"I’ve got this." That’s what Daniel always told himself.
He was that student—smart, quick, and always in the top five of his class. Teachers loved him, classmates wished they were him, and his parents joked he hardly had to study since he had a "photographic brain."
So, when exam week rolled around, Daniel wasn’t like his friends who were freaking out. While they were busy making notes and asking questions, he brushed them off. "I’ll cram the night before," he said with a grin, "That’s when my brain works best."
And that’s exactly what he did.
The night before his toughest exam—Math—Daniel brewed some coffee, grabbed his books, and locked himself away. He crammed formulas, theorems, and old questions from 7 PM to 3 AM. He squeezed in just two hours of light sleep before morning hit.
That was his mistake.
As he sat in the exam hall feeling confident, everything changed when the question paper landed on his desk. His eyes skimmed the questions, but nothing made sense. His brain felt foggy. He tried recalling what he had studied, but everything was a blur. Heart racing, hands shaking, after only answering two questions, he could barely keep his eyes open. And just like that, Daniel dozed off in the exam hall.
When time was up, he’d written less than half of what he knew. He’d studied, sure, but he wasn’t ready.
So, what went wrong?
Daniel messed up like a lot of smart students do: he didn’t realize how stress, tiredness, and poor planning could hurt him. Being brainy doesn’t mean you’re invincible. Even the sharpest minds need some structure, rest, and balance to do their best.
By: Babatunde Moses.
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