Key Takeaways
- A single dream shows a mathematics exam after a holiday, a dark room, strict graders, and the feeling that everyone else passes with ease.
- The pattern fits exam anxiety: real effort, poor concentration, guilt about handing work in late, and fear of disappointing authority.
- Father appears as a stern professor; mother appears as a private tutor—two inner voices: harsh judgment and patient support.
- The dream points to humane help now: counselling and, if needed, medical care, rather than more self-pressure.
- A short Dutch mini-lesson captures how students voice this stress in the Netherlands (Europe) and helps put healthy distance between person and symptom.
Story & Details
A dark hall, a hard clock
The story opens in low light. A mathematics exam follows a holiday. Several professors grade different parts. The student once did very well at university, yet here the result never appears. There is only the ache of “I failed while others passed.” The sharpest pain is not ignorance but time: a professor threatens to dock four points for handing the paper in late. The work exists; the clock wins.
Wanting to study, unable to focus
During the break there was a plan to prepare. The wish was real. Concentration was not. Pages would not stick; focus slid away. When the exam arrives, shame does the talking. University guidance describes exactly this pattern: motivation intact, attention blocked, performance shaky. It is a stress problem, not a moral failure.
Questions that irritate—and what that means
In the dream, a question feels “obvious,” yet it angers every professor. The content is forgotten; the social sting remains. This is how inner criticism sounds under pressure: “Your need is annoying. Your timing is wrong.” The mind turns help-seeking into fault.
Corridors, fifth floors, and the need to call home
The building splits into right and left wings, each with a fifth floor. Phones are hard to find. The student hurries, unsure which side is correct, then drops to the fourth floor. The architecture mirrors the moment: urgent need for contact, but confusion about where to ask and how.
Father as professor, mother as private tutor
A father-professor watches from the corridor—authority, judgment, the fear of letting someone down. A mother appears at a small table, giving private lessons to two boys. Later, the student asks her for exercises. Private lessons become the key image: on one side stands grading and the clock; on the other, slow explanation, practice, and care. In waking life the closest match is clear—counselling spaces that feel like tutoring, not tribunals.
Memory, calendars, and what sticks
The dreamer studied years ago at a public university in Argentina (South America). Exact calendars blur with time, but the shape remains: teaching blocks across the year with exam periods in between. Official pages from that institution still describe degrees grouped into four-month blocks and assessment windows. Memory keeps the pressure, not the dates—another reason to trade self-blame for support.
A mini-lesson in Dutch
Simple lines a student might use when exam fear hits in the Netherlands (Europe):
Ik ben bang voor het tentamen.
Ik kan me niet concentreren.
Iedereen slaagt, behalve ik.
Plain meaning first: these sentences say that the person fears the test, cannot focus, and feels that everyone else passes except them.
Word by word with notes:
Ik = I (subject, informal and neutral).
ben = am (present of “to be”).
bang = afraid (adjective; informal but common).
voor = for / about (preposition used with emotions and targets).
het = the (neuter article).
tentamen = exam (often a written test at university).
Ik = I.
kan = can / am able to (modal verb).
me = myself (reflexive pronoun; unstressed form).
niet = not (negation).
concentreren = to concentrate (reflexive in Dutch with “me”).
Iedereen = everyone (singular in Dutch, takes singular verbs).
slaagt = passes (3rd person singular of “slagen”).
, = comma (pause, optional in speech).
behalve = except (preposition).
ik = I (subject form after “except” in Dutch everyday usage).
What the dream asks for now
The path forward is gentle and practical: a therapist’s room, a study coach, structured exercises, and—where a clinician finds it appropriate—medication. The task is to replace a hard internal grader with a fair tutor, and to make timing planned, not weaponised.
Selected References
[1] University of Mannheim (Germany, Europe). “Exam Anxiety.” https://www.uni-mannheim.de/en/academics/studying-the-healthy-way/good-mental-health/exam-anxiety/
[2] University of Bath (United Kingdom, Europe). “Exam Anxiety.” https://www.bath.ac.uk/guides/exam-anxiety/
[3] Student Minds (United Kingdom, Europe). “Exam Stress.” https://www.studentminds.org.uk/advice-and-info/exam-stress/
[4] University of St Andrews (United Kingdom, Europe). “Coping with exam anxiety.” https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/guides/exam-anxiety/
[5] Universidad Nacional del Sur (Argentina, South America). “Calendario Académico.” https://www.uns.edu.ar/alumnos/calendario-academico
[6] Wits University OFFICIAL (South Africa, Africa). “Adulting through university – dealing with exam stress.” YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtLD4rnCqDU
Appendix
Academic block
A teaching period used to group courses before an assessment window; many universities split the year into two such blocks.
Exam anxiety
A stress pattern before or during tests that blocks attention and fuels self-criticism even when knowledge is present.
Private lesson
A one-to-one or very small-group session that adapts pace and exercises to the learner, closer to counselling than to grading.
Test dream
A dream that uses exams, classrooms, or grades to express current fear of evaluation or of being late or unprepared.
University calendar
A public schedule that sets teaching blocks, breaks, and exam periods, often in two four-month halves across a year.
My Diary - Leonardo Cardillo 