Once they are here, any student at Erasmus University will say the same thing: “Don’t have time, I’m trapped in the library until next week due to exams.” Yes, exam periods are without a doubt some of the most stressful weeks for any student. With pressure mounting and the student’s desire to perform well, exams should be prioritised.

Last week I found myself in a situation most students will be able to relate to. I walked into the infamous M Building, waited for my student ID number to show on the screen, slowly dragged my feet along the long aisle of desks and waited impatiently for my exam to start.

As if taking an exam wasn’t daunting enough, dealing with the oddly familiar exam dilemmas can surely shatter the confidence of even the most well studied and prepared student. To be precise, there are three exam dilemmas that haunt me days after my exams.

Seriously, why do there have to be questions with two extremely similar answer options only rephrased by changing one or two words? This is obviously a common scheme used by numerous teachers to genuinely test the student knowledge. To a certain extent, these questions are justified.

But then, why do I sometimes look at my answer sheet and find I’ve filled in option C seven times in a row? Did the exam creator decide to have C as the answer to most questions, or do I have a strange fixation for the letter C? I really doubt I’d have a fixation for a letter.

By this point, I’ve been hit with a jab and hook straight into my exam confidence, but wait, there’s more! I then notice the most blasphemous question form being hurled directly at me: the infamous question with none of the above as an answer option. I may be 100% sure that the correct answer is there among the first three options, but once I’ve read the last option with neither of the above, my confidence is shattered into fragments. Pure, pure exam evil.

After the exam, I do feel relieved since I’ve achieved another important step towards my eventually completing my bachelor. But soon, paranoid thoughts infest my mind: what if I my results are bad, awful or completely atrocious?

Maybe, just maybe, it could be neither of the above…

Pietro Vigilanza (20) from Venezuela lives in Rotterdam since two years and studies IBCoM