Article September 22, 1986 Issue

Taking the fear out of exams

WENDY ANN SPOOR

Test-taking is an inevitable part of being a student. And often not the most enjoyable part! But there is a way to feel more confident about taking examinations. It involves turning to God in prayer, finding direction in a source infinitely greater than the limited human mind. That source is God, the one divine Mind.

God is all-comprehensive Mind, for the creator of an infinite universe must know and embrace all right ideas. And this Mind continuously supplies its child, man, with wisdom. God is the infinite source of intelligence, to which we always have access through prayer. This prayer, however, is not a petition to God for a good grade or even for just a passing grade. It is humbly striving to know and demonstrate that man is not a physical mortal, struggling alone with an inadequate human brain, but that man is really God's child, the idea of Mind, inseparable from Him. Man has, therefore, all the wisdom he needs. Our conviction of this great fact grows step by step as we humbly trust in God to guide us in all that we do.

Of course in our human education we don't eliminate the proper study and preparation for exams. Study is an essential activity for any student. But our prayer can help us change our attitude about studying from perhaps seeing it as a boring, difficult, or even fearsome task to viewing it as an opportunity to express God-derived qualities such as patience, thoroughness, and insight. So we can study more intelligently and with greater confidence, listening to God every step of the way, knowing that we are not so much acquiring knowledge as expressing more fully the eternal wisdom of God.

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