No child is a dullard

 On sighting the result of my MTH 101 test when I was running my undergraduate program at OAU, I was stunned. I got an 85A. With the level of preparation I put into the exam, I expected to be in the 90th percentile with at least a 90%+ mark. 

What really happened? 

Any doubts over marking inconsistencies were dispelled when I saw my engineering colleagues get marks in the top 90th percentile—91A and 96A.

This was a question that baffled me personally, and I decided I had to find an answer. 

 

If I prepared well and still failed to hit my goal, was it because I didn't study well or was it just that I wasn't good enough to chill with the big boys whose points were in the top 90th percentile?

On prodding further, I discovered that my mood and way of going about things in the exam hall played a huge role. I discovered that how I felt impacted my overall performance in the exam. On sighting the question, I saw that I knew all of it and got so excited that I jumped steps straight to the final answer during the calculations. These steps that I jumped accounted for the points that I missed. The accumulation of the little points I neglected resulted in me missing out on chilling with the big boys.

I realized that I have been doing all my mathematical calculations in this manner. I scaled through when it came to objectives, but it showed when dealing with theoretical questions. I went back in time to my secondary school days and saw the same pattern. When I further backdated to my primary school days, I saw the same pattern. 

 

The foundation is the secret to any building. 

No child is a dullard. When a child has a solid educational foundation, he or she flies throughout life. I was fortunate enough to undergo a deep introspection that made me realize this secret. Alternatively, I could have given up and blamed my village people for holding me back from hitting the high scores. 

 

Don't Jump! 

When we see high performers, we want to be like them, so we want to jump in and meet them at where they are at, so we can enjoy the goodwill they enjoy. 

We should understand that high performers have mastered the little details to a wondrous level and didn't just jump steps. 

On the journey to mastery, we will come across difficult spots. The natural thing is to want to want to skip these spots and move on to the next level. What we don't see is that we are missing out on what will exactly make us enjoy that next level more. 

It is the mastery of that difficult level that will give you the confidence to enjoy the next level. Mastering the details is a painful process, but the joys and rewards are incredibly sweet. 

I had already created a habit out of skipping hard questions and jumping mathematical steps in problem solving, which crystallized into a behavior that made me lose confidence when faced with tough examination questions and life experiences in my early undergraduate years. 

 

In the second semester, the curriculum was a bit harder than the first, and the topics were more challenging. I prepared for the test and repeated the same pattern as in the first semester and got an 11/30 on the test. I was flabbergasted. How did it happen? Was the yellow house doing some hanky-panky? But those were quickly dispelled when I saw the pasted scores of the top performers: 29/30, 30/30, 27/30, 2512/30...

I knew I had to dig deep to discover where I lost it. 

What I did was leave the textbook and solve past questions from the most recent years. Although I felt prepared enough to pass, it didn't work out. 

Because MTH 102 is a 5-unit weighted course, any grade apart from an A would show on my CGPA, so I had to make a move. I picked up the prescribed textbook—Bhunday or Bunday—and solved every question from cover to cover. 

The result was different. 

I was on campus catching up with my old roommates after the holidays and a forced strike when my colleague called me to inform me that I had 81A, sounding quite surprised. I was shocked at how he knew, then I remembered that the department of mathematics pasted the results of students in year 1 and year 2 of general courses taken by the department. 

The implication was that I scored 70/70 in the exams. 

A different approach gave a different solution. 

The answer was in the details. 

I had no idea it would work out because I had no other option, but it did.

 

When more understanding came in, I realized that the move was actually a secret to everything in life. Mastering the details of anything will make you a high performer in that thing. 

 

During the COVID period, I downloaded books on mathematics written for children and teenagers and consumed them with the hope of plugging in the gaps and loops I left that got me in my MTH 101 exam. 

I learnt techniques, new insights, and most importantly, the importance of step-by-step movements. 

I am not planning to undertake further education in mathematics, but plugging the loopholes sharpened my thinking. 

 

My love for mathematics aids in my real-world experience by making me think rationally and methodically, therefore creating a balance with my emotional side that gives a high level of accuracy in my interpretation of reality. 

 

No child is a dullard. 

A well-balanced educational foundation is the key. 

This probably accounts for a lot of the minute differences that set adults from privileged homes and those from non-privileged backgrounds apart. 

 

All in all, whatever cards life has dealt us can be crafted to our own advantage.