After years of futile attempts to gain admission into the university, Alfred decided to give up and try something new after his last attempt. This time he put a lot of effort into preparation for the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board examination. This examination is compulsory in the country if you wish to continue your education at higher institutions. A good score improves your chances of being admitted to your university of choice. But Alfred seems to be unlucky each year even after scoring above the cutoff mark for admission.
He would have been offered admission if he had applied to a university located in his state or within his political region of the country. The university and course he applied to were competitive, and also his state of origin is outside the University’s catchment area. So his chances at admission have been slim from day one. That is his dream university and he wasn’t willing to give up on that dream yet.
“This time, I will be offered admission”. He often muttered to himself as he prepared for the examination.
His plan this time is to score way above the cutoff mark, a mark that will ensure his name on the first list of admission.
“Alfred, You Gon’ Learn time management and how to be calm and composed during the examination”. He thought to himself.
He always feels nervous in the examination hall, which affects his ability to concentrate. In the end, the time will run out with some questions unanswered. Even at that, he still scores high. So being able to answer all the questions in time would do him some good. This he had to work on and he did.
Fast forward to the examination date.
He was assigned to take his examination by 11 am. His Stepdad drove him to the examination venue.
“That fear and nervousness that disturbs your performance during the examination, try to Lock It Up and you will excel. Farewell, my son.” His stepdad said before he drove off to work.
At 10 am, they signed in to the examination hall. His seat number was 213. He located it in no time, as the numbers were boldly written on the seats. Within minutes all candidates were seated, and they still had 15 minutes to the start of the examination. He took that time to put his feelings in check. He also used the convenience to ease himself. Now he is confident and ready for the exam to begin.
“You can start now”. The supervisor shouted.
He entered his registration number in the space provided and commenced the exam. The first few questions couldn’t have been any easier. Within 10 minutes, he has already answered 30 questions. He was impressed. In the previous examinations, he would have answered just 15 to 20 questions within the same time.
But it seemed someone somewhere wasn’t happy at his good pace. At a point, his computer started to lag, it took a few moments than usual to highlight the selected answer. Though the system resumed its usual pace, it left him with a strong feeling that something unpleasant is about to happen. His Premonition came true.
First, the monitor of the system turned off. I forgot to mention that it was a computer-based test. He signalled the technical officer, who checked and realized that the monitor’s power cable has damaged. He replaced it with a new one. Time wasted.
Like that wasn’t enough, minutes later, the mouse stopped working. He looked around but the technical officer wasn’t in sight, so he signalled to one of the invigilators.
“What is the problem”, the invigilator asked.
“My mouse stopped working”, Alfred responded.
“There is nothing I can do for you, try using the keyboard”.
Alfred was more comfortable using the mouse. He tried using the keyboard, but it slowed down his work, and he doesn’t have all day.
Though he could have helped Alfred fix the problem, the Unaccommodating invigilator, refused to be helpful.
Luckily for Alfred, a couple of minutes later, the technical officer walked by and he laid his complaint. In no time, the man returned with a new mouse and replaced the faulty one. Alfred thanked him and happily continued at an increased pace to manage the time left to answer the remaining question. He finished before time and cross-checked his answers. He clicked the submit button when he was satisfied with his work and quietly left the examination hall.
With the challenges he finished on time, there will be No Regrets.
This time, he was offered admission.
A few weeks later he was already on a bus to school. They were entertained with food, drinks and movies. The first movie was Godzilla. He didn’t watch the subsequent movies, he preferred to list to his favourite rap album, Music to be Murdered by Eminem. He selected his favourite tracks. He started with Yah Yah, followed by Little Engine and Leaving Heaven.
Their bus broke down on the road. They had to stop to fix the problem. It wasn’t a quick fix as the mechanic had to travel to the nearest town which was about an hour from where the bus was. Everyone waited patiently. Alfred took that opportunity to have a shit. He walked In Too Deep the nearest bush and did his business close to a Marsh.
After some hours the bus was repaired and they continued their journey.
Darkness caught up with them and he hates travelling at night. He remembered the tales of accidents and robberies during night journeys. But this was not Those Kinda Nights, as they arrived at their destination safely. He slept at the park and left for school in the morning.
Today, Alfred is a 200 level law student with a couple of years to graduation.
This article was inspired by the prompt given by @meitanteikudo. I knew about this prompt after reading @Eybyoung post that was also inspired by the same prompt.
The prompt is about writing an article using the tracks/songs of one of your favourite artists. And I choose to use the tracks of the album "Music to be Murdered by" Eminem.
I couldn't think of a good title for this article so I went with the title of the album.
Are you a Nigerian, the tune of your writing seems so to me. If you are, I have something that might be of help to you here.