The Lesson.

I wrote two FGC exams,one in 2019,and the other in 2020.As a child who was mostly homeschooled,it was my first time writing an exam at national level. This is how the FGC exam in 2019 went:

It was a Saturday morning and there was sanitation. The exam as stated,was to begin at 7:30.a.m, so we left the house at 7:00a.m to catch up with the time. Unfortunately, the exam didn't hold until 11:00a.m so we had to wait. While we were waiting, my mother gave me some advice on what to do in the exam hall(it was my first time).She said"Skip the questions that seem hard, do the easy ones,then go back to the ones you skipped. It will help you not to waste your time. When you are done,if there is still time left, crosscheck your work as there may be some mistakes."One of my friends was also writing the same exam and so I got excited. I knew we were going to sit together because she had her name registered right after I had my name registered. After that, the roll call was made to see if we were all present. We entered the hall and went to our seats,and I was nervous. We were given question papers followed by the answer sheets.

The examination commenced,and my extreme nervousness caused me to be in a big rush. I was in a hurry to submit my answer sheet.I did my English well but my math and verbal aptitude wasn't very good,and,to add fuel to that, I skipped halfway through my quantitative aptitude.I was busy chatting with my friend.I did what I could, but I didn't realize time would be up and it caught me unaware.

We went out of the hall,my mother asked me to tell her about how the exam went,as any other parent would. I somewhat dropped the bad stuff and told her only the good stuff.

After three weeks,my mother went shopping and picked up the result on her way back. She came in dead nonchalant and asked me to check my result,I opened it and read. My mark was 109. I felt bad,really bad. My father told me it was okay, that I could go next year.  I felt bad for not following my mother's advice.  From that day on,  I learnt three lessons:

When you get advice, value it.

When you have goal,reach it without distraction.

Be confident in your abilities.

As-Salaam.

 The Perfection and Giver of Peace,

He is perfect, 

and never has any defect.

He gives safety and security,

 with peace and tranquility,

To those whose purity,

Is walking towards His own.

And look,at the seeds they have down,

The seeds have grown and grown,

But His purity is the best of all.

The land of limitless possibilities

 Nigeria, my country,

I love you, all and sundry,

With all your flaws,pride and beauty,

Protecting you is my duty.

A very long river ends on your ground,

The River Niger, going homeward bound.

Your rich human capital, walking around undiscovered.

With skills and creativity, waiting to be harnessed.

Have you, the second largest city in Africa,

Lagos, your largest city but farther,

From your capital, Abuja,

Your important city.

Everyday I get up I pray,

That you get better, come what may,

A land of unlimited possibilities

Waiting to be discovered,

Happy Independence Day ,Nigeria 

*Nigeria at 60 #

The exam.

 There was a lot of tension in the air.

The exam day was finally here.

Tens of students were there that day,

For an exam to do, and a result for which to pray.

They sat us all down in the hall,

And handed question papers to us all,

They wished us all the best of luck,

But my head seemed all in muck.

I sat all prepared at my table,

Ready to do all I was able.

I was delighted when I lifted the first page,

I knew in this exam I wanted to engage.

I said my du'a before I started,

Then towards the answer sheet, my pencil darted,

I didn't want to get B or C,

It was just straight A's I wanted to see.

An hour had gone.

Two students were already done.

They said their work they have checked.

It was said to them "Cross-check".

My work was done at an hour and a quarter.

The former was tricky and quick was the latter.

When I finished, I remembered to cross-check.

I made sure all I had chosen were checked.

At the end two hours was the ring of the bell.

I wanted everything to go perfectly well.

We're allowed to take with us our question papers.

So I wrote my answers on it and took it home for later.

I came back home feeling very confident.

But I don't know where all the happiness went.

When I found out that some answers weren't correct.

I was unhappy that it wasn't perfect.

For a few hours, I was in pain,

With my effort all in vain 

Even though some answers were wrong,

I couldn't stay sad for long.

What we calculated was a B,

But somehow I knew it didn't define me

I'll study harder anyway,

Until I get my straight A's.

Hidden importance

She wandered into her land of isolation in desperate plight.

Her efforts were of no use,

But finally she began to see the light,

And to give in to failure, she would refuse.

She didn't pay attention to the things that were actually sane.

At the end of the day,

She treated it with disdain,

Now she had to walk away in dismay.

She knew she had to act fast,

And pay attention to the main thing,

Or else that fixing wouldn't last.

Now definitely this main thing is the king.

Of course on that same stone, she wouldn't dare trip,

And break the last part of that relationship.