Scaling Through: The Story of My Post-UTME Exam

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I am a student at Rivers State University in the Department of Medical Laboratory Science and Technology; I am now a 300-level student.

When my family and some people congratulate me, it sounds like magic. I was in secondary school that day, and now I am in level 300, but to be honest, it has never been easy.

I can remember very well the day I wrote my post utme. My senior brother was the one who took me to write the exam.
My cousin, who was already a student of Rivers State University, didn't fail to tell me the tales of the Almighty post exams and how hard it was immediately after my jamb exam. I scored quite high above the jamb cut-off mark, but still,l, the tales from my cousin put this constant dark cloud over my head.

I read every day and even enrolled in a jamb lesson, but still, no matter how hard I read, I couldn't kill the tension of the upcoming exam deep within me.
Days passed, and the day for the exam was reached.

The day before the exam my cousin didn't fail to call and add a little more tension to me by teasing me. Telling and asking me questions like, “What will you do if your computer system should go off a few minutes into the exam?" Or "when last did you check your blood pressure,” it was funny in a way but it still added tension to me.
That night I didn't sleep but read till it was 2am.
In the morning, my brother and I got ready, and the only thing I carried was my jotter. I jotted down all the summaries I made while reading.

We got to school in no time and I was 2 hours earlier than the batch before me. In the information and communication technology center where the exam was being taken, the was a long queue of students waiting in line.
Some were seriously reading and revising while some looked very much less worried.

I got in line for my batch and started revising immediately because I just wanted it to be done and over with.
My brother stayed with me as we changed positions, constantly squatting, sitting on the grass, and back standing.
He was busy and more focused on his phone throughout.
At some point, I got tired and sat on the grass, placed my back on the wall, and slept off.

When I woke up, my brother was still there, and he was on his phone.
The girl behind me changed from the one before, and this one was very carefree, playing Candy Crush on her phone. At that moment I envied her and wished I could have the peace she had.

“What are you reading?" The voice from behind me asked.

I turned around, and it was the girl who was playing Candy Crush.

“It is just a little summary I made," I answered.

“Oh," she said as she went back to operating her phone, “I don't know why you guys bother; if you haven't read already, no matter the reading you do now, nothing will still enter your head," she added.

“It might still help," I answered her holding back the urge to ask her if she had already read and was confident about herself and decided to play games before the exam.

Finally, it was our turn to take the exams, and we moved in the queue.

“There is an ambulance in case anybody wants to faint, so if the exam is too hard, feel free to faint,” one of the young male coordinators said, making the other coordinators and some students laugh.

But to me, it wasn't funny, ‘did someone faint because of the exams,’ I asked myself in thought.

We sat down according to the invigilator's arrangement, and the systems in front of us were switched on.

The invigilator went on with instructions and rules on the sitting of the exam. I didn't pay attention because most of it was written down on our exam slip; besides, my hands were already shaking with anxiety.

“Just cool down and recall what you can remember,” the invigilator's words made me snap back to reality, and I started recalling what I had read.

We started the exam and I started with chemistry since it was what I read most and recalled much on. The first question hit me like a train; I had no idea what the question meant. Talk more about the answer!
I made a guess and went straight to the next. Although I still met some familiar questions that I was sure of, it was still hard.

Physics was my last pick, and I had six questions left. When my time was up, the system automatically submitted everything, and my score showed on the screen.

I was devastated when I saw my score. It wasn't close to what I expected or hoped to get; I scored 21 over 40. My feeling of fear immediately turned to grief. Just then I looked beside me and was able to catch a glimpse of the score of the boy on my right; he scored 14. Immediately I turned to my other side and saw what the candy crush girl scored; she got 4!

I didn't imagine it would blow away the cobwebs just like that. The depression I had disappeared on seeing most of the scores I was able to peak at. It wasn't because they had a low score but it just reminded me that I tried my best and my situation wasn't the worst.

I went home that day quite relieved and not worried at all. I saw people who scored much lower or the same, and they weren't crying or beating themselves up, so I saw no reason why I should. And besides I still scaled through and got the admission at the end!