Every human has a style that goes well with them when doing a particular thing, it might be eating habit, sleeping habit, and others.
We do not know these things until a certain stage in life when we get the result we want from doing something in a particular way, we repeat the process and the result still comes up great.
We adopt that style permanently and it becomes part of us. Despite things working out well for us with that particular style we are used to, there are times we choose to imitate other people. The outcome is not always bad and there are many times imitating others even works for us better than doing things our favorite way.
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Examination is something I usually take seriously right from childhood because there is a law in the house that states that if you fail just once, you will be withdrawn from school to learn a skill. I don't know how true it is because I never dared to fail.
As a student who is keen on achieving success, I developed a reading style for myself.
My style was reading daily and on weekends so when examination is approaching, I only revise. This style works for me a lot but in my final year in secondary school, I decided to imitate a friend.
Although I read as usual before the examination but I didn't do the proper revisions. I have a friend who has always told me night reading is the best so I decided to try his style.
Let's assume we have a paper tomorrow, he would read overnight and it worked well for him. That day, we agreed on reading over the night at our various homes.
My mom saw me glued to the TV after school and she complained, I told her I was going to read at night so she allowed me to do what I wanted.
I even slept later that day so that I can stay awake at night.
As soon as he was about to start, he called my mom's phone and told me that it was time.
"Get a bowl and fill it with water, put your leg in it when you are feeling sleepy", were his last words before hanging up.
I did as instructed and started reading. I didn't wait until I felt sleepy before putting my leg in the bowl of water.
In the morning, I was woken by my mom's loud voice and I could tell that she was angry even before I opened my eyes. I thought I was late for school but things turned out differently.
At first, I couldn't remember reading anything before falling asleep and secondly, my feet were cold. I opened my eyes to see that the whole room was filled with water.
My books were soaked and I had to start that day with cleaning. I rushed to school afterward and couldn't share my experience until the exam was over. I passed that particular paper but learned a good lesson.
It took me five years to get into the university due to financial challenges and I must have forgotten the lessons I learned back in 2008.
A day before my first exam in the polytechnic, my study group suggested we read at night which was a good idea since the paper would start by 8:30 am the next day.
I got home that day, prepared myself for the night and I went to our meeting point later. It was a great time for all of us because we read and also had fun in between the reading time.
We all departed around 6 am and I rushed home to freshen up. I got home and decided to relax for some time but the unexpected happened.
I slept off while relaxing, I had a dream that was sweet enough to keep me in bed all day. I saw myself writing an exam already so why do I need to wake up?
The dream went on for a while and I was woken up by a loud bang on my room door.
I got out of bed in rush only to see that the sun was up. I opened the door and it turned out to be the grandma that owned the house.
She said someone called her and that they didn't see me in school. I went back to check the time and it was a few minutes past 9 am. I grabbed my exam docket and took off immediately.
I arrived at the exam hall about forty minutes late and it could have been more if they started exactly at 8:30 am.
After begging for some minutes, I was allowed in and I did the best I could do. I was so ashamed to come to school with bathing or brushing so I rushed back home immediately after the paper and since that day, I haven't tried imitating anyone's reading habit since it puts me in lots of trouble.