Exams Are Not the Point

Hello!

So it's exam season and I'm sure I'm not the only one with a streaming cold ploughing through mountains of work wishing it was time to go home. It's a really stressful time and everyone wants to do their best but in my tea-fuelled state, I had an epiphany! We are not just at university to pass exams. Sure, you need to pass them to actually get your degree but exams and assignments are not the whole point of being here.

First off, you're here to study something that you have a genuine interest in. In my case, I came to Edinburgh because I love the city, I wanted to reconnect with my Scottish roots after living in England for a long time, and I really wanted to study sociology. And why did I want to study sociology? (Not so I could do Take Home Papers!) I've wanted to be a counsellor since I was 14 so it was going to be either psychology or sociology and I picked sociology because I am absolutely fascinated by people and no great shakes at science so it seemed a no brainer! And, I'm loving it so far! I find it fascinating and it's cool to find that my brain just works that way, I just seem to get it. But I'm not completely mad, of course I hate assignments just like everyone else. But that doesn't stop me from loving sociology, and enjoying my course, because the point of studying a subject at university, in my opinion at least, is to enjoy it; you're interested, and you'd like to find out all you can about it. Or perhaps you have an end goal in mind. If you study medicine, you probably want to be a doctor, and help people. You don't come to university because you want to take exams.

Secondly, university is a survival game. You have to live away from home and look after yourself for the first time, be in charge of your own time, everything is self motivated. It's terrifying, and it's ok for it to be terrifying. If you get through university, you're probably in pretty good shape for looking after yourself after you graduate. I mean, think about it, if you're anything like me, you'll have burnt yourself whilst cooking, thrown up everything but your memories after a night out, slept with people who treat you like dirt, made friends and lost them again, had flat dramas, family problems, and work stress... you did it all by yourself and came out the other side! So what if you didn't do so well in one assignment? You can do it again, it doesn't stop that subject from being the right one for you.

So yeah, work hard and do your best, but don't think that exams are the only thing that defines you. It will all be over soon, take time to have a bit of fun too, and remind yourself of why you're actually doing this.

Lots of Love,

Sarah xxx

Today's Track: Alan Watts 'Imitation Virtues' - I encourage everyone to listen to this when you need some perspective.