I have never been an outstanding student and that is because books never really interested me. In elementary school, I was neither here nor there. Always somewhere in the middle but as I got to high school, I fell further behind till I was among the celebrated last five in not only my class but across the school’s average.
It was not like I never tried hard enough but I just was not getting the skills or the art of remembering what I read or making sense of what the teacher taught. My case, people around here said needed a spiritual dimension.
The defining moment for every young person’s life is when they take their final exams in high school. It is that time when you know if you would be moving to university or learning trade to make a living.
I wanted to wear the tie and work in one of those air-conditioned glass house offices on the Island. I did not want to sweat it out like my Mum who sold soup ingredients at the famous Agege market. It is not that I despised her trade, after all, she used income from this trade to pay my fees. I wanted a better life than what my parents were able to give me.
Education, I am told will give me that and the chances of making it were slipping through my fingers however hard I try.
I wanted it badly and at any cost. Chubueze, my seat mate humorously is the brightest in our class. We sat together and our results are far apart as the east is from the west.
Thoughts are churning through my head. There are times I have asked him to take me on a personal study which he has magnanimously done on several occasion but like I said earlier nothing I did was changing my situation.
I might just take the short cut way. Begin copying from Chubueze. If I could master the act well before our exams. I should be lucky to get all C’s in my papers and move away from the E’s and F’s that designed my report cards.
“It’s cheating!” A voice in my head screamed.
“It’s rational when you have been pushed against a wall”, said another voice.
For days unending I was going back and front with the battle in my head. I could not afford to fail my final exams but I also knew that deep within my heart I was embarking on the wrong route. If I decided to cheat my way, would I have to cheat my way all through?
“Mr Inwendi, our class teacher strolled in. He was impeccably dressed in his starch white crisp short sleeve shirt and grey trousers. Black leather sandals we have always know him to wear. He was not tall, neither could he be said to be short but his 5 feet 5-inch frame was carried by a huge pot belly. His eyes twitched behind his glasses as he adjusted the frames and cleared his throat.
There was a pin drop silence. He was never without his over twenty-five years old cane popular called “koboko.” None of us wanted to be a recipient of famous lashes which were legendary but the truth be told, in my six years in that school, I have never seen him use the cane.
“We have invited a team passionate about young people to talk to you on Exam Malpractices. Pay attention and this might just be the key to unlocking the great potentials in the inside of you,” he said as his gaze fell on me.
I grew both hot and cold at the same time. My palms were sweating. Were my thoughts so visible that this man knew them?
To say the least was that visit was for me. My life did turn around. I passed with one A, Five C’s and one F9 in Yoruba language but that was cool and the beginning of my walk into fame and fortune.
My name is Dipo Kelani, CEO, GlobalTex. I was not always this put together guy I am today. I was struggling academically until I learned to accept myself and identify my studying deficiency and fears and how to tackle them.
This is what I learnt from the talk that long ago afternoon:
- You can be all you want to be if you work hard at it but it starts in your mind. What do you see yourself as? Choose the picture you want and plant it in your mind like a movie.
- What do you like to do best? What subject do you like/hate the most and why.
- Pay attention to every subject, ask questions from your teachers and mates. Go over what you have learnt that day as soon as you can and build your own notes and short points.
- Believe you can be the best. It starts with you and no one else.
It not only applied to my academics, it applied to my whole life and my work.
If I had taken a short route of cheating. I probably won’t be where I am today
“Exam malpractice kills.
Don’t give up on yourself seek help. How to become a more effective student. Send an email to: beamlightfoundation.ng@gmail.com Or send a text to: 080 34432020
Fehintolu Adeleye