Imagine if the most meaningful moment of your life came down a single math test.
If you pass, you will be greeted with potential fame and fortune. All the stress, strain and turmoil will be washed away in a euphoric moment of academic ecstasy. You will be free of the anchor that has fastened you to the bottom of the sea floor for the past six months.
But if you fail, you will be shown a different path that leads to nowhere. It is a dead end. No more mulligans. All the work and hope will be snatched away in a colossal moment of disappointment right out in the open for the world to see.