It is exam time for the upper school.  I wonder, have you ever met anybody who enjoys exams?  I suspect probably not; and if so, chances are they are a gifted student who expects to ace all the tests.

But this attitude is not really about exams; it is about grades.  It regards the purpose of exams as a score or a mark, and the failure to get the desired grade as, well, a failure.  It is the mindset that would rather know nothing but guess at the answers and get 100%, than to truly know a great deal, and receive an 85%.  If this is your approach, let me encourage you to think differently.

The word exam or examination comes from the Latin word examinare, meaning to weigh, to ponder or consider.  And the purpose of an examination is itself to learn something—not particularly for you to learn the course material, which you should have done by exam time, but for you and your teacher to learn…how well you’ve learned it.  And that is worth knowing, whether the grade ends up high or low. 

Why?  Well, for starters, because wisdom begins in knowing what you do not know.  So, do your best today and tomorrow—not because it will get you a good grade, but because it will get you an accurate grade.  And that is a valuable step toward wisdom.

Have a wonderful day.