So I screwed up.

It was like a disaster movie that played out in an exam room on one desk - my desk.

The first final exam of the semester was today - Marketing 101 - and it really blows that I made Exam Error 101 too! I ran out of time.

There were 3 sections - Sections A, B and C. Section A is worth 40% of the exam and is this biggie essay question - you know it's going to be a combination of virtually every topic in the syllabus - and you're somehow supposed to work it all into a 4-6 page essay. Section B (20%) is a shorter essay, 2-4 pages on a research application question. Section C (40%) is made up of 4 short essay questions that test your knowledge about specific marketing concepts.

So I started off with the easiest one - Section C. Here, I made my first mistake when I spent too long on the first question. Which led to a domino effect in finishing the next 3 questions behind time as well. And at the last question in Section C, I couldn't recall a fourth concept I needed to finish my answer. I spent a minute - or two minutes - wracking my brain for it. But I was drawing blanks. I should've just let it go.

And I had wasted time. At that time, of course, I thought it was just a couple of minutes. Why should a couple of minutes matter in a two-hour exam, right?

"It's okay, don't worry," I thought to myself. "Make up for the time in Section B."

I basically had over an hour left to do Sections A and B. So I thought I was safe - no way I could run out of time. If the exam was set that way, it had to mean there was a reasonable amount of time for everything!

I did Section B in a little over 20 minutes - what I thought was "right on time". But I looked at the clock. It couldn't be - I had less than 40 minutes left to write Section A? The 4-6 page answer? Really?!

It was like a UFO came and stole 15 minutes of my life away. I'll probably wake up tomorrow morning being able to speak Martian. (Which will be something I would need to add to my resume after my GPA takes a hit with these Marketing grades.)

So I embarked, bravely as I could, on Section A. "Maybe I can write 4 pages in the time left. Maybe it's not so bad," I thought.

I thought wrong. With 15 minutes left, I was just starting the second part of the question. My hands were shaking so badly from the realisation that I wasn't going to be able to finish the paper. I didn't have a chance of making it! But maybe a minute is pretty long - there are 60 seconds in a minute, I had to be able to write enough words in 60 seconds!

10 minutes left. In the second part. 5 minutes left. Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit!
Two minutes left. It's okay, you can write the point forms! Come on!!! Come on, Sha-Lene!!!

"Please put your pens down."

HUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA :'( It's 2 minutes already?!?!

I couldn't even get the point forms down for the entire chunk about segmentation, targeting and positioning! I wrote "1 2 3 4 5 6 and 1 - identify bases for segmentation" and the invigilator was collecting papers! :( Literally all I wrote were the NUMBERS, for which the only number I'll get in return is ZERO.

Just as the expression on my face was probably white and shell-shocked, I saw a girl sitting across from me with her eyes and nose red and tears brimming at her eyes. And there was a boy sitting in front with his mouth wide open - I knew what he was thinking! "Time's up already??!?! OMG!"

And the exam is a hurdle requirement! Which means you need to pass the exam in order to pass the unit, even if your overall marks are a better grade! :(

But of course, of course, not everyone sucked so badly at time management. Dude on the left looked plenty relaxed. Dude on the right looked like he'd written enough to publish his own marketing textbook. One dude even left one hour before the exam ended!

At this point, I need a miracle to pass my Marketing exam. And it really bums me out, because I liked Marketing 101 so much! I adored the lecturer, tutor, and the subject material. I had all the answers in my head - I just couldn't get it down on to the paper :( It's just depressing. Even worse are the possible consequences of my actions - or lack of action.