The Test

Grade five can be a big year for an eleven year old. You are into double digits in years and the teenage years are in reach. Grade seven is not as far away as it used to be. For a young boy, grade five became a defining moment in his childhood.

I found grade four quite challenging. There was so much to do with friends that schoolwork became more of a distraction. My teacher and my mom seemed to be meeting more than previous grades. I found it hard to focus on what my teacher was doing at the front of the classroom. I remember towards the end of the year being particularly harder.

My grade four classroom was unique. It was in a separate building from the main school. We called it “The Portable”. The warm weather brought sunny afternoons and visits from various bugs. I was quite terrified of bees at this age. There must have been a nest nearby because it seemed like most days a bee was flying around the classroom. My attention would fixate on the buzzing bee. I had to keep an eye on it to ensure that it didn’t land on me and sting me.

The bees and other things held my attention for much of his grade four school year. My mom seemed to become more and more concerned about me. I wasn’t sure why, I didn’t think that there was anything wrong other than that I was having to avoid being stung by a bee almost everyday. Eventually, I survived the bees and moved on to grade five the following.

The challenges didn’t end in grade five. After a few tests, my mom became more and more involved with his schoolwork. I had a social studies test that was coming up and my mom made me study everyday after school. I wasn’t very impressed. The last thing I wanted to do when I got home from school was sit at the kitchen table and study social studies. I was so bored after school and he put up a fight for the first week. My mom wouldn’t have it and she pushed harder for me to read my textbook with her.

All this hard work did paid off. My test day came and I couldn’t believe the number of answers that I knew. I wasn’t the smartest kid in the class and I was the first person done the test. My teacher seemed very surprised and asked me to take a few more minutes to make sure that I had answered all the questions.

A week later, my teacher handed back the social studies test. I couldn’t believe it. The test was out of fifty marks and I only got three wrong. I couldn’t hold back my smile. I remembered how my mom had helped me everyday to make sure I did well.

I raced home to show my mom my mark. She was so proud of me. I felt so grateful to her. She really wasn’t been mean to me after school, she was showed me how easy it was to study for a test if I put my mind to it.

I never forgot this lesson my mom taught me and I continued these study habits as I continued in school.

I have some questions to complete based on what you have read in this article to start getting the thing between your ears working for you. I encourage you to open a blank email, word processing document or get out an old fashion piece of paper and spend some time on your own personal development.

Now let’s strengthen that thing between your ears.

1. What was the real test in this story?

2. What tests have you experienced in your life that relate to this story?

3. Are there any tests in your life right now that come to mind from this story?

4. If two weeks from now you had to write a test, what has this story taught you to ensure you will do well? What does doing well on the test mean to you?

Tests are not something that we enjoy doing. There was one test that I took that taught me more than the related subject. My bad studying habits were replaced with a life lesson.

BetweenYourEars.ca is a website created to help others strengthen that thing between their ears, their mind. If you liked this article, you should register for the ten day "100% of Reaching Your Goals is Between Your Ears" eCourse at http://www.BetweenYourEars.ca/ecourse.html.

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