The Exam Age!

This is a feeling like never before. Even when I was so jubilantly carried around the hostel grounds accompanied by "BZ na summa va?" chants, I was not this happy. In hindsight, taking B.E ECE in PSG Tech feels like an awful decision partially compensated by some awesome moments. So the final exam in my college life on 30.11.2010 felt like the end of an unsettling era. I would like to recall some special moments associated with this "Exam Age".

1.Two days were off before the Mathematics exam in the first semester. Few of us decided to give "Billa” a try. The movie was a disaster but even more disastrous was our preparation. Only the night before the exam, we realised our predicament and plunged into the world of Orthogonal Diagonalisations.(Which our sir pronounced so beautifully).
Twenty minutes into our studies , we got a call from our seniors asking us to prepare a volunteer list for Young Alumni Meet cricket matches. While the entire class was studying, me and Jayaprakash (one of those few friends who deserve a passionate “nanbaen da” hug) were busy with this even more significant work. The exam was an unmitigated disaster with me counting the number of marks required to pass in the exam hall. I still do not know how me and JP passed the exam .That is the reason why I always greet my first semester Maths sir Mr.Senthil Kumar wherever I see him with a warm “good morning sir” or “good evening sir”. He must be surprised that a student so profusely wishes him day after day but he doesn’t know that he saved this Billa-watching YAM volunteer from death and pain.

2.The final exam of 2nd semester “Electron Devices” was scheduled at a painful time. While every other first year guy was leaving for his semester holidays, ECE students were alone subject to the fate of analysing BJTs and FETs. To compound the pain, it was raining. (Concentrating on books when it is so delightfully raining outside is painful than tooth ache.) We spent a lot of time playing cards. In hindsight, it surprises me that even Shiv Kumar was playing. The evening before D-day, I roamed around all rooms. I remember studying each chapter with one guy.(BJ with Sabari and T with Arul) The question paper was thankfully tough because no one did well and I ended up getting eight.

3.Even before I wrote the exam, I so confidently felt that I would fail in Probability and Queuing theory. I even sent a long text message to Amma, “Please forgive me.I will study well next time and clear the supple”. I somehow pulled out a miraculous 7 which surprised many, including myself. That exam so blatantly proved my inability to judge where I stand.

4.Right from the fifth semester, Me,Sabari and Jeyavel formed a potent trio to face the subject demons. The trio (Sabari’s patronage, in particular) had a tremendous impact on the results for I started getting remarkable above-8.5 grades. I even touched that Cloud Nine in the 5th semester –a grade which even Sudharsanam could not touch in the entire 4-year period. Sudharsanam was constantly teased for putting in so much of hard work and still getting grades below 9. Later, He got internship in Analog Devices and placement in Sony proving that grades mean nothing and hard work means everything.

5. Three exams I enjoyed writing the most were Industrial Management ,Environmental Science (EVS) and Indian Constitution. Inspite of having an average of 32 (on 40) ,I somehow felt that I could get a 10 S in EVS .It was a flawless performance but secured only a 9. Had I not become the SU Chairman,I would have got a 10 in EVS because the second internals EVS Test coincided with the celebrations. Constitution was even more better as it was the first exam which is to have a direct impact on my future. It was the first exam I so thoroughly relished in my entire four years and so fitting that it was to be the last exam in my undergraduate career. May be, it signals a transition.