Unprepared For a Test, Essay Example

My educational career was too perfect, beginning with primary school and ending with high school. Ever since I was a kid I used to be the straight-A; all of my family members were proud for me. My dad wasn’t strict about me getting A’s. He was satisfied if I just passed my classes without getting any A’s. My mom was the opposite, she was very strict about my schooling. She would be mad if I didn’t get an A in any of my classes. I feel that my mom wants me to be the best because I’m her only son, and that puts a lot of pressure on me. It’s the type of pressure that makes me feel like there’s a monster I have to conquer (school) in order to make my mom proud of me. If I told conquer this beast, something bad will happen like, the kingdom or my family will fall apart because I’m supposed to be the future for my family and as an only son that’s a lot of pressure. I know this just means my mom cares about me a lot. The way she treats with me is like a poor guy who just got a Ferrari by pure chance, and he won’t let any small scratches happen to it. My mom does however make me happy because she rewards me when I do get good marks. This motivates me. I realized something too, that people without a successful education aren’t worth anything in the real world, where it matters. My mom is always concerned about getting me into a strict and hard educational system.

My dad, however, is completely the opposite; he wants me to enter an easy going lifestyle or school, and not a school with strict rules or laws. My dad believes that educational success doesn’t decide a person’s life, but money does though. I followed my mom’s method as I mentioned, so that’s why I’ve ignored my dad’s educational advice. In this story sometimes I feel like my dad is the beast, or at least his ideas are, or maybe both my mom and my dad are beasts and they’re fighting over me and where I should end up for my future. In the end I wonder if they’ll just tear me apart bit by bit.

My mom used to help me with my homework and school stuff since primary school and up until the beginning of middle school. There were many bullies in my middle school who made fun of my mom helping me with my school stuff. They used to call me a “baby” and others called me “your mom’s daughter”.  I tried ignoring them because I knew they were jealous because they don’t have such a mother, and jealousy makes people do mean things. I’m grateful for how caring my mom is and how she helps me get straight A’s.

When I entered high school, my mom stopped helping me out because I was a young man, and young men don’t need their mother’s help with such stuff. After many years of my mom’s help, I was finally able to depend on myself and for this I found that my mom’s method helped out a lot. I’ve entered one of the strictest high schools in my country, and a lot of friends and relatives were suspect about me graduating from this high school. Mom and dad had faith in me though, and it felt like the beasts were finally at peace. The high school was really strict; the principal of the high school was so awful, for example, on the first day of high school, I met an old gruesome man, whose voice was like a crow’s whoop, standing on the school’s gate shouting at the students! He was using words like “move your ass” and he closed that gate at 7:30 in the morning so no one would enter the school after 7:30, not even teachers! I really felt like I was in the military.  The old gruesome man gave a speech on the first day of classes; his speech was full of threats and menace; he made strict rules and penalties, and he was never indulgent. Everyone seemed to hate him, and I was like “May gods help us!” because he gave us such a bad impression of the school.

Teachers also seemed to hate him, because he was forcing them to stay over their ordinary time every day. Teachers were loaded with work and papers; the man didn’t care if the teachers had other commitments or children to take care of. He always made sure to give us the hardest tests and quizzes, load us with too much home work, assignments, and papers. He put in place a really bad grading system and everyone thought that it was unfair. All students and teachers requested to substitute that principal with a new one, but the government often refused to everyone’s curiosity. I realized that there was no reason for the principal to be like that, and I’ve often thought that maybe he wanted to reveal the good students and the bad students and he was maybe a new monster in my life, very different than my mom and dad because he didn’t seem to care about my future.

Years passed and I continued in this high school until my senior year. I really struggled with that high school too. I hardly passed the tests with any A’s! I really did my best, but tests were really crucial and difficult and I felt like I wasn’t doing high school tests but like tests for a PhD or a GRE. I would stay up all night just to study for a quiz, however, I was the only student whose GPA is above 3.00! My mom was very proud of me for that.

My senior year was a nightmare for me. Two terrible accidents happened to me in that year. In my chemistry midterm exam, I was flipping the questions paper over to the back and writing my notes, such as equations and calculations, because I didn’t have another sheet of paper to use. Then, suddenly my chemistry teacher came to my desk, pulled the exam paper from me, and he said “get out now,” I was like, “what the hell!” So I asked him why I should get out, and then he said, “Don’t pretend that you’re so innocent, you were cheating smart boy”.

I told him that I was just writing my notes and calculations, but he refused and kicked me out anyway. At this point all students stopped answering test questions and started paying attention to us. The principal finally came, and everyone thought that it was time for me to be kicked out, but actually he asked the teacher to get out instead of asking me. The principal said, “Give him the test back and get out please, this is a command.” Everyone was surprised and stunned because our principle was always the student’s first opponent. In other words, we’ve always thought that he is the devil and we are the angels and we are always in clash. I thought that maybe this beast wasn’t so scary after all, at least, not in this moment. So after the test I went to his office, and told him that I was really thankful, and he stated that I’m a good and diligent student, and good students deserve the best. When I got out of his office, I stayed surprised for a long moment because he seemed like a good man but he transforms to a werewolf in front of students. After that, I knew that he loves and appreciates persistent students. I ended up getting an A on this exam the only A in the class. I felt like my kingdom wasn’t falling apart but starting to build itself and put itself together and that all of the bad beasts around weren’t actually beasts at all, but lessons I had to learn.

The second terrible accident happened during final exams. I was half way through graduating and had three exams left but unfortunately, my best friend died in an automobile accident. It was the most awful thing that ever happened to me. I was really upset, because he wasn’t just a friend; he was like my brother from another mother. He and I grew up together. I spent all my childhood and teenage years with him; he knew all of my secrets and I knew all of his secrets.  It was the most tragic period in my life. I didn’t want to eat anything, and I couldn’t sleep. I isolated myself in my room for days,with memories flashing in front of my eyes. I ended up skipping two exams because I really didn’t have the strength or focus to do a test or even to study for one. My mother was upset because of my situation, and she kept telling me not ruin my senior year. She wanted me to attend the last exam and do my best so I wouldn’t fail my senior year; so, for her, I went to do the final test. I was looking at the questions and I was so depressed and all I could think about was the friend I lost. I didn’t know any of the answers.  I was just staring at the test, thinking and thinking. Finally, the exam period was done and I went back home immediately without getting talking with anyone.

After one week, the final grades were revealed. Everyone was so excited to know my results and they couldn’t wait to celebrate. I wasn’t that happy, because I knew that my GPA wouldn’t satisfy me or my family, especially my mom. My mom and I both wanted me to be an engineer. In order to get a scholarship for an engineering major, my GPA had to be above 3.00. I went to my school to get my transcript and wasn’t surprised that I ended up with 2.80. I went home and everyone gave me a warm welcome. They were expecting good news, but I disappointed them. My mom started tearing up, which made me feel guilty. I didn’t know what to say or how to justify my mistake. I tried to cheer them up but I really couldn’t because I was depressed, so I went to my room. I couldn’t bear watching my mom so upset. Meanwhile, everyone left. Later I went to apologize to my mom and tried to make everything seem okay. At the same time, my phone rang and when I answered I was surprised that the caller was the principal!

The principal said that he was calling me to inform me that I could retake the test I missed. I was so happy and shocked! He told me that he knew what happened to my friend, and that he is sure that I wouldn’t fail or skip these tests if I was my normal self. Although retakes are not allowed for final exams, he made an exception for me. I felt like once again I saw my kingdom crumble but something saved me, something out of the ordinary. I didn’t know how to thank him. His phone call made me and my mom smile again. When I saw my mom smiling I felt like the world was smiling at me too. I told all my relatives and my friends that I was allowed to have a retake for my missed test. They were happy and kept telling me, “We know you can do it Talal, we have faith in you”.

The retake was assigned five days after the phone call, so I had enough time to study. After five days, I went to do the retake. I took the test paper and I started filling it out with answers. The paper was full of ink, it was like I was taking my revenge for my past mistakes! The normal length of the test was two hours, and I finished it within 40 minutes. I was totally sure that I was going to pass that test with an A, so I felt really satisfied with myself.

Finally, I got my new transcript after two days, and my GPA jumped to a 3.35. Our house was alive with cheers and pleasure. My mom and dad were so proud of me. My mom rewarded me as usual; she bought me a pro camera since I’m in love with taking photos. Furthermore, the ministry of higher education accepted me in their scholarship plan as a chemical engineering student.  I was so glad that my dream came true and that my effort didn’t go in vain. I went to the principal’s home to thank him for what he did for me. He lives in a big white villa, with blue windows and a huge front yard.  His personality was so different when I met him at his villa; he seemed like a really kind and wise man when before he seemed like a beast that was scary.  He told me that he believed in me when he first saw me. He ended his speech with wishing me good luck with my scholarship and with the rest of my life. I won’t forget his beneficence to me for as long as I live. I learned not to judge someone from the outside, but from the inside and by their actions.