College in the Netherlands is seriously different than college in the States. You take two classes at a time, only have to actually show up once or twice a week, and are expected to really learn everything on your own from a book and lecture and be prepared to take a final. No frills, no babying, just a test.
When I started school here I was super jazzed about this system. I mean, I literally sleep more than I ever have before, I only have to actually get dressed two days a week for class, and I have time to do so many other things (like working out and yoga and things) ( okay but mostly bike rides and drinking wine).
I was keeping up with the lectures enough, doing well in workgroups, and completing every assignment. I felt like I barely even had to study because I understood the material well. Well, then test day came. I opened the test and had the immediate "oh s*it" moment where you realize your entire life might be eaten by this exam.
How it works here is that school is on a 1-10 scale. 5.5 being passing, and below being a fail. The tests are not designed for everyone to pass, so a 10 is generally impossible. The majority of students receive a 5.5-7. A 7.7 is an "A" in the State's conversion.
The funny thing is though, there are resits. I literally could walk in and look at the exam, leave, and retake it in a month. But because I had scored too highly on the workgroups and weekly assignments, I could not resit no matter how I did on the exam. So I had to push forward. I WAS SO PREPARED, I thought, so I took the exam.
I received my score right away and originally counted 10 wrong answers.. meaning I did pretty well. The funny thing was that I was looking at the wrong test # booklet, and I actually missed 16. I wish I was wrong, but I am positive of the test booklet I had, and actually scored less on this one. This meant I passed by ONE point. Now, for every Dutch student, they would be wiping the sweat off their brow because they passed. But in America your GPA generally decides your fate in collegetown so I had a small freak out. So now not only had I done just well enough to not resit, I would also have a big fat C on my transcript.
Life moves on and this is a small blow, but I have learned a lot in studying and I think this will help me in the long run. If I don't get into graduate school I can move back to Leiden and give canal tours forever, because I think I would really like that anyway.