What to Do If You Always Underperform on Exams? Dayou Hexagram Six in the Fifth Place: Real Skills + Good Mindset Make Exam Winners

What should you do if you always underperform in exams? This problem has troubled far too many students and parents.

Have you ever met someone like this around you — they study extremely well on a regular basis. They get top marks on every homework assignment, never lose a quiz, can answer classmates’ questions right off the bat, and are the first to solve the tough problems assigned by the teacher. Everyone thinks this person will definitely do fine on exams and is a shoo-in for high scores.

But when it comes to a big exam, they crash and burn.

It’s not just ordinary underperformance — it’s a total, absurd meltdown. They can’t solve problems they normally know how to do, misread even simple questions, and the more they want to do well, the worse they perform. The second they walk out of the exam hall, they slap their thigh: “Ugh, I totally knew how to do that problem — why didn’t I think of it at the time?”

They feel frustrated themselves, and others feel sorry for them too. This is the classic case of exam underperformance.

Why does this happen? Is it because they lack ability? No. Is it because they have bad luck? Also no.

The Six in the Fifth Place (六五) of the Possession in Great Measure (火天大有) Hexagram explains this perfectly — 「厥孚交如，威如，吉。」

厥孚交如: Are You Connected to Your Knowledge?

The Six in the Fifth Place is the fifth line of the Possession in Great Measure Hexagram, and it is also the ruling line. A Yin Line sits in the most supreme position, and the four Yang Lines below it are all stronger and more forceful than it — yet they all submit to the Six in the Fifth Place.

Why?

Because what the Six in the Fifth Place relies on is not power, but sincerity and trust (孚).

厥孚交如 — it interacts with everyone with sincerity and trust, so those above and below all trust it and are willing to connect with it. It doesn’t coerce people with authority; it wins people over with sincerity and trust. The moment it stands there, everyone thinks: this person is reliable, and following them is the right call.

Applied to the matter of exams, what does “厥孚交如” of the Six in the Fifth Place of Possession in Great Measure mean?

It means your relationship with knowledge is sincere.

What does it mean to have a sincere relationship with knowledge? It means you have truly understood, truly mastered, and truly internalized it. Not by rote memorization, not by guessing what questions will be on the test, not by cramming at the last minute. You are connected to your knowledge — the moment you see a question, the relevant knowledge points naturally come to you.

This is what “交如” means — you have connected with knowledge; you are friends, not enemies.

When many people do poorly on exams, their first reaction is that they haven’t studied enough, so they should do more practice questions and memorize more material. But don’t rush to add more workload just yet. Ask yourself first: is what you’ve studied truly understood, or just memorized?

Memorizing and understanding are two completely different things.

If you’ve only memorized something, you’ll get confused the moment the exam rephrases the question slightly. If you’ve understood it, you can answer no matter how the question is framed. If you’ve only memorized it, you’ll forget it right after the exam. If you’ve understood it, it becomes a part of you — you couldn’t forget it even if you tried.

厥孚交如 — you must have “孚”, sincerity, toward knowledge. If you cut corners with it, it will cut corners with you. If you truly befriend it, it will help you in the exam hall.

威如: True Skill Alone Isn’t Enough

But sincerity and trust alone aren’t enough.

After the Six in the Fifth Place, there are two more words — 威如 (dignified and assured).

What is 威如? It means having dignity, inner confidence, and presence. It’s not that just because you’re kind, humble, and honest, people will automatically respect you. You also need something that commands respect, you need presence.

Being only soft without firmness is weakness, not sincerity and trust; being only firm without softness is tyranny, not dignity.

The Six in the Fifth Place combines softness and firmness, kindness and authority. It has both genuine talent and learning, and a calm, composed demeanor. That’s why it is auspicious (吉) — it is steady, and it can accomplish great things.

Applied to exams, 威如 means mindset.

No matter how well you study on a regular basis, if you panic the second you walk into the exam hall — your palms sweat, your heart races, your mind goes blank — you won’t be able to pull out anything you know, no matter how much you’ve studied. If your head is full of “What if I fail?” “If I can’t do this question, it’s over,” where is there room to think about the answer?

This is having only 厥孚, without 威如.

Then there are people who are the opposite: they’re quite confident and steady, but they haven’t actually studied the material properly. They only have 威如, without 厥孚. That’s false confidence, all bluster. The moment they start working on the exam questions, it all falls apart.

So to do well on exams, you need both.

One is 厥孚交如 — genuine talent and learning as the foundation, building a real connection with knowledge.

The other is 威如 — a steady mindset, solid inner confidence, staying calm and unhurried.

With both, it is auspicious.

Wen Laoshi often says that exams test not just your knowledge, but your entire state of being.

How well you study on a regular basis tests your diligence and study methods. How well you perform in the exam hall tests your psychological quality and inner confidence. The latter is even more important — because if you study but can’t show it on the exam, it’s as if you never studied at all.

易而无备: The More You Try to Overcome Nerves, the More Nervous You Get

The Xiang Commentary (象传) says: 「威如之吉，易而无备也。」

What does 易而无备 mean? It means being easygoing, relaxed, and not deliberately on guard. The less you make a big deal out of your nerves, the less you brace yourself against them, the more relaxed you actually become.

Many people start obsessing as soon as an exam rolls around — how can I stop being nervous? How can I overcome my nerves?

They try all kinds of methods — deep breathing, positive self-talk, practice simulations, taking calming supplements. They try and try, but when the real exam comes, they’re still nervous.

Why?

Because the more you try to overcome your nerves, the more nervous you get. You’re fighting against them, and the more you fight, the stronger they become. When you keep repeating “I can’t be nervous, I can’t be nervous” in your head, you’re actually reinforcing the feeling of nervousness over and over.

So what should you do?

Accept it.

So what if you’re nervous? Who doesn’t get nervous before an exam? A little nervousness is totally normal — it means you care, it means your body is gearing up with energy. Don’t treat nervousness as an enemy; treat it as a friend.

When you accept it, when you don’t fight it, it suddenly becomes a lot less scary.

威如 doesn’t mean you don’t feel nervous at all. 威如 means — you can still work through the questions and perform well even with your nerves. It’s not about waiting until you’re not nervous to take the exam; being able to do well even while nervous is what true skill looks like.

Look at athletes — who isn’t nervous before a major competition? Everyone is. But the difference between the champion and the runner-up isn’t who isn’t nervous — it’s who can still perform at their level while carrying that nervousness.

Exams are the same way.

Stop thinking about how to overcome your nerves. The more you try to overcome them, the less you’ll be able to. Just think — I can do well even if I’m nervous, nervousness is my friend, it makes me more alert and more focused.

Once you think that way, you’ll actually feel less nervous. Because you’re no longer on guard, you relax; when you relax, you have that “威” (dignity, presence).

Why Do People Who Study Well Regularly Perform Poorly on Exams?

Let’s go back to that question — why do some people study well on a regular basis, but can’t perform when it’s exam time?

It’s actually not a problem of ability — it’s a problem of mindset.

When you’re studying regularly, there’s no pressure. You can think however you want, take as long as you want. You’re in a relaxed state, your mind is sharp, and what you’ve learned naturally comes to you.

When it’s exam time, there’s pressure. There’s a time limit, a score target, expectations from parents and teachers, comparisons with classmates. The moment you get nervous, your mind freezes up; the more frozen it is, the less you can think of, and the less you can think of, the more panicked you get. It’s a vicious cycle.

This is what the Xiang Commentary says — 「信以发志也」.

What does that mean? It means that with sincerity and trust as your foundation, you can bring out your aspirations and your abilities. If you have no confidence in yourself, your aspirations can’t come forth; if you have solid confidence and aren’t fixated on the result, your aspirations will naturally emerge.

How do you gain that solid confidence without being fixated on results?

First, you have to truly understand the material. This is the foundation — without this, talking about mindset is all empty talk. You can only have inner confidence if you actually have the knowledge inside you.

Second, you have to accept a fact — exams are not the measure of your entire worth. Doing well on an exam doesn’t mean you’ve won at life, and doing poorly doesn’t mean the sky is falling. The more you make a big deal out of exams, the more likely you are to underperform; the more you can treat them with a normal, calm attitude, the better you’ll actually perform.

It’s easier said than done. But think about it — being nervous doesn’t help anyway, you know exactly how much you’ve studied, and whether you’re nervous or not, your score won’t go up just because you’re stressed. So why not relax a little?

When you relax, you might even score a few extra points.

Final Thoughts

The Six in the Fifth Place of the Possession in Great Measure Hexagram talks about leadership, about how to be a good leader.

But when applied to exams, it works just as well.

You are the leader of your own self. You have to lead your own knowledge, your own mindset, your own state. To be a good leader, true skill alone isn’t enough — you also need presence, inner confidence, and that calm, unflappable energy.

厥孚交如，威如，吉。

With true skill as your foundation and a good mindset to support you, you’ll be steady.

Next time you walk into an exam hall, don’t overthink things. Don’t think about the result, don’t think about rankings, don’t think about what other people will think of you. Just focus on the question in front of you, work through them one by one, earn points one by one.

When you’re steady, when you’re centered, when you don’t panic — what you’ve studied on a regular basis will naturally come to you.

Exams test not just how much you’ve memorized, but whether you can pull out what you’ve memorized under pressure.

The first comes from studying; the second comes from practice.

Only by walking on both legs can you walk steadily and walk far.