professional detective. It just reminded me of how crazy we have become in a bid to compare ourselves with others on the basis of marks.
Examinations is one thing where I guess we all have to pay our dues in terms of stress and tensions. So for now, I am heaving a huge sigh of relief since I completed my 14 years of vanvaas of life with 60%, which I believe is great for an average student like me.
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