Ijeoma Glory Ifeamarame

The Blackout

Dec 01, 2017 6 years ago

Examination, the most hated activity among students usually carried out to signify the end of a term or semester. The period whereby students fidget, sweat profusely and are full of tension and fear over questions they will be given to by their teachers whereas teachers are happy and make caricature of students who fail to listen in class or read their books. It is a period of trial owing to the fact that every student has to give out what he or she has gathered so far in the cause of learning and will be given grades based on what he or she wrote, then will the sheep be separated from the goats. It is a case filed on every student in which the student is the accused and also the lawyer while the teacher sits as the judge. All students are given an equal trial to prove themselves worthy and not guilty of noisemaking or lack of attention in class. It is now left for the student to prepare for the day of trial so that he or she can prove himself or herself not guilty of the crimes listed above. It is a period when teachers have ultimate power. He or she can pass or fail you based on his or her own discretion so if you are the type that have never been on the teacher's good list, beware and be warned because you are liable to fail, although not all teachers fail students who are not on their good list. During the period of exams, students experience blackouts in which they completely or partially loose memory of what they have read or studied. When students read without giving full attention to their books or listen to music while reading, there is an assurance that 98% of what was studied or whatever that was read is waving you goodbye. This is caused when stress is given out to the brain and the normal cold cognition - a term used to refer to the logical and rational thinking process, is then changed to hot cognition - a term which is used as an opposite to cold cognition, and this is usually triggered by stress. For instance, if a student who is already seated to write exams and who already is filled with fear a tension start having thoughts like, "If I fail this exam and I don't graduate with my mates, my parents will make me drop out of school and I will turn out to be a criminal, a dunce and a societal nuisance," this will surely cause stress to the brain and you tend to loose what you have read then mechanisms responsible for recalling memories are stopped. To stop blackouts, you have to destress yourself from any form of negative thoughts and stop your view of exams as a threat. The irony of it all is that the almighty exam which tends to put you off balance, make you fidget and fill you with fear and tension becomes more or less a child's play to you as the time goes on. Therefore, try to put yourself in a very relaxed and soothing position before writing any exam rather than fidgeting and piling up fear and tension.

Read