Dear kids who are taking the board exams this year...

It’s that time of the year when we see harassed school kids and even more harassed parents awaiting a landmark event in their lives the board exams.  This is a short post to these kids.

Dear Kids, please pause for a moment and remember:

-          The marks that you get in your exam are just  numbers and do not define you

-          The marks do not give any indication of how good you are, maybe it tells who has got the better memory

-        The marks are not the best guide for your study or your career choices, meaning just because you scored higher is no reason for you to take pure science not matter what schools may think. If you are still not convinced remember the cut off for B Com in some of the top colleges in the city are a dizzying 98/99%. So if you think that Commerce is the easier option for those outside the 90's bracket think again!!!!

-        In the end the class X report card does not serve any other useful purpose than being the first authentic government issues age proof, with Aadhar coming in maybe it  might lose that status

-          Class XII students have the dilemma of the way ahead and even for them their marks do not define their college or career choices. I know a pure sciences student who decided to go for CA and top the exams in her first attempt. She then went into law!!!!

-        The college degree also does not define the career choices or the kind of jobs you may end up doing, many have changed courses midway or afterwards, though engineers seem to be able to make this shift easier. I studied computer science, then business administration with a marketing focus and now into the BFSI space with my computer skills restricted to MS Office!

-       There is no correct time when you will know what you want to do in life with respect to your career, these board exams may not even be the turning points. Many still are unsure few years into work.

In the end they are just exams, one of so many that you have cleared in your school lives and the marks are just numbers that hide much more than they reveal.

The key is to space out the studies to avoid excessive pressure in the last few days, take adequate breaks, chill out and face them knowing that they do not define you. Let not these two years be ones that pass by in a blur where you gained nothing more than just these marks.

Dear Parents, 

Love your kids, support them, encourage them and above all believe in them. They have enough pressure on themselves already adding to it may not work at all times. If your kids forget to take a break give them one. You know your kids best and you know that these numbers do not describe your kids.