It's finally over!

23rd of July 2009

On the morning of the 23rd, I woke up after a 12 hour sleep. I was feeling nervous as it was my first exam after almost 2 weeks. I had slept alot the night before, because I felt I was ready. With God's blessing I might just do well I thought. I had a quick breakfast with just biscuits and proceeded to get ready to go to the city 2 hours before my exam.

I have this policy of not studying anything during the day of exam and preferably the day before exam. Call me crazy but I actually think it works! The night before I always process alot of thoughts and clear things up. I will have enough time to think things through and have peace at heart.

Upon reaching the city, I still felt quite sleepy. It was probably because of the long night's sleep. I had a quick lunch eating sushi at QV, then wondered what to do. I was so early, I had almost 1 hour 30 mins to spare. So I wondered to MC and into Border's. There I looked through some books. I knew that my exam was in 1 hour's time but along the way I knew I was building up confidence at each minute. Some how it worked for me.

Finally before the exam, I drank Coke. It really works. Before the drink I was still really sleepy and my body wasn't that strong, perhaps because of the overworking or stress from studies. When I took that first sip, it was like my eyes suddenly had focus and I told myself "I can do this!", it really rejuvenated me.

When I finally entered the exam hall, sat down in front of my desk, on table 1981 (year of the recession), I prayed a silent prayer, thanking God for all he had done for me. I did my paper with the thought behind in my mind that God was always with me no matter what I did. The exam hall was like the valley of death, and me sitting the paper is like walking through it. But God was with me all the while.

I finished my paper 15 mins early, and had time to check my work. I was very confident sitting this paper. The blessings from God truly exists. Leaving the exam hall, I had very high expectations of myself. I knew that this was my best paper I ever did! Yes, it is Econometrics my best! Even though I do not know my marks yet, I have high expectations.

Right after the exams, the rest did not come. I had to study straight after for my exam on Thursday, Microeconomics. Ee Jen, Jason and I went to the law library to study. At the same time, I was also planning a movie outing on Friday to celebrate exams over by watching Transformers 2 and having lunch with some of my best friends.

By the time I went home, I was superbly tired already. But nevertheless, I still had to continue working. So I continued doing past exam paper until midnight when I finally fell asleep.

25th of June 2009

I began this day terribly. The night before I had plentiful of sleep but it was pretty much disturbed. I woke up at 2am, 5am and 7am, each time having had disturbing thoughts of how the exam could be screwed up. I also drank too much before I slept the night before so had to frequent the toilet alot.

My exam was exactly 46 hours after my exam on Tuesday. This exam is supposedly the hardest of them all. If I thought the others were hard, this one was crazy. It had so much Math in it, and so much material to study for. All in all, there were 8 major topics stuffed into one subject called Microeconomics. For all those aspiring economists, you have to pass 3rd year Microeconomics in the University of Melbourne to be called Economists!

To top things off, I had a really bad stomach ache because I ate a bad yoghurt. I had to go to the toilet a few times. Time was drawing closer to my examination time. I was increasingly nervous as time passed. But today I was feeling much better than I had felt on Tuesday. Perhaps the adrenaline was running high in me, that I knew that, after this exam, it was all over. Finally, the exams that I had studied for continuously for 3 weeks is going to be over! Oh, the joy and happiness that is associated with it! I can barely wait!

Time flew today. I came to the city sitting the always faithful 304 bus, had lunch (sushi again), then went straight to the exam hall. Many of my friends that day finished in the morning as they had EPM at 9am, so many of them were free already. I called them and found out that EPM was actually quite difficult. Does that mean my exam would be difficult as well? It could very well be! I didn't know what to expect. I just know that God will be with me.

Upon entering the exam hall, I had half the confidence I had during my Tuesday paper. I knew that this was going to be a hard paper. To top it off, the sunlight at my desk No. 254 was blocked, hence it was very dark at where I sat. And right in front of me (a few metres), is a big clock hung on the wall reminding me of the time I have left until my exam is finished! I sat down, and quickly flipped my exam paper to read the questions at long last, to see what actually came out in the end.

At first, I struggled to choose which questions to answer. In this exam, we had a choice of which questions to do and which not to do. But as it went along, it got better. I was so thankful to God. Before I began the exam, again I said a silent prayer thanking God for all that he had blessed me with, especially with good health, and then asked for his guidance, and then I began my paper.

At 4.15pm sharp, the examiners asked everyone to put down their pens and pencils. Surprisingly, the exam was easy! It went well, I even finished 30 mins early (it was a 2 hour exam). Finally, I was so excited that freedom has at long last been achieved!

Right after, I had to rush off to the Business Practicum client function. There I met my old Business Practicum team (Arum, James, Pierre) and of course my lovely host, Peter Deliopoulos. We had a great time catching up with each other. I will always remember these guys into the future! I also caught up with the other teams there, especially Kim Chew, Kelvin and Audrey. They are my good friends. We took alot of lovely photos using Kelvin's friend's SLR camera. We also drank alot of wine in the function and shared good laughs together.

At night, I went to Kelvin's house to catch up with my old time good friend. Finally, here I am blogging at his house, to remember this event in my life as special. Today is the day when I had done two exams extremely well, and am aiming for full marks if not close!

I would like to dedicate it to God's glory.