Shengliver’s Note: The exam overstresses the teen writer.

These days, I feel listless. I eat as usual, but I have become thinner. I shed some weight.

Nowadays losing weight is a growing trend among the general public. Everyone seems to be keen on slimming down. However, I am terrified. I suspect that my health is deteriorating. When I was younger in primary school, I was in perfect shape. I could kick off a cold and bounce back quickly. Now I can’t. A common cold seems to be lingering forever. And I often feel lethargic in the morning. Staying alert in the classroom is quite a struggle.

A few days ago, we went through the medical check-up designated for graduating students at the People’s Hospital. Luckily the report states that I am normal every way. However, I cannot figure out why I am still feeling so miserable, day in day out. Am I under too much pressure? Yes, my parents always cheer me up when I am distressed. I try to comfort myself too sometimes.

To be honest, I find it impossible to push the exam out of my thought. It looms so large at the back of my mind that I am haunted awake or asleep. Nightmares often rouse me at night where I am trying desperately to finish a paper with the last few minutes ticking away. I really hope that I will be able to put an end to this wretched existence of mine once and for all, by passing the final exam and thus making it to a good uni this autumn. To achieve the grand goal, I stay up almost every night to study more.

The world is cruel and the competition ruthless. It is a fact that not everyone can achieve their dream. I can’t change the way the system runs, so I am trying my best to be one of the lucky few who can make their dreams come true through the big exam.

It is now or never.