MONDAY INSIGHTS

With

Tope Ajetunmobi

“Tope is a petroleum engineering graduate of Imperial College, London, United Kingdom, and a first class chemical engineering graduate of Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria”

This article will take a unique twist as the world tends to focus more on “success”, “success”, and “success”. Frankly speaking, many successful individuals who we celebrate today must have had a couple of catastrophic failure-moments. I will not  bore you with the stories of Abraham Lincoln, Henry Ford, Thomas Edison and the likes (you can search the internet if any of these stories is not familiar to you). In the light of this, I will like to share some tips (only 5 so this doesn’t turn to an academic exercise J ) on how to cope during this challenging period. My apologies if I am referring to failure purely from an academic perspective, the reason being because this article is directed more to young school leavers in the aftermath of poor UME/JAMB results.

1. Quit the blame game! 

Yes, I know why I failed: I had a horrible maths teacher, my Dad was too poor to send me to a private school, I was never given time to study at home due to distractions, the examiner never liked me, only people who cheated could have passed that exam, since 1972 no-one has ever scored an A so why should it be me? I guess few of these lines sound familiar. In simple words, stop the blame game. Accept the fact that the only person who is responsible for the failure is YOU and no-one else and unless you are ready to accept this bitter truth, I’m afraid you might not make any progress.

2. Review the cause of failure! 

Let me illustrate with a practical example: Assume you wrote UME/JAMB last year and scored 170 out of 400, and you intend to rewrite this year. Then you prepare by reading the same books, the same past questions, attending the same classes as you did last year, it will be a big miracle if you score anything more than 170. In fact history shows you could even get a lower score which is the reason why many people score lower in 2^nd attempt in UME than the first. The great physicist: Albert Einstein summarises this phenomenon in simple words: “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and expecting a different result”. Start by asking simple questions? Where and why did I do poorly? Did I use a syllabus for this exam? Are there any specific topics I didn’t cover which are very important? Do I need to work more on speed and accuracy? 45seconds for this question which I solved in 3minutes: there must obviously be a shortcut, where is it?

3. Never stay idle! 

Yes I know this is a very turbulent period. The world celebrates success. You could spend one year waiting to rewrite an exam: maybe UME/JAMB or SSCE/GCE/NECO. I summarise with a famous quote: “An idle mind is the devil’s workshop”. This is the time spent on running errands for   family members, getting attracted to the opposite sex, listening to music and getting glued to the TV watching shows or football games. Trust me, one year is not as long as it seems. It might be worthwhile you drawing up a plan to organise your time. This might involve spending some time in the library if home not conducive, registering for extra lessons or a course to improve your skills, engaging in extra-curricular activities which are not time-wasters.

4. Any role models to emulate/study? 

I will still use the UME example to illustrate my point here: Yes I scored 170/400 but who are those who scored above 300? What did they do differently from me? Can I search for them on the internet for some tips? Can I form a study group with some friends so we can solve some questions together? Is there any documentation available showing how past questions in this exam have been tackled? Are there any recommended study centres where I can gain some numeracy skills which I am lacking?

5. Be positive! 

In my next article titled, “learning from failure- my personal story”, I will share some of my personal experiences during my waiting period after my SSCE result was seized my WAEC and my JAMB result was too poor to secure an admission into Obafemi Awolowo University. Catch up with you next time…

Yes I know you have been hit below the belt once but the trick here is to remain positive. This is not the end of the world. Life goes on! If Mr A could have done it, why can’t I? Yes, mum and dad call me a failure but that is based on what they can see now, that is NOT who I am. I also believe greatly in the supernatural power of faith so might be helpful also to be prayerful during this period, asking God for speed and accuracy, retentive memory and direction. It is a well-known belief that 80% of an examination is usually from 20% of the reading material so it isn’t unwise to ask for direction in locating 20% of the reading material.

EDITOR’S NOTE: I expect part 2 of this article to be a thriller, because, like Tope mentioned in the penultimate paragraph, he will be narrating his personal experience. What experience can be more thrilling than being rejected by OAU due to poor UME result, and same student, after rewriting UME and gaining admission the next year, went ahead to break the school’s all-time CGPA record, with a CGPA north of 4.90/5.0? I also can’t wait…