How I Transitioned From A Serious Student To A Completely Unserious Student

Every olodo has an excuse for performing poor abi?

 

I know, but before you judge or attack me, at least hear me out first.

 

Deal? Cool.

 

In my secondary school days, my classmates used to think I was a scholar, but what they didn’t understand was that… I was a first-grade olodo that was just lucky to be given good grades all the time.

 

I know you won’t believe me, but that’s your personal problem anyway.

 

When I finished secondary school, I had a dream… I don’t mean I slept and dreamt, I mean I had a goal that I wanted to study abroad on a fully funded scholarship.

 

I don’t remember where the inspiration came from, I just knew I found myself surfing the internet searching for information on schools and scholarships I could benefit from.

 

It was at that moment it dawned on me that I’d been playing all my life. Had it been I knew the requirements to study abroad earlier, I would have been serious during my WAEC and get good grades (how I read during WAEC and NECO is a story for another day😂).

 

When I realized that I didn’t qualify for most of the scholarships, I made up my mind to be a serious student at the University, get local scholarships, and then go abroad once I’m done 😂. (The dream is long dead now).

 

I started learning basic electronics and was watching YouTube videos on it. A senior recommended John Bird’s book on electronics to me and I started reading it. I also learnt Surd and some advanced Mathematics.

 

But as you must have guessed, it was just an initial gragra (euphoria). It wasn’t long before I stopped.

 

Fun fact, I was a mini militia addict at that time (this explains why I was undefeatable when I resumed FUT😌).

 

I stopped learning and concluded I was going to continue when school resumes. 

 

I just randomly remembered my experience in Unilorin, but I can’t tell you about it here because it will take us away from this current story.

 

But the summary is that… Due to ASUU strike, I was attending lectures in Unilorin with my friends. (Unilorin still had the “No Strike” legacy at that time (November/December 2018).

 

ASUU strike ended and we resumed school with a plan to read every day.

A shot of my reading timetable

Due to the renovation at the school hostel, I stayed at my Cousin’s place in Gidan Mangoro. Our lectures usually ended at 4 pm and every day before I went home I would stay back at the school library to read. The plan was to cover the syllabus before the test.

 

My goal was to write a 5.0 GPA, and I had friends with the same goal—the likes of Usman, Hazeeb, etc.

 

I was consistent with my plan and one of the measures I put in place was not to watch any movie until the semester ended. (I broke the rule during the test😂, and it was Usman who motivated me. But we had covered the required materials for the test at that time).

 

One thing I need to mention here is that… Before I started reading, I had gotten orientation from Ancestor (I believe you know him now), he gave me some tips and tricks which I used and it worked for me. This is one of the reasons why I’m always big on getting orientation first before anything.

 

Before I do anything each semester, I consult my seniors in the higher level so I don’t go about reading what won’t be of benefit to me.

 

First semester ended, and I had 2 Bs 🥲, I was super pained because the scores were close to 70. But Allah knows best. (Usman had the same result too😂).

 

Second semester, I already knew how the University worked and I stopped attending lectures 😂. 

 

The first reason was when our Mathematics lecturer told us the last time he took the course was 8 years😂 ahhh a whole 8 years. I jejely japa and never attended the Mathematics class again (I knew the course before, so it wasn’t a problem).

 

My second semester result wasn’t as good as the first due to the almighty CHM121 by Prof Fadipe, she can teach ehn but her questions her always technical… It was only her lectures I ensured I didn’t miss because that was the fastest way to pass the course.

 

100 level ended, and my dream of being a serious student was stlll intact until Corona happened.

 

We went on the long corona plus strike break and we resumed to marathon tests and exams.

 

I read like mad but my result wasn’t as mad as my reading😂this was the first point of reconsideration.

 

How could I have read that much and my result will be like this?

 

My parents consoled me and told me it was Allah’s plan and I could still do better (I was still in first class though).

 

Second semester, the same thing happened. I almost cried, but I had to maintain my steeze and composure.

 

My efforts were not reflecting in my results, and I was disturbed and started relenting bit by bit.

 

300l first semester result came out, and I realized that when I put effort and when I don’t put effort, I get the same result. So I started putting in less effort.

 

Maybe I would have had a change of mind, but I saw my friends who put in far more effort than I was putting in, getting grades lesser than mine.

 

The system is rigged I must say. Our set was used as a lab rat, check across departments and you will know what I mean.

 

Once everything became clear to me, I started saving my time and energy, and resulted to reading a night to exam.

 

And guess what? I still got the same result and better results than people putting in more effort than me. (It’s Allah’s favour anyway.)

 

I know everything I’ve written here is an excuse because I still had friends whose efforts paid off but they were very few.

 

These series of events shaped how I saw exams, and I became totally unserious.

 

400/500 level, I attended only classes where attendance was compulsory because I saw no point in what was being taught.

 

I was given a special title 😂, The LONAS President (League of Non-Academic Students). It’s all cruise though.

 

I fell in love with something else and invested my energy there.

 

I don’t hate books, in fact, I read widely and outside the scope of my course.

 

What I dislike is only the system.

 

You don’t have to be like me, and I won’t even advise you to become unserious because…

 

Despite my unseriousness, I still have a good CGPA because I know what to do. Find what works for you and stick with it.

 

I hope you don’t pick the bad lessons in this story, and only focus on the good ones.

 

Till I write you again.

 

Peace Out.

Jafar-Sadiq

The Unserious Undergraduate that is now a Graduate with serious grades😌