Neglect.

A student’s confidence level rises by over fifty percent when such a student is steadfast. By steadfast I mean; attending all fixed and even unfixed lectures, turning in assignments and projects on time, asking questions in class and doing research when necessary. To some degree, I felt I was steadfast.

The semester before, I was usually so exhausted because I didn't create a balance. I was always running around, trying to figure out my left from my right but in my defence, I wasn't totally at fault. However, in a blink of an eye, our examinations commenced. I knew very well that with how diverted my attention was during the semester, I wasn't going to come up with good grades if I didn't put in the extra work and so I did.

I burnt the midnight candle and even felt burnt out along the line but I wasn't about to relent. Eventually, that semester came to an end and I vowed never to put myself in such a position again.

With my renewed objectives and brushed up goals, I resumed the second semester. The plan was to be very steadfast so that the workload towards the end of the semester wouldn't be copious.

For the better part of the semester, my plan worked. I never consciously missed a lecture, I gathered enough reading materials and I was pretty much ready for the upcoming examinations.

On the first day of our examination, I stepped into the exam hall feeling super packed with wisdom and knowledge. The question papers were distributed and luckily, I had read and reread the topics from which the questions were asked. All the papers I wrote the first week seemed really easy and so I took that same mindset to the next week.

The next week wasn't fun as there were days where we wrote examinations for three unrelated courses as opposed to the ‘one’ or ‘two’ papers we were supposed to write in a day. On one of those days, I wholeheartedly refrained from revising a particular course (allow me call it course A) because “I had attended all the lectures and I was well grounded”, or so I thought.

I had two papers that day and all my focus was on the second paper(course B). I got to school early that morning to meet up with some friends for our regular “ preparatory question and answer session”.

“we're starting with course A” one of the friends said as we formed a little circle.

“Course A? You know that's just a waste of time.” I ignorantly responded.

“Nothing is a waste of time. If you feel you have read course A enough, then you could wait for us. When we are about to begin the question and answer session for course B, I will alert you.” Another colleague said.

“Not a bad idea.” I responded as I walked a few metres away from them to continue reading course B. Luckily, I could still hear the questions they asked and the answers they gave during the first session. The second session commenced and soon after we were called in to write our exams.

Question papers for course A were distributed and more than half of the students in class were jubilant. I read through the questions and remembered vividly that these questions were asked from topics certain lecturers taught. The problem however, was the fact that I didn't go through the educational materials given by these lecturers. I didn't even know where to begin.

I shut my eyes for about ten minutes, trying to recall the explanations, scenarios and illustrations the lecturers used while treating each topic. With my little residual knowledge, I started scribbling with hopes that the lecturers would understand my scribbles.

An hour and thirty minutes later, we were done and I journeyed to the next campus for my second paper. At this point, I was already so demoralised. The exam questions for course A were supposed to be a walk in the park for anyone who studied properly but I mindlessly counted my chickens before they hatched.

The next examination commenced and I had to give it my best because course B was the main reason why I neglected course A.

After that experience, I didn't need an angel to remind me that all courses were equally important. With about five more papers left and my recent experience still very vivid, I did the right thing and avoided counting my eggs before they hatched.

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