It's been some time since I last posted here but suffice to say, I'm in the midst of my examinations with one more left to go on Thursday (yay!!!). But four amazing things happened to me during and after the statistics exam I took today. They are facts/ lessons that cannot be any further emphasised but only that God is not only sovereign, but also He is good beyond all human measure.
Firstly, I came into the examination hall without an eraser knowing full well that there will be an MCQ section where I was required to shade my answer in the OAS (optical answer sheet, amazing how I can still remember this kinda crap). So I kinda panicked for a while, and was even contemplating asking my 'neighbours' around me to break their eraser for me. Little did I know that just at the top right hand corner of my desk, there laid an eraser. It was small, but usable; but it was more than enough for me. AWESOME ONE.
Secondly, I had to do a rather basic question on frequency distribution tables and the calculation of mean, median and mode but couldn't remember the exact format of the table. There were also times where I couldn't calculate the standard deviation and thus the variance cause I was confused over which was the sample size. Technicalities aside, suffice to say I completed the question at the first attempt but was full of doubts inside even upon completion of the paper. After finishing the paper, I remember leaning back against the back of my chair and took a deep breath. Then I prayed; I told God that I was going to check through my paper again and thus asked Him to direct my attention to the places where there were mistakes. After prayer, I went straight to the question on frequency distribution. After much contemplation, I changed my choice of sample size and arrived at a completely different answer. After the end of the paper, I checked the answer with my friends and thank God, my changed answer was the right one. AWESOME TWO.
Thirdly, there was another question which I was rather confident when doing. I was pretty sure of the answers as well. But in the dying few minutes of the paper, I had the urge to calculate the values in the table again. It was a 6 X 4 table so I did take a considerable amount of time for calculation. Just when I thought I was done, I found a calculation mistake in the last cell of the table. Thinking I must have punched in the wrong numbers into the calculator, I calculated and re-calculated the values again. I was wrong. So I looked at the clock and realised I had five minutes left before the end of the paper, thus the decision to change the answers. AWESOME THREE.
Fourthly, (actually this 'reflection' took place after the paper) I saw God's sovereign hand at work through this paper. You see, my lecture group is huge so there was a need to split the group into two -- one taken by a Chinese prof and another taken by an Indian prof. I wanted the Friday's slot cause it would fit perfectly well into my timetable. But because I was in Turkey during the course registration period, I was unable to get the Friday's lecture slot. Instead I got the Thursday's one, with the Indian prof as my lecturer. I wouldn't go as far as to say that he sucks big time cause honestly I did learn something. But he really wasn't the most entertaining, or the best lecturer one could have. But having said all this, the exam comprised of an MCQ section (30 questions) that took up 45%. What amazed me was the number of questions that I have seen before in my tutorials and lecture notes. During the course of the exam, I was telling myself how simple this MCQ was and was wondering how the bell curve was going to work out since everyone will get pretty high marks for this sections. Little did I know, the other lecture group taken by the Chinese prof did not know how to do most of the questions because they have never seen such questions before. God is ultimately sovereign over all things. AWESOME FOUR.
I'm writing this the day after my stats paper because upon reaching home, I crashed on the bed. Why the fatigue? Cause I couldn't sleep well the night before the exam, tossing and turning in my bed. Suffice to say, I woke up early with enough time to read two psalms and a sermon by Spurgeon on Jesus's prayer for the elect. What a joy to begin the day with Christ and have it end with Him too! He is sovereign and AWESOMELY AWESOME.
For of Him and through Him and to Him be glory forever. Amen!
