LA Short Story - Exam

Exam

The clock is ticking away… “Beep!” goes my digital watch. It’s 11pm, and I’m still flipping the last few pages of my Mathematics textbook. “Sigh, why is life so tough?” I mumbled and buried my head in my hands. After taking a very short break, I scratched my head hard and looked outside the window. I could see other families in the neighbouring block sitting together as a family and enjoying TV programmes. “Concentrate!” I reminded myself yet again. I can’t seem to understand why I could not concentrate properly and was distracted frequently. It was the night before the Mathematics exam, and being the usual ‘kiasu’ student, I mugged through the whole night. I did not have the urge to study very late though; my parents were my motivators. They were in the master bedroom, but constantly came to check on me. Tea was the most important drink that kept me awake, or else I would be dozing off by now. Half an hour later, I shouted, “Yes! Finally!” I finished revising with the help of the Maths textbook, and punched my fists into the air. Hurriedly, I shoved some important materials into my bag, washed up, and went to bed. I was just hours away from my Mathematics test……

“Please leave your bags in the hall and proceed to your respective classrooms to take your exams!” The headmaster shouted into the loud-header. Solemnly, we walked along the corridor and entered this random classroom. I had prepared well the day before and crossed my fingers: Don’t screw this up. Clenching my stationery tight in my hands, I took my seat at the far end of the classroom. As usual, the invigilator recited the rules and regulations. I had heard this countless times. But one thing was clear: No cheating. Glancing around the classroom, I could differentiate those students who did not prepare for the exam and those who did. I nodded my head and made a thumbs-up to my friend for the last time, and I could see his worried smile. I sighed and turned my head back to the desk. Finally, the 3 different exam papers were handed out to us, and we could not flip open the paper until we were told to do so.

“Ring!” went the school bell, and we all started. Taking a deep breath, I flipped open the first page. “Hah, it’s those puny little Multiple-Choice questions; I should be able to breeze past them easily.” Indeed, I did so and was already on my way to Section B after half an hour. I knew it was going to get harder, and I was perfectly right. The questions become more complicated as I reached the half-mark of Section B. Another 45 minutes passed, and after heaving a sigh of relief, I moved on to the final and most difficult section of the exam paper: Section C. Those questions were real tough, and even though I had studied hard, I seem to forget some of the very important formulas. “Oh cr**.” I muttered a curse under my breath and scratched my itchy scalp. Skipping a few questions, I moved on to questions about angles and polygons, I found them easier. “Come on…” I rummaged through my brain for answers, but to no avail. Looking up, I could also see a few confused and desperate faces. They also must have faced similar problems. The invigilator was walking around the class, occasionally glancing at our papers. Closing my eyes, I hoped that some miracle would happen the very next second. It did not. What am I going to do now?

The whole classroom was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. Some were tapping the table with their fingers, and others were swinging their feet back and forth. Looking back up at the clock again, I realised that I had only 20 minutes left. It was definitely not good news.  I checked through my paper and found 4 questions not done yet. Reading the question over and over again in my mind, I decided to try out the most basic and dumbest way: Trial and Error. I supposed it would work, but that was very slow and it was my last resort. I could not waste any more time and started scribbling possible answers. Checking them over and over again, I got lucky with 2 questions and managed to solve them with this ‘traditional’ method. However, Lady Luck did not shine on me long enough. 5 minutes was all that was left, and I still had 2 questions. I just randomly chose one of them and charged my way through. I finished writing the last number and the bell rang coincidentally. I was not even sure that the 3 questions were correct. I slammed down the pen and leaned back, “Oh, come on. I still have one question.” But too bad, I did not have the time. Reality set in, and I was a little disappointed with my performance. It did not turn out what I wanted it to be, but I knew that I tried my best. As we waited for the invigilator to count the papers, I knew that I just have to wait for the week after next week……

As the exam week ended, we all could finally relax, but I was still worried about the Maths paper. “Zhefang…… 92! Not bad.” My Maths teacher, Mrs Ng shouted out. “Yes! An A*! Woohoo! ”Now then I could finally relax. All these studying were definitely worth it!