The Great Realization!

Have you ever thought about the number of ways things can be interpreted? Or maybe the number of methods there could exist, to get to a goal? Well, as the title says, the text you will read further, might not even be as great of a realization for so many people here! 

To begin, let's give you an interesting "Did you know?" I read on the internet.. Did you know how many ways are there to solve a Rubik's cube? well grab a seat before I reveal it! "There are 43 quintillion ways of solving a Rubik's cube" says a computer scientist, Tom Rokicki. I mean we have all done permutations and combinations, but it's crazy to think of, because it's more than the amount of grains of sand present in all of Earth's beaches! (source-www.wired.com)

Before linking it to my "Great Realization" I would like to give you a little glimpse of my background which'll better explain my foreground and will give you'll context!

So I consider myself really privileged to be a part of the family I belong to, because my father being the eldest off four siblings, is an entrepreneur like the other two brothers and the youngest of them being the backbone to my decisions, is an engineer in the states, and my grand-father who perhaps is the most hard-working out of all of them! (well, as I said, it's all relative.., get the pun haha) I can't mention enough about each one's success as that's what makes me say that I consider myself privileged.

So, it was Grade 8 when I first came across subjects called as "Business Management" and "Accounting" and the next thing I knew was that I'll do anything but these subjects! (just an opinion! chill out commerce people reading this!) not that I didn't have good teachers, it seemed just as if I'd enjoy balancing equilibrium and equations more than balancing debit and credit! So that's how we knew "Science is future" (quite literally)

Then, normally here in India when you decide Science, naturally another question arises.. Maths? Bio? or Both?.. Well, I wasn't talented enough to take both, so I again went with what I enjoyed doing more! So I was in IGCSE, and for those who didn't know, IGCSE students have a calculator mandatory for the examinations. So naturally a 14 year old enjoyed Maths more! That was when we raised our hats for Biology and knew that there's going to be an addition for another engineer in the family! 

I knew I wanted to stay in India for college, so had to shift from IGCSE to probably state board or CBSE, and prepare for the engineering entrance exams. I then got into a very renowned coaching institution, and the journey began!

Completely ignoring the fact that a 14 year old had made the choice of choosing math because he had a calculator, I headed towards the first day of the preparation. I was living the opportunity of learning from such amazing teachers and compete with mostly all the students who did school and perhaps math without a calculator! But honestly, it wasn't as bad! I had spoken to myself well in advanced of how the coming two years are going to be for an IGCSE student, I was around really smart people and they were really competitive! but that's how it was going to be! I made 3 friends, our interests matched so we started studying together and I was very enthusiastic about the exam and the preparation that to develop a habit for siting for long hours, I used to sit back in my coaching and practice or finish homework by staying back and it turned out to be a very positive decision! I got my doubts cleared immediately and got a lot of interactions with my seniors and teachers! I was so into the preparation that my well-wishers warned me of burning out by the end, but I was loving the process! 

Well, that's where the biggest mistake lied, I got too emotionally carried away! Without realizing that it's such a serious exam that it's just not the skill in academics or Physics, Chemistry and Maths, but it's more of how you carry your thoughts and attempt the paper on the main day and how you make the most out of those 180 minutes! During the pandemic times and online papers, the papers practiced were at the comfort of our homes and the exam center was too stressful for a lot of students which affected the performance of so many students including me! That's when it hit me, that making an exam your everything may get you super motivated but meanwhile it could also reduce the efficiency and quality of studying. You have to be mature enough to take it as just an exam and not as a war for that matter! and prepare accordingly with a very practical approach by keeping all your overthinking thoughts aside and not get emotional. To quote my physics teacher, "give the paper very professionally and give it like an exam and not like physics, chemistry, maths" 

Experiment different ways and find out what suits best for you, you have to get on ground and try out several ways to get to your comfort of effort and how you can get the most out of your time and make sure to not overdo it, and if you don't find it, shorten it down for parts and concepts and then, treat yourself with good food and mindless movies and you'll see your performance reach heights because now you know what not to do! 

And there is no need to be afraid of trying out methods because now you know in how many ways a Rubik's cube can be solved ;)