The experiences of sitting in the examination hall are really full of torture, great tension, mental agony and excitement, even if the examinee happens to be a topper in the class. He finds the prying and suspicious looks of the invigilators and the terror of the examiners highly discouraging. The fear of running short of time continuously haunts like a ghost. Really speaking, the very word ‘examination’ sends shivers to everyone’s spine, whether it is a public or a home examination.
Even those of us who are meritorious and brilliant suffer from examination phobia. Sitting for an examination has been my old enemy since the day I had entered the portals of school.
It started with the examination for admission. Now I am talking about my condition during my first public examination, conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education, New Delhi. My mind was gripped with all sorts of fear.
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A day before the examination, I went to see my centre at Ramjas Senior Secondary School, Anand Parbat, New Delhi. It was five kilometers away from my house. When I returned home, I told my parents of the situation of the school. My father assured to take me daily to the centre on his scooter, while going to his office.
Finally, the great day arrived. I got up earlier than usual, had a quick bath and started revising my notes. The more I revised, the more I felt confused and upset. My mother advised me not to study any more but to take breakfast and give rest to my mind.
I dropped my notes and put on a forced smile on my face just to look cheerful and composed to others. By this time, my father had also got ready. Both of us left home quite early since it was the first day of the ordeal.
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On reaching the centre, we saw a huge crowd of boys and girls outside the centre. Most of them were examinees flanked by well-wishers. The majority of the examinees were of my classmates. I was happy to see them.
I could, however, note that each one of them had a peculiar kind of expression on his or her face. This was a proof to show that howsoever happy they looked outwardly; they were all fear-ridden like me.
On the wall of the school building at the entrance, the list of examinees had been displayed. I saw my name and roll number given against the room in which my seat was placed. As the bell rang, we were directed to our seats by some kind invigilators. My seat was in a big hall. There was perfect stillness and deadly silence.
Soon we were given answer-books in our seats by two invigilators. I wrote my Roll no. and filled other columns. After that I went through the instructions meant for us. I searched my pockets to ensure that there was no objectionable piece of paper in them.
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Another bell after sometime made all of us expectantly cautious. At the toll of it, we got our question papers. I closed my eyes and said my prayers to the God. This gave me long- awaited confidence and courage.
I read the question paper fearlessly and found that it was neither too easy, nor too tough. It was an intelligent paper. I tick-marked all those questions, which I had intended to attempt.
I first tried those questions which looked easy. They took me a much longer time as I wrote their answers very slowly. There was no time to raise my head and see what others were doing. I felt disturbed when one of the two invigilators came to check my admission card.
I was busy writing my answers with returned confidence, when all of a sudden a roaring sound was heard. It was the commanding voice of an invigilator who had caught a student red-handed, copying the answer from the torn pages of a guide.
The answer-book was taken back from him and a new one was supplied. To check if I would finish all the questions in time, I looked at the clock in the hall.
I got nervous to see that only fifteen minutes were left and still there was one more question to be attempted. I started writing its answer with full vigour following the hard beats of my heart. I was greatly relieved that when the last bell rang, I had almost finished my paper.
The invigilator came to my seat and took away the answer paper. I heaved a sigh of relief to know that the examination was, after all, not so difficult and shattering as I had thought it to be.