Learning to accept defeat

NomaDBuddha

Today I had to take my first oral exam at Histlogy (the science that studies cells, for people's understanding), at college. We only had to examine two blood samples, one being a horse blood sample, and another being a bird blood sample, which were placed under two microscopes : one used by the students, and one for research, used by the professor.
Until today, I had like, two weeks to study the types of leukocytes , and how did they look under the microscope. Easy said, easy done. One week ago, I had a little simulation of this oral exam, with three tries, and I had passed them all.
Today, the sh*t hit the fan for me. I had studied for two weeks, knew all the traits for every cell, looked for pictures of those cells on the internet and the laboratory to see more of those cells, and so on, and, at the first microscope ( horse blood sample; microscope used by the students) I could see the cell clearly, and I managed to describe it very well. At the research microscope, things changed : the image was not clear, and a group of cells ( I had to guess and describe some bird thrombocytes) looked like they formed a big cell, with a large and irregular shaped nucleus. I didn't recognize it, and, as my time run out, the professor 'helped' me, asking about how many cells do I see clustered together. By this question, I did realize what I should have said (yeah, oral exam in which I had to write down the description), and I wrote down the traits I had studied for two weeks. At the end the professor gave a me 6/10, by his standards, out of mercy.
My other colleagues received from 7-9/10 points, and few of the took under 7/10 points. Some of them got wrong the description of both cells, or , just like me, failed to recognize one, because the image at the research microscope was bad. Others, I guess , just had a great luck on their side. This being my first exam in college, should have been a good start-up, but turned into a demoralising result. As I had landed on the tax-paying seat at this college, out of bad luck, I vowed to study hard to get good grades and so on, in order to get to the state-funded seats. I studied as hard as I could for this, but, don't know how, I nearly failed it ( 5/10 is for passing the exam ).
Now, on my way home, to comfort myself for a while I thought about that zen story with the chinese man whose horse that escaped the stables and after some time, returned and brought other horses to the stables ( the one with "Maybe yes, maybe not." ). I want to ask you: how should I accept defeats ? How should I not find myself in this situation again ? How can I avoid 'only bad days' months ? And, should I feel bad about my sh*tty performance ?

P.S.: In my school, the grade taken in most oral exams has a contribution to the final grade of the written examination, at the same subject. The professor said, that at this subject, the grade from the oral exam doesn't contribute in any way to the final grade for the written exam. I ask again : should I feel bad about my sh*tty performance ?

compassionate_warrior

I don't know how it is in Romania, but whenever I felt the instructor made a mistake in judging an answer on an exam, or didn't evaluate the exam properly for some reason, I'd talk to the instructor. Could a group of you band together, and talk with the professor about the poor image quality of one of the exam items? At the very least, you might be able to get an agreement from him to provide clearer images in the future. There's strength in numbers.

NomaDBuddha

Well, not quite. The professor is the type of man to whom your arguments don't work, even if they are good. Now, the thing is done, and I have to intensify the training for the other oral exams ( including a second one, more difficult, at histology). Most of the professors in Romania are arrogant, like : " You, who barely started to know what a microscope is, come to tell me, the one who ate this subject every day for forty years that I don't know how to fix a clear image ? ". And, this strenght in numbers doesn't work with this kind of people. If you are loud enough to annoy the professor with your little request , the professor might remember your name, and, at the written exam, he'll have his revenge.
The good part is, that this man had mercy on our amateur souls, and let all of the colleagues from my study group to pass this exam.

possibilities

I think your assessment of your teacher's attitude is correct - I grew up in Europe and agree that it's just different there, regarding social hierarchy.

About your test.... you will do better next time! In hindsight, it might have worked for you, if you had mentioned the poor quality of the sample and continued on with what it most resembled (associated with your studies), and thus through the back door presenting what you had learned. A gamble, but better than appearing like you hadn't bothered to prepare.

College is not only about learning the facts, it is also a preparation for life, and sometimes you need to find a clever way to muddle though and hope for the best outcome.

As for now, Buddhist or not, there's no use crying over spilled milk. Enjoy your evening!

NomaDBuddha

Thank you very much, possibilities ! i know, I 'cried' a bit today, after the exam, but I am relaxing, and from tomorrow I'll be studying for the next week's oral exam.