For a student like me, mock tests are always the first thing every mentor insists on. I used to dread taking them. Who wants to see a tangible measurement of their inconsistent preparation, right?
But strangely enough, my lowest scores in mock tests ended up becoming my biggest source of confidence.
When I first started taking mocks seriously, my scores weren’t even that bad. But my insatiable perfectionist brain was never satisfied. It kept whispering, Don’t feel good about this; don’t jinx it. I was focusing too much on the numbers and too little on what they actually measured.
Then, one day, I decided to shed my fear of failure, the fear of confronting my shortcomings. I forced myself to take mock tests even when every neuron in my brain screamed, Don’t do it! You’ll crush what little motivation you have left!
But when I adopted a Come what may attitude, I realised
- I’m not bad at biochemistry; I’m bad at enzymatic interactions. Huge difference, right?
- Losing marks on a question I actually knew just because I misread it and marked the wrong option? That’s fixable!
- Spending too much time on tough questions and missing out on easy ones? So solve the easy ones first.
And that’s when it hit me- I had been missing out on so much. I started using mock tests as a beta-testing tool to refine my preparation.
As Gina Linetti says in Brooklyn nine nine, “If you fall down nine times, you gotta reassess your walk, ‘cause something’s wrong.” And she’s right.
Once you’ve scored embarrassingly low and survived, there’s nothing to fear anymore. The worst has already happened, so now, you can start tweaking your strategies.
Instead of chasing perfect scores, I focused on progress. Even a small improvement felt like a victory, and that kept me motivated. I experimented with different revision techniques, question-solving approaches, and time management strategies.
If I had scored well from the start, I might have become complacent. But struggling and overcoming that struggle made me feel more ready for my exams
Mock tests taught me to embrace my mistakes, analyse my weaknesses, and develop a rock-solid plan. Now, every time I take a test, I don’t panic over the score,I just note the areas I need to focus on for the next one.
So Keep pushing, keep improving, and most importantly, keep believing in yourself.
