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> On exam day you are just emotionally devastated looking at the problem not knowing where to start I honestly understand the frustration,but not the "emotiona

> On exam day you are just emotionally devastated looking at the problem not knowing where to start I honestly understand the frustration,but not the "emotionally devasted" part. Emotionally devasted to me means losing someone. When I studied CS I went to the exams knowing very well if I had studied or not and how much, and did not expect anything. The exam was the easiest part, you either know how to solve the problems or don't and walk away If something was out of the scope or "impossible knowledge" I would book a personal appointment with the professor to talk about it. For any too hard to solve exam, there have been more than one that I passed having honestly not spent enough time studying. Luck is an important factor and usually it levels out in the long run. also those kinds of failures teached me to focus on the things I could solve instead of those that I couldn't and eventually go back and give them a second shot. It boosts your confidence and helps look at the problems from a different angle.

smcl 4y ago
Where are you reading "emotionally devastated" - both the Tweet and the title say they were described as "emotionally trying". That said, I can easily see someone going through the stress of the exam period, maybe juggling that with part-time work to pay for bills, studying extensively to the brink of burnout and describing feeling "devastated" when they can't crack a few questions in an important exam they thought they'd studied appropriately.
- peoplefromibiza 4y ago
  > Where are you reading "emotionally devastated" here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34421487 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34421487 On exam day you are just emotionally devastated > describing feeling "devastated" when they can't crack a few questions in an important exam they thought they'd studied appropriately maybe the expectations are too high? You are a student, it's in the name, you don't know stuff because you are learning. Maybe I can't understand what you're talking about because I am not American. School is called school for a reason. Once you finish school you realize how easy school was compared to real life problems, that sometimes have no easy solution or no solution at all, no matter how hard you try. If an exam makes you feel emotionally devasted, what will happen when life throws life/death problems at you? Maybe it's a matter of re-balancing priorities and not putting so much pressure on yourself, life doesn't end for a failed exam. Maybe it's not exams that are too hard, it's the system that is pressuring students to finish as soon as possible, because it costs them so much, that the risk of going bankrupt it's too high, some form of sunk cost fallacy at play. OTOH, in that system, who would pay premium rates for a lesser education where exams are so easy that anybody can pass them? I started working at the age of 19, full time (6 hours a day/ 5days a week), while also studying at university and paying for my bills. I still believe exams where the easiest part of the process, the bureaucracy it's what was killing me. And I feel I have to specify that I am in no way a genius, I was just an average student with a soft spot for CS problems, meaning I liked solving them, not that I had it particularly easy.
  - smcl 4y ago
    Ah why didn't you reply to that comment? This just looks like you're misquoting the tweet thread. > Maybe I can't understand what you're talking about because I am not American. Why are you assuming I'm American? As for the rest, I wouldn't bring this up otherwise but since you went there - I started university at seventeen, worked full time in a pub from when I turned 18 and then had to work two jobs in my final year, I've also suffered close relatives dying and a best friend committing suicide. And yet I can still understand that other people could be in circumstances that really push them to describe being "emotionally devastated" without going through all or even some of that. You're showing a (performative?) lack of empathy here. > the bureaucracy it's what was killing me "If a university bureacracy was killing you then what will happen life throws life/death problems at you?" - see how silly that sounds?
    - peoplefromibiza 4y ago
      > Ah why didn't you reply to that comment? This just looks like you're misquoting the tweet thread. I dind't? I'm sorry I did not notice. can the moderators move it in the right place, please? > Why are you assuming I'm American? Because it's an easy guess here and it's the system the article talks about. > And yet I can still understand that other people could be in circumstances that really push them to describe being "emotionally devastated" I honestly don't. Like I hear people saying they are emotionally devasted when their soccer team loses a match, but that's not what being emotionally devasted is, that's how some people describe it. It's called hyperbole. > "If a university bureacracy was killing you then what will happen life throws life/death problems at you?" - see how silly that sounds? Textbook non sequitur. I feel the same way about bureacracy now. But, if I could, I'd still chose bureacracy over life/death problems every time and also I would keep failing very hard exams if I could, studying like crazy, instead.
crote 4y ago
Exams can have actual consequences. A failed grade might mean you get kicked out of your program, leaving you with literally tens of thousands of debt with nothing to show with it. If your grade is too low you might lose a scholarship, meaning you have to either suddenly come up with a shitton of money or drop out. A failed grade might mean you can no longer pursue the graduate track you have been working towards for years. The entire problem here is that some lecturers have a habit of creating tests for which you can't really study or practice. No matter how much time and effort you put into it, they end up being a coin toss of whether you "see" the answer or not. I have had exams where I spent literally an hour staring at a single question without making any progress. I talked about it with my classmate afterwards, and after only a handful of words I understood exactly how to solve it. If your entire future depends on shit like that, I can totally understand it being "emotionally devastating".

smcl 4y ago

Where are you reading "emotionally devastated" - both the Tweet and the title say they were described as "emotionally trying". That said, I can easily see someone going through the stress of the exam period, maybe juggling that with part-time work to pay for bills, studying extensively to the brink of burnout and describing feeling "devastated" when they can't crack a few questions in an important exam they thought they'd studied appropriately.

peoplefromibiza 4y ago
> Where are you reading "emotionally devastated" here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34421487 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34421487 On exam day you are just emotionally devastated > describing feeling "devastated" when they can't crack a few questions in an important exam they thought they'd studied appropriately maybe the expectations are too high? You are a student, it's in the name, you don't know stuff because you are learning. Maybe I can't understand what you're talking about because I am not American. School is called school for a reason. Once you finish school you realize how easy school was compared to real life problems, that sometimes have no easy solution or no solution at all, no matter how hard you try. If an exam makes you feel emotionally devasted, what will happen when life throws life/death problems at you? Maybe it's a matter of re-balancing priorities and not putting so much pressure on yourself, life doesn't end for a failed exam. Maybe it's not exams that are too hard, it's the system that is pressuring students to finish as soon as possible, because it costs them so much, that the risk of going bankrupt it's too high, some form of sunk cost fallacy at play. OTOH, in that system, who would pay premium rates for a lesser education where exams are so easy that anybody can pass them? I started working at the age of 19, full time (6 hours a day/ 5days a week), while also studying at university and paying for my bills. I still believe exams where the easiest part of the process, the bureaucracy it's what was killing me. And I feel I have to specify that I am in no way a genius, I was just an average student with a soft spot for CS problems, meaning I liked solving them, not that I had it particularly easy.
- smcl 4y ago
  Ah why didn't you reply to that comment? This just looks like you're misquoting the tweet thread. > Maybe I can't understand what you're talking about because I am not American. Why are you assuming I'm American? As for the rest, I wouldn't bring this up otherwise but since you went there - I started university at seventeen, worked full time in a pub from when I turned 18 and then had to work two jobs in my final year, I've also suffered close relatives dying and a best friend committing suicide. And yet I can still understand that other people could be in circumstances that really push them to describe being "emotionally devastated" without going through all or even some of that. You're showing a (performative?) lack of empathy here. > the bureaucracy it's what was killing me "If a university bureacracy was killing you then what will happen life throws life/death problems at you?" - see how silly that sounds?
  - peoplefromibiza 4y ago
    > Ah why didn't you reply to that comment? This just looks like you're misquoting the tweet thread. I dind't? I'm sorry I did not notice. can the moderators move it in the right place, please? > Why are you assuming I'm American? Because it's an easy guess here and it's the system the article talks about. > And yet I can still understand that other people could be in circumstances that really push them to describe being "emotionally devastated" I honestly don't. Like I hear people saying they are emotionally devasted when their soccer team loses a match, but that's not what being emotionally devasted is, that's how some people describe it. It's called hyperbole. > "If a university bureacracy was killing you then what will happen life throws life/death problems at you?" - see how silly that sounds? Textbook non sequitur. I feel the same way about bureacracy now. But, if I could, I'd still chose bureacracy over life/death problems every time and also I would keep failing very hard exams if I could, studying like crazy, instead.

crote 4y ago

Exams can have actual consequences. A failed grade might mean you get kicked out of your program, leaving you with literally tens of thousands of debt with nothing to show with it. If your grade is too low you might lose a scholarship, meaning you have to either suddenly come up with a shitton of money or drop out. A failed grade might mean you can no longer pursue the graduate track you have been working towards for years. The entire problem here is that some lecturers have a habit of creating tests for which you can't really study or practice. No matter how much time and effort you put into it, they end up being a coin toss of whether you "see" the answer or not. I have had exams where I spent literally an hour staring at a single question without making any progress. I talked about it with my classmate afterwards, and after only a handful of words I understood exactly how to solve it. If your entire future depends on shit like that, I can totally understand it being "emotionally devastating".