Exam help!

[ann]

I'm sitting a university exam in a week's time (first exam in 23 years - ugh!). I asked the I Ching today what do I have to do to get a good result. (The revision period has been fraught with ill health and other stresses, so I'm not in quite the position I'd like to be by now).

The answer was 30, changes in lines 1,4, 6 to 15.

I think I'm being told to keep going, but reduce the amount I'm trying to cover, and not to do too much, which would be overkill. (And that would make perfect sense to me) Do you think I'm right? It's just that after the pigs and fishes discussion, I'm a little wary of images like 'looking after the cow'. I take the crossing feet to be the different ways we may have to 'dish up' the information in the exam. Or maybe me coming at the revision from different angles.

Killing the leaders and taking captive the followers seems a little extreme, and I'm not sure how to interpret that.

I'd be very grateful for anyone's thoughts.

Thank you

 

[lenardthefast]

Hi Ann,
When perusing your results in a R.L. Wing translation I get the impression that perhaps you are giving too much concentration on the outcome and that its time to relax a bit, and just contemplate your studies as a whole instead of focusing on the test. Also, he mentions synergy as being most helpful. Perhaps, you have a fellow student that you can discuss the course with and gain insight from their perceptions. There is also mention of exhaustion due to over-zealous concentration. As for line 6 he states"It is up to you to penetrate to the source of trouble in the situation and eradicate it. Act with moderation, however, in dealing with others who may have been duped into wrong thinking. Once the major problem is out of the way, order will reign."
Wishing you success on both counts, the test and the avoidance of exhaustion.

Namaste,
Leonard

 

[hilary]

Hello Ann,

While I don't pretend to understand why you would want to let yourself in for university exams, I do remember what it's like (and why I swore I'd never take another one

)...

Hexagram 30, the one that might be translated as 'Clarity', could actually be the one I most often have difficulties with (spot the irony...) Maybe here it should be called 'intelligence and lucidity', and it refers to keeping the mind bright.

The cow is another much-interpreted animal - I have two suggestions here. An old one of mine first: that all the shining of civilisation and culture depend on the farmer's docile cow, just as flames depend on fuel. Moral for the examinee: remember to eat and sleep. I have seen people (who may well have revised until they knew everything) fall asleep, or pass out from lack of food and levels of stress, in the exam room.

Another idea for the cow (a new one today!): her dark, mysterious inner space brings forth new life just when needed! Perhaps she represents the subconscious mind that sustains consciousness. Care for it with images of calmly responding to lovely agreeable questions, and trust it to give birth at the critical moment

Look after your inner cow, and she will look after you!

About those lines...
Line 1: caution, and respect for the process! Maybe respect also for the workings of your own mind and its capacity to find the way through a mass of data.
LiSe has an excellent insight here (surprise!): your footsteps may go a little sideways, but respect the fact that you're making progress. No-one has to be perfect.

Line 4: as Leonard implied, burnout! Keep the fuel available.

Line 6: Here I think Alfred Huang's interpretation is very helpful. He says it's about dealing with the main issue and letting the subsidiary ones take care of themselves. This sounds like very good advice for last-minute revision: go over the essential 'headers' and trust your mind to be able to fill in the details as they 'follow' on. It's also good advice for planning essays under exam conditions, if you have any of that to do. (Oh ye gods, how it all comes back...)

There is another interpretation of lines 4 and 6 that's worth considering, especially in the light of Hexagram 15. It advocates realism, and in my case I've often found it means 'don't over-dramatise; it's possible that the future of the known universe does not rest on your shoulders'. I'm sure you're a lot less likely to do this than the average student, who has an understandable tendency to confuse Finals with the Apocalypse. Maybe the whole course, revision, exams and all, is only a 'follower' and not the essential at all?

 

[hilary]

P.S. GOOD LUCK!!!

 

[ann]

I am sitting here laughing aloud! Possibly because of the little green man dancing on my screen (thank you Hilary!).

Here's why:

I don't know why I'm doing it again either Hilary - I swore I'd never sit another exam 23 years ago after I did my last degree (which I did pass, quite well!)

But .. it feels very strongly the right thing to do. It has had a terrific effect on my day job, influencing what and how I teach, and with perfect timing.

And.. I keep having a very strong feeling of 'don't worry, you'll be able to do it on the day' And you're right, at my ripe old age I don't confuse finals with the Apocalypse!

Leonard, today I went to a 'revision seminar' where one tutor failed to arrive (!) It was exactly the situation you describe: being with likeminded others, BUT my friend and I felt we were being led astray as well by rather inexperienced lecturers (that's the downside of being a mature student - you see the enthusiasm of youth!)

Thank you both so much for your insights and good wishes. I'm going to stick with my original game plan (startlingly similar to what Hilary describes) and never mind the outcome! I have been persevering with the I Ching and recently am finding that it's speaking 'plainer', though I don't pretend to understand it all the time.

Thanks again, and with great gratitude
Ann