I have never failed any exams so far in my academic life so far, always striving to be on top and vying to get the highest marks every time. But there was a twist in that story and it all began in quarter 1 of my second year of my masters here in TU Delft.
I had opted for 'Thermodynamic Aspects of Energy Conversion' as one of my elective courses because this was delivered by my supervisor and it makes sense to take courses given by one's supervisor. So I happily attended all the classes and was confident that I can get past the exam. I also knew that this being an open book exam there was not much to memorize and just brushing the concepts and learning the lecture material would suffice. Now thats a weird thing here in TU Delft, even though certain exams are open book they are way more tougher than closed book exams.
So here I was preparing for the exam, practicing previous years' question papers and asking my class-mate Anand all my doubts. I had no solid background in Thermodynamics as I have a bachelor degree in Electrical Engineering ( but I wish to point out that I had one course in my bachelor that introduced us to basic thermodynamics) and that was the main problem for me- quickly grasping the concepts and thinking of solutions like a person who had sufficient background was coming naturally to me. But I studied all the lecture notes, practiced problems and even did extra studies from the internet because I knew that if I don't put in sufficient effort then I would definitely fail. I made my registration for the exam, which was scheduled on 11 Nov 2011.
Finally the D day came and I went to the exam hall, located in the Fellowship building of the Aerospace Engineering faculty. The question paper this time was changed a little bit to include theory or subjective questions as well besides objective and numerical problems. At the end of three hours I was quite confident that the exam had gone well and I should be able to get atleast a 6 out 10, 6 being the pass mark here in TU Delft.
The exam results are usually published within 20 working days and I was anxiously waiting for my result. Finally on the 21st day the results were out and I checked mine. I couldn't believe my eyes, my heart sank, I felt a big blob like thing stuck in my throat and my mind had gone haywire. I FAILED, yes I had FAILED, my first exam in my life I had failed. I only got a 4. I immediately scheduled an appointment with the instructor to check my paper and was hoping against hope that there must be a totaling mistake or some question hadn't been valuated. I checked my answer sheet the very next day and the instructor went though all the questions one by one and I had no chance of getting extra marks (I managed to convince him to give me 0.5 extra but that didn't change things). A silly mistake in the numerical problem had cost me dearly and I was kicking myself as to why I did such a silly mistake.
Generally speaking Indian kids are not used to failure, right from schooling days everyone is taught that if you fail you are doomed. May be that was also another reason for me to digest the fact that I had failed. Nevertheless I pulled myself again and forgot the past and started to prepare again for the exam. There was a resit in Jan 2012.
This time I carefully jotted down crucial points, practiced a lot of problems, did the same question papers atleast twice and familiarized myself with the concepts. Studying the second time was a lot easier and many of the concepts became much more clearer. Once concepts got clearer studying was no hassle. I was confident that this time I would definitely make it through.
I went for the exam again on 24 Jan 2012 and my heart sank again seeing at one of the numerical problems, which carried the most weightage. I thought I would fail this time as well. I tackled that problem only at last and gave my best shot by referring to the books and notes that I had (Remember this was an open book exam so we could refer whatever we wanted). After the exam got over I was convinced that I would definitely fail this time as well and never bothered to think about it.
Days went by and when the result came out I was astonished. I got an 8 OMG an 8 out of 10 and was the best 4 persons who took the exam. That was awesome news and my joy knew no bounds. I had actually performed extraordinarily well and was extremely excited with the result.
So this is what I learned from this "Never give up in life, strive harder and success will come to you"
