Me Vs The Impossible Exam

I am currently studying Bachelor's in computer application aka BCA from distance education. I am very passionate about computers and programming, which is why I took this course. Everything was going perfectly until I came into the second semester.

In the second semester, I met with a subject that I found hard. Little did I know, this subject is going to become my biggest hurdle in BCA. The subject was - Assembly Language. Now to all the people who have learned programming, just hear me out before judging me. Don't worry if you have heard this name first time because the subject is less important than what it taught me. But if you want to know then it is about machine language, Logic Gates, Registers, algorithms, etc.

THE FIRST SIGN

Moving fast forward, the exams came and I cleared every subject apart from the Assembly. It is true that I had not learned and prepared anywhere near what was required to complete this exam. I just practiced some previous year's papers and went to give the exam. And as expected - I FAILED. Don't worry, I did not have high hopes either. I am very good at accepting reality and my mistakes. That is why, I don't lose hope if I fail without giving my 100%.

Some people will point out that I might not have listened to teachers while in class. But if you haven't studied in a distance university, then you may not know that in distance education, we have to study every subject mostly by ourselves. The classes do take place occasionally but it is nearly impossible to understand some subjects without regular deep lecturing. And that never happens. Anyways, I have cleared the first semester exams and all the other exams in the second semester with only self-study.

Life continued, I went into the third semester, but still couldn't clear assembly because didn't practice enough. Now in the fourth semester, CORONA came. Everything was locked for 1.5 years. No offline exams were conducted at my university during this period. I even gave some of my exams online through Viva.

When everything opened I was in my sixth and last semester. And to your surprise, I had to give the exams of the sixth semester and fifth semester combined. There were around 20 subjects that I had to give exams of. And of course, the university knew this and extended our admission duration so that we can clear these exams. I had 4 chances to clear all the exams until my admission expired. So, I made myself believe that I have only two chances to complete these exams.

BLOOD AND SWEAT

Now, the saga begins. I studied day and night in the hope to clear as many subjects as I can, including the assembly. Finally, the result came and I had cleared 15 exams out of 16. Why 16? because there is a limitation on how many subjects we choose to appear in one term of examinations. And that limit was 16. So, my success rate was - 93.75%. Well, that's not entirely true because I got promoted in 3 subjects. But still, 15 out of 16 subjects were cleared out. But guess which subject was that I couldn't clear?

It was assembly. This time, I had given the exam with good effort. But still, I knew that I didn't give my 100%, not even near it. And this was expected because there were so many subjects that I had to focus on and naturally, I chose to focus on easy subjects that take less time rather than focusing on one most difficult subject which requires at least 15 - 30 days of preparation.

THE LAST CHANCE

Now, I had 3 chances remaining, but for me, there was only one chance in my mind. At this time, I started thinking that I had to take tuition or coaching to clear this exam because it was very difficult for me to understand it by reading the 4 blocks (600 pages) of assembly by myself. I want you to hold on to this feeling throughout this article when you start thinking and believing that something is impossible. This is a feeling where you think that you are dumb and no matter how much you try, you just can't do it. Hold on to it.

BUT...little did I know that this was going to be the MOMENT where I realize my true potential.

Now, I decided not to take any tuition because it came to my ego. I thought that if I had to take tuition, then it probably means that I am not as smart as I believed, no offense to teachers. What can we do? EGO DEFIES LOGIC.

THE AWAKENING

I just sat with one of the 4 books of assembly. I put the rest of the books on my desk serial vise in front of me, waiting for their turns.

I read the first page. 50% was understood. 50% was gone above my head because of too much-complicated words. But I continued. I have made up my mind that I won't stop until I start to understand every piece of word. I continued reading even though many things were going above my head.

When I completed the first chapter of the first block, I read it again, then again. Then I underlined every keyword and its definition so that I would remember what was important and what was not important. Now, the second chapter was really difficult. But I just stuck with it like glue. I was not leaving until I had it figured out. And that's when the magic starts to happen. I started to understand words that were not making any sense to me. I started understanding the most complicated algorithms that were gibberish to me before.

Now, I can't describe this feeling in my words. You also may not think that it is any special. Believe me, it was different from when read articles like "How I made 1 million in 6 months" or "How I lost 100 kg in 1 year". The feeling I got was way more enlightening and deep. It was about how brilliant and powerful our brain is.

This feeling that was I capable enough, I was smart enough, I got addicted to this feeling. And I completed the rest of the three blocks in the same time I took to complete the first block. Then made detailed notes of the 4 blocks. My goal was to compress 500 pages into 40 pages. And I succeeded in that. Remember that I underlined every key thing in each chapter? Well, that's how I did it.

And to your surprise, after making my notes, I threw those 4 blocks in my drawer and never opened them again. I clicked photos of 1 -2 pages from the first block. But that was it. I was done with those books. All the knowledge that was important enough was in those 40 pages.

Then I started reading those notes again and again and again. One page each time. One page many times. After like 10 days, I was like "Ask me anything from these 40 pages and ask me on which page it is". Yeah, those 40 pages, each line, each word was carved into my brain memory. Then, I compressed those 40 pages into 1 page just two days before my exam. That single two sided-page was the key to those 500 pages that were in my memory. That page was meaningless for any other person, apart from me. I just read that 1 page for the two remaining days until the examination.

THE RESULT

I gave my exam and had high hopes. The result came and sadly, I didn't pass. I started crying automatically and my tears couldn't stop. I thought that the world was sinking and.......Just kidding. I cleared the exam with average marks. I was happy but I was not surprised. In fact, I was never surprised by any of the results ever.

This whole journey taught me things that I will use for the rest of my life. It showed me my true ability. It showed me how much powerful our brain is. It showed me the "Don't give up" attitude in working which I always heard in motivational videos but couldn't understand truly. The result also showed me that there were many flaws in my 40 pages notes and there is a lot of room for improvement. They were far from perfect. It was not the end but the beginning.

This journey gave me the motto of my life:

"Nothing is hard if you stay with it long enough"

The subject wasn't hard, but I just didn't spend enough time with it.

And I want to thank the YouTube community that helped me understand some important topics. If you are one of those creators who publish videos to spread the right knowledge, then thank you too.

Also, If there is a god somewhere, he might have helped me too. Nothing more to say.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

1. You are much more capable and talented than you believe. And you can only understand it when you challenge yourself to your limits.
2. Hard is at the start. Nothing is hard if you stay with it long enough. So, practice the "STICK LIKE GLUE" attitude when learning something.
3. Just START. Read ONE PAGE. Read ONE LINE. Just start. If you want to read 10 pages in a day, then read 1 page 10 times a day. Take the smallest step possible. Just don't stop moving at any cost.
4. Now after all this, if you tell me something is impossible, I may not agree with you.

If you are still with me, then I thank you for reading this article. I know this is not one of the best articles you have read nor I am one of the best writers, but I have tried my best to put my experience into words.

So, next time someone says you are not intelligent enough, then remember me as the dumbest guy who struggled to pass a stupid subject in his college.

;)