Peer pressure

I'm typing this right after my final outing of the year, a relaxing one, with my classmates right after our final exam paper. Phew! Been overusing my brain for at least 8 days; revising and in deep thought for 10-12hours per day. 

Right, peer pressure. Which kind? 

Back in my Diploma days, or even secondary school, I had been easy on myself in studies. As my parents never pressure me and I was rather laid back, I didn't put much effort into getting a distinction for any subjects I took. To me, exam papers were just, papers. What is it going to do with my life? I can live even without straight distinction. SPM, for example, is just an entry requirement to reputable government university or to help you in applying scholarships. Diploma? I can retake the subject if I failed. I just need to put a little bit effort to graduate within the planned period.It is that simple.

However, life changed a lot once I entered a different university to pursue Degree. Being engulfed within my cloud of intelligent yet playful friends, I learned a few things; Pay attention in class, think in logical ways, and score as high as possible. Believe it or not, among this group, I am the only one that did not get in Dean's list before. They, on the other hand, got into Dean's list (GPA 3.5) and President's list (GPA 4.0) almost on semester basis (I was about to say daily, LOL). Even in this semester, one of my friend are confirmed to be in the President's list while a few of them, realised that they made tiny mistake, will have to settle for Dean's list.

Have you ever been this high-expectation in your studies? Seeing them being this hardworking (during examination period, who don't?), I had to break my laziness and studied together with them. I understood now, it is a sense of achievement within each person. Some may be satisfied with mere passing marks, but to some, not getting an A (or A+) is a kind of insult to themselves. We even joked among ourselves, "What, your passing mark is 70 is it?" This semester marks the first time ever, me, studying without sleeping, for extended hours. It was also the first time I, along with few others, studied till shouting, dizzy, headache and some of them even vomited. Mental~

Now I understand why people gone crazy when studying. Or die of hunger. Or faint. Or... what?

Anyway, this may be a good peer pressure. I hope I do get into Dean's list someday, that's my aim. For this semester, though I did aim to get straight A's, it is not enough as I realised I failed to do so. Hope my brain gets extra kick next time to be in-shape for it!

Ciao!