"From Failure to Success: My Journey of Retaking the Exam".

While the pressure of the looming exam weighed heavily on my shoulders, I felt confident that I had studied enough to pass. Unfortunately, my confidence was misplaced and my efforts were not enough to prevent me from failing.


I had been studying for the exam for weeks, pouring over my notes and textbooks for hours each night. I had even asked my tutor for additional help, and I felt like I was fully prepared.

When the exam day arrived, I felt confident that I was ready, but as I looked around the room, I could see the tension among my classmates. We all knew that this exam was a make-or-break moment, and I could feel the pressure mounting as the time ticked away.

The clock felt like an enemy as every second passed, showing no sympathy or mercy as it brought me closer to my doom.

The saying is true that in life, we cannot always have what we want or expect things to work as we've planned.

There's no joy in failing, and I'm not proud of it either, but I try to console myself by thinking that it was for a reason.

It's not always easy to move on after an unpleasant experience of failure. When I experienced it, I felt disappointed and sad and wanted to give up.

The story went like this;

A long time ago, I registered for an exam that I needed to take. I knew that I had stayed away from my books for a very long time so I decided to attend a tutorial to refresh my memory.

During my tutorial period, I met nice people and learned a lot. Learning from those tutors was extremely beneficial because they taught in such a way that it wasn't so difficult for me to understand.

All through that period, I made sure to stay focused on my studies so that when the exam starts I won't chew my pen in the exam hall.

D-day finally came and I got myself ready and rushed to my center for the first paper. The exam was scheduled to run for a month.

In the exam center, I met a friend who attended the same tutorial lesson as me.

She was happy to see me and was more excited when she learned that we would be sitting together.

After days and weeks, I felt happy that I had finally completed the race of what seemed like a long journey.

We were informed after the exam that the results would be released 45 days after the last paper we wrote.

As I waited for the results, I prayed and hoped for the best.

45 days after the exam, the results were announced. I wasn't sure how to check the result at first.

In order to be sure, I had to contact one of the tutors who lectured me at the tutorial I attended. I was certain that he would know more about the process.

He picked up the phone right away when I called and inquired if I had checked my results. As if he knew what I was thinking. I replied explaining the challenge I was facing and stating that I had not and that I called because of it.

He answered nicely and offered to help me.

A few minutes later, I received a notification on my phone. As I took the phone from where I had tossed it, I saw that it was a Whatsapp message that I had received. I opened my Whatsapp and saw the tutor's message right away.

It was at this point that my heart started racing. As nervous as I felt, I knew I had to look at the results to see if I did well.

Reading the pdf file carefully, I was already getting excited because of the good grades at the top of the list, up until I reached the section with D.

My heart fell to pieces when I saw that I had a D in a major subject I needed. It meant that I wouldn't be able to further my career yet.

When I saw that D grade in that subject, I felt like everything was falling apart because I had struggled to get the money to write that exam and had sacrificed a lot to make sure I wrote it.

Getting that grade in that subject meant that I could not be able to take any further steps unless I rewrote the exam.

I thought about how I would raise money again. I also considered the time I would need to sacrifice again going to tutorials, and the amount of money I would need to spend on some books again. I felt very sad.

I wasn't happy with the result. However, after the failure, I took my time to reflect on what caused the failure. I felt that doing so would help me understand what could have been done differently and how I would prevent similar failures in the future.

That subject was English. I suspected that my essay must have been poorly written and must have been the cause of the poor result. In order to better understand key topics like essay writing, summary writing, and letter writing, I studied harder.

While I was doing those things, along the way, I was also able to identify other underlying issues that contributed to the failure. These included a lack of proper preparation and a lack of focus on key topics.

In addition to that, I developed a plan I felt could help me pass the exam the next time around. I stayed committed to taking the necessary steps to make that happen.

About two years later, when I was physically, mentally, and financially ready again, I registered for the exam again. This time, I implemented all I had learned from my previous failures and made sure I did my all.

When the result was out, I managed to get a good grade and now I can think about taking the next step. I did not give up despite the challenges I faced as a result of that failure.

Finally, I persevered and achieved my goal, proving that failure can be a stepping stone to success.