(no subject)

[raven]

I am going to fail my prelims.

Yes, I am. I can't see any way out of the fact I am stupid, mathematically illiterate, entirely lacking in both time and understanding, boring, conventional, fundamentally inadequate and lacking a single original thought.

In short: everything, but particularly me, is hopeless. I've revised Economics for three weeks now, and I still can't answer a single past paper question. Collections are in ten days from now.

When did all of it get so bad all of a sudden? I don't know. It just did. I don't know what to do. I don't know. I don't know anything right now.

So much for not thinking about it. So much for being a grown-up. I'm not a grown-up, I'm an emo teenage wreck.

Comments

[just-the-ash.livejournal.com]

Oh, sod that. If you were really lacking a single original thought, I wouldn't bother reading this. I am in no position to judge the mathematical literacy of others, since I had to jog my memory this morning to recall that there are five days in the standard school week, but I can't bring myself to believe that any of the rest of that is true.

You are not an emo teenage wreck, either. What you are is badly stressed. I personally always recommend blowing bubbles: at the dollar store (or, I guess, over on your side of the pond it would be 50p?), they reliably have jars of the sort with the little bitty plastic wand that always falls in and has to be fished out. That's fine. You don't need fancy stuff. You purchase said bottle of bubble solution, go outside, and follow Ingmar Bergman's advice about how to whistle. Dr. Crow recommends this for two reasons: one, it focuses your breathing; two, it is completely useless and purposeless. People sometimes need to do something like that in the face of impending exams.

[dougs.livejournal.com]

I suspect you're not boring, and not conventional, and there's plenty of evidence of original thought. I'm unsure, too, about the whole emo-teenage-wreck thing. It looks rather more like you're a student behaving normally at this stage in your studies.

[ceciley.livejournal.com]

What happens if you fail?

Exam advice from the elderly

[lady_of_asheru]

Take reassurance from the fact that it is extremely difficult to fail at Oxbridge - having gone to the considerable difficulty of selecting you, they seem most reluctant to let you go. I speak as someone who (a) wrote poetry for most of my land law exam and (b) walked out of my criminal law exam with the full answers, thinking they were scrap paper, having left only my rough notes and essay plans. I still passed both. Do not despair! You know more than you realise. When it all gets too much, walk away from it for a while; being in a good state of mind (and rested!) is 90% of the battle. Best of luck, and plan a really fabulous treat for after all the travail, to look forward to! Sx

[calapine.livejournal.com]

*HUGS*

You are marvellous, yes.

[eternalwings.livejournal.com]

To join in with the YOU ARE AMAZING here we go.
You will NOT fail as you are officially the smartest person I know and if I'm honest a wee bit of a hero of mine so go for it and you will pass!
If not theres doctor who, brokeback and other wonderful things to focus on.
Want some chocolate?

[gamesiplay.livejournal.com]

If you are an emo teenage wreck, then that's your prerogative at a time like this (and you should take full advantage of that prerogative for your final year of teenagerdom!) However, I suspect you're not. I kind of suspect that you're a lovely, unique, amusing, unbelievably bright person who's having a rough patch right now.

In fact, I don't just suspect it. I know it.

[gamesiplay.livejournal.com]

Oh, and somewhere in there I meant to say good luck, and let me know if I can do anything to help. So: good luck! And let me know.

[tau_sigma]

I can't see any way out of the fact I am stupid, mathematically illiterate, entirely lacking in both time and understanding, boring, conventional, fundamentally inadequate and lacking a single original thought.

I understand the feeling oh too well, but believe me when I say it really isn't true. I can't really speak for the mathematically illiterate part, but I doubt you're so bad at that. It may seem like you are, but remember: you're at one of the foremost universities of the country, surrounded by lots of other very, very clever people. (Of whom you are one. Or 'of which'. Possibly you can even tell me which it should be!) Comparing yourself to people like that all the time is bound to make you feel far less intelligent and wondrous than you actually are.

Your journal is constant proof that you are in no way boring, conventional, or lacking in original thought. You are not inadequate, in any way at all; quite the reverse in fact. And you are certainly not stupid.

Even if the worst comes to the worst and you do fail, it's not the end of the world. After giving you a place, I doubt Oxford is going to just let you go, since I'm sure it's patently obvious you're working hard and you do have a wonderful brain. (We all know you have a wondeful brain; there is crack!fic to prove it. *g*) There are re-takes, and I'm sure your college will help you. If it comes to that.

Until then, try not to worry? *hugs* And remember: you are wonderful, you are lovely, you are clever; and if anyone says any different then woe unto them, for I will hunt them down and scoop their eyes out with a blunt rusty spoon.

*hugs*

[hathy-col.livejournal.com]

You are none of those things. No, really, I promise. As a lot of people said - you're there fore a damned reason! Unfortunately, university seems to think it has the inherant right to work you to a small puddle of pain and anguish on the floor, which leads to Teh Stress. Also, you are a first-year. University is designed to break every expectation, belief and piece fo knowledge you have into a small stressed-out collapse on the floor, but you will be rebuilt into a new shiny student-type in second year. (I have to wait until third-year for that, though. Lucky me!)

Economics sucks donkey ass. We are all agreed on this. *nods* It is *not* the be all and end all. No, honestly, it isn't. It feels like it now, but it's not the biggest part of your degree, and there is no way in this or any other world that you're going to get less than 40%. You mught not do spectacularly, but right now, because you're so stressed, everything will become the big mental block o' death. Neither are you mathematically illiterate. Okay, it's not your strength, but just struggle through the next few weeks and it doesn't matter any more.

Go for a walk on the beach, drink/eat something comforting but not involving caffiene, have a stress-related cry, scream at something, just get it out of your system and tackle it again tomorrow. You won't do anything productive tonight, so you may as well give your brain a break.

[troyswann.livejournal.com]

Breathe. Seriously. It helps.

*hug*

[biascut.livejournal.com]

Two PhD candidates on this sofa have just concluded that not only lots of undergraduates but the vast majority of postgraduates are also emo teenage wrecks, so you are not alone. And at least you have the excuse of being a teenager.

G'luck, m'dear.

[anotherusedpage.livejournal.com]

Hey, take it from someone who knows, it's harder to fail prelims than you think. I promise.

Failing collections is par for the course. Almost everyone does it at least once. Doesn't indicated your lack of suitability for the course or your likelyhood of failing prelims (or finals for that matter).

Talk it through with your tutors. They can help.

Good luck.

[wishfulaces.livejournal.com]

Okay, you probably don't want advice, but I say: feel hopeless now. Get it out of your system, so tomorrow you can get back to the damned work and prove to yourself that actually, no, you are pretty damned bright and know what you're doing.

You simply cannot cope all the time (or, okay, *I* can't cope all the time). Better to be an emo teenage wreck for a while than, I dunno, write "I am a fish" 500 times and have to be taken out of the exam room on a stretcher.

[orientalflower.livejournal.com]

Aww, chin up, babe. Don't stress too much about collections. You still have loads of time before the prelims, and those are pretty hard to fail (although I know it probably doesn't feel that way right now). You'll be fine, I promise xx

[foreverdirt.livejournal.com]

Having spent rather pre-exam time with mathmos of all different abilities (from someone who actually failed - and was still allowed to continue to the next year - to a couple of someones who came in the top ten in the year (out of about 200 students)), I think there's pretty much no correlation between how hopeless you feel about exams and how well you'll do. Not everyone has moments of feeling like you do, but I only know two people who didn't, of whom one got a third and the other a first.

Um. The above was meant to be encouraging. If it wasn't, please ignore it and accept substitute *internet-hugs*.

[thecapitalc.livejournal.com]

We should start a Facebook group. I need support from my fellow emo teenage wrecks ;)

Seriously speaking, I wouldn't worry about it- I'm sure that everyone else feels the same way as you do and that you really know much more than you think you do. It just hasn't fallen into place yet. Once you get into that exam hall and you start thinking about the questions and pulling in all that knowledge, it will be fine, you'll see!

[bekkypk.livejournal.com]

Explain to a tutor? If they know you're having trouble you can at least say you've been to them for help before walking into it.
As well as that, who knows what the real thing will be like. Who knows. With school/uni releted stuff, many times I found the real things were nothing like the mocks.
*hugs* And I wouldn't say you're without original thought. And guess what? You're a teenager. You're allowed to be a hormonal emo wreck most of the time *glomp*
xx

[snowballjane.livejournal.com]

I know it really isn't much help, but I do remember nearly everyone I was at university with feeling just like this in the run up to first year exams. I know I did. Most of us did fine. And Patrick passed the nasty-hard maths on re-sits and went on to do a DPhil.

Are there any second years around that you could speak to? They'd have more of an idea of what a "passing" answer to the past papers should be like (rather than a totally intimidating perfectly correct "here, have a first" answer).

[the-acrobat.livejournal.com]

You are brilliant. And I know that you're going to kick this thing's ass. I know you can do it. Being an emo-teenaged wreck is just part of the process of arriving at total groove. I know this. You're going to whoop it.

*loves you*