I can recall vividly the first moment someone ever told me to never second guess. It was in my second grade classroom, and my teacher was going over preparations for a small quiz we were going to take as a class. She tells us to never second guess on a question because we usually are right the first time around. This advice has stuck with me and I have always tried my best to stick to this rule.
Buttttt …. c’mon, who am I kidding. Anyone who knows me knows I overthink … a lot. A switch goes on in my mind and I’m left with worries and doubts, questions of “Is this really the answer? Are you sure it’s not B instead of C? Why are there so many A’s in a row?”
Skip to me sitting in my assigned seat in the front row, there’s 5 minutes left on the timer displayed on the projection board for my exam. I’m almost finished with bubbling in my answers, but it’s when I start going over them that I begin to doubt myself. It all goes downhill from there. No longer is the rule of not second guessing in my mind, all reason I once had is just thrown out and replaced with a flurry of worries. If you haven’t guessed it by now, I should note that I did – shamefully – change some of my answers because I second guessed. Oh, and Spoiler Alert: My first choice was correct on most.
I knew as soon as I handed in my exam that my fate was sealed. Brushing past the crowd, I started to feel this heavy weight and the reality of what I did sunk in, but nothing but time would tell what would happen. Eventually, my score comes through, and although it was not an ideal score, I knew that I did my best … even if it wasn’t my best.
But hey! There’s still time to improve, and it’s important to take a step back, acknowledge what you did wrong, and find alternatives or different methods on how to study and how to practice to feel more confident the next go-around. As frustrating as it is to change a correct answer to the wrong one, it’s a testament to the amount of work one puts in. This is the push I needed to really consider the issues I am having with the material, if any, and reevaluate my understanding on all the information. Let’s just hope that the next set of exams, I can firmly pick an answer and stick with it.
Wish me luck!
Celeste