The Learning Curve

This is just another poem. I'm trying to document my life here in a set of poems, marking down every momentous event with another few lines.
This was after the first set of exams, the P1 (period 1) exams, which ended end-February.

All you need to know before reading this is that we here follow relative grading with all scores plotted along a statistical Z-curve. The further you are away from the mean score, the higher chance of exam failure.

___________________

The plane touched down, we got to school
Our year here had begun
Before we knew it, we were sucked right in
To the ebb and flow of P1

It didn't take long to get overwhelmed
With all that coursework around
For several weeks, case studies whizzed by
And made the predominant sound

Then one fine day everything suddenly changed
A presentation was made
About P1 exams and what we'd have to score
To try and make the grade

There was something in it about a graph of marks
Was pretty complicated to see
To keep it simple, we'll leave out the stats
And simply call it Z

From that day on we slept a little less
We tossed and turned in bed
We dreamt no longer of sunny beaches
Z-curves were in our head

At school though, normal life resumed
We wore weird clothes and dashed
Distracted motorists stared open mouthed, mid-ride
And promptly swerved and crashed

We all felt that it made perfect sense
That the amounts of motorist swerve
And the amount of damage in any accident
Could be plotted on a Z-curve

The number of surfers, the number of bikinis
The height of waves in Bali
All this info could be represented
By drawing up a Z

In 8 weekends, if we'd got 8 phone numbers
If 8 girls asked us to call
The curve told us if we'd succeed
Or likely take a fall

When trying out for summer internship
Sending several resume
The curve told us the company's response
And just what they'd likely say

The Z-curve became an almost mythical creature
With several purposes to serve
Seemingly unrelated, independent, one-off phenomena
Were being attributed to the curve

The Z-curve wielded enormous power
Good friends made us see red
We argued that they simply studied too hard
And reduced the Z-curve spread

Everybody was talking about this blasted curve
It really made us sick
With this additional peer pressure on us
How on earth could we really tick?

We slogged through the last intense weeks
We battled through accounts
Our daily worries about the silly curve
Grew in exponential amounts

How we navigated through the intense exams
I really do not know
I realize that about the Z-curve stats
I wanna hear nothing more

I will not repeat the words ‘Z-curve’
I'll simply refer to it as *bleep*
Like its a swear word on a family TV channel
Censored for a ratings sweep

“Enough! No more!” my brain yells out
My mind is tired and dim
This *bleep* has occupied my mind’s vacant spaces
And overflowed the brim

I have just one final thing to tell you all
To try and ease my mental pain
I'll knock your bleeping head off
If you mention *bleep* to me again