Exam Study Kit

The must haves this exam season:

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1. Preferably kept within an arm's reach.

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2. Stacks of post its. (Make sure you have a few spare for exam doodles). 

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3. Highlighters - Every book deserves a rainbow.

4. The more, the merrier. Late nights. Early morning. Every 10 minutes.
Give them names. You will be using them a lot.

And finally....

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5. Save. Print. Paste. Use only in extreme circumstances.

The Life and Times of Exams.

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Being that time of the year again when the pimples have a festival on my face, my eyes have sunk into their sockets while bags (not the shopping kind) make their appearance under them, my alarm goes off at odd hours and every break I have results in a trip to the fridge or sweet cupboard... Exam studying sure is a memorable period in ones' life yet that isn't even the half of it.

Stress is the very least of my issues; food shuts it up temporarily. My attempts at keeping my eyes open while staring at a book with a million words crammed into a page (I am a great exaggerator) makes me want to tear my hair out (God, save the little that's left)...Exam time, I tell you.

The first paper is always the one you see people walk into with a smile and out with a shake of their head. All I hear is them scurrying to find their buddies. "How was the exam?", "What was your answer for question 2.3.4.3.2.4?", "Ah damn, I should have put that."...Exam fever sure brings out the inner nervous wreck.

Night and day, day and night, I sit pondering about what needs to be learnt. Facebook. Twitter. Email. I check constantly - anything to keep my distance from that thing we call a book.

And then finally the last paper arrives... in with a nervous frown, out with a smile!

'Til then though, the books shall be my closest companion...

Keep moving. Keep trying. Keep growing.

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April has been nothing short of exhilarating for me. 

No. I haven't gone sky-diving, sat in a roller-coaster or fell madly in love. I only wish I actually had the time to sail the seven seas, scale the highest mountain and scream out to the world that I am alive rather April has been one of my most "work-filled" months for me.

Design projects, tests, assignments, advertising for GirlEng Information Session, organizing a venue, catering for scholars, brainstorming ideas on how to promote the "exciting and fun" world of engineering to female scholars while drowning in more tests and more design projects. How late mornings and early nights quickly turned into early mornings and late nights and eventually into not knowing whether it is morning or night, has made me into one strong Aditi. 

With having tons of work to go through this month, I feel like I have grown stronger and tougher than I ever thought possible. Getting through what you once thought was impossible is certainly a very sweet feeling. Have you ever experienced an adrenaline rush when trying to meet a deadline at work? How did it feel? I sure did have one too many this month. Handing in projects literally a minute before the deadline sure had my mind swirling. 

One thing I unfortunately didn't make it through is the A-Z Blogging Challenge. I have given it a good thought - I could either hide behind a paperback book and never blog again because the embarrassment of not succeeding might swallow me whole or I could simply just smile, type and try again...

Something that experience has thought me is that it is not whether you succeed the first time that is important rather it is the fact that you tried. Keep moving, keep trying and eventually you will get there. I look forward to the A-Z Challenge 2013. This year may not have been my year to see the challenge through but I am sure that there will always be another chance. To all those who have made it through, I applaud you for your willpower to sticking through till the end. 

At this moment in time, as I sit here thinking of how much more I still have to do in order to go where I want to in life,  I find it only appropriate to stretch my hand out, act like I am holding a delicate, crystal champagne glass and say cheers to life! Thanks for being such an adventure...