The Second Exodus – Egypt – CXXXVI. My Education – (12 of 13)
Date Posted: July 31st, 2012
Today, with the benefit of time and distance, I can identify the factors that contributed to the disastrous results of my June exams – I failed all four subjects!
I was tackling a very difficult program. Only gifted students who did well throughout their school years could hope to survive it. In my case, I shone for one year through sheer willpower, got the marks I needed, and went back to my old ways! Not surprisingly, a complete personality change wasn’t going to happen in one year!
The advice from the students who were repeating the year, and professors, was simple: Don’t fall behind in your studies or you will never be able to catch up. Unfortunately, that is exactly what I did and paid the price.
I said that the university was in a beautiful setting surrounded by the best nature had to offer. As well, the sun almost always shine in Cairo. Therefore, you will understand – but not excuse – why I preferred to be outdoors. I skipped lectures and laboratory sessions. I spent long hours in the cafes in and around the campus playing backgammon, dominoes, or simply chatting with friends.
When examinations time came nearer and nearer, I began to study frantically. But by then it was too late. There was too much ground to cover; and my frantic last minute effort which worked in high school proved insufficient in university.
Finally, I was only 17 when I started university. I simply wasn’t mature enough.
To prepare for my September exam, I took my books to Ras El Bar, and shared my time as between studying and enjoying my summer vacations. Apparently, it was an unequal division, for I passed chemistry and failed the other three subjects!
The good news was that when we came back in October, the university was willing to try for the first time a semester system. Those of us who didn’t want to repeat the year, could enroll in a program just for us to prepare us for an early January exam in the subjects we had failed. As well, students who had exhausted their four chances, were given a fifth one. We all, needless to say, took the university up on its offer.
The extra coaching and lab. sessions provided did the trick. We all passed the January (1955) exams. The semester experiment thus proved to be a resounding success.
