Study!

“The bitterness of studying is preferable to the bitterness of ignorance.” Filipino Proverb.

Midterms, exams, and drop quizzes, how I loathe thee! It’s the time of year again when books are painful to the touch, while the world becomes an ever salient temptress. “Study, study, STUDY!” My mind often commands me, and yet I find myself drawn to playing guitar, watching old episodes of “Friends” and staring blankly at walls. Anything but opening that chemistry book, please!

Yet in the back of my mind (the way, way back mind you), I realize how terribly guilty I would feel if I didn’t revise. So I use all eight of my highlighters, a dozen post-it notes or so, and underline paragraph after paragraph so that I may feel prepared.

Three and a half years of college life has taught me to never ever enter an exam feeling like you’ve missed something, because chances are, you have. Revise everything multiple times, and yes, shut off facebook and youtube. We are what we spend our time doing, and I regret to say that I am too often unproductive. 

I do not believe that grades define us, for some exams are, in all honesty, ridiculous. However, if you are ill-prepared and complain about flunking, well, that’s another case entirely. We must always try our best, and if even if we do end up failing (ever taken Bio 201?), at least we can take comfort in knowing that we truly studied hard. Or the huge raises.