Comps and psychology

I finished my second try at the metaphysics comp this afternoon, in my attempt to actually graduate before leaving after this semester. I must admit, my psychology about this is pretty weird. Actually studying for and taking the test puts me into somewhat of a "manic" mode. After having finished, I feel energized and a bit excited to get started studying for the next comp (which I am taking Friday). I would expect to want to take a break, but no, I want to read more philosophy. I guess this means I should schedule more comps back-to-back like this.

This manic episode contrasts with the depressive mode that I get into after learning that I failed a comp---and from seeing that the answer I thought was so complete when studying only barely passed with a "B-". It seems that, at least with respect to these comps, I'm unable to judge the quality of my own work correctly. I'm not sure why this is: it seems that with papers, for instance, I'm a more reliable judge of the quality of my own work.

These observations remind me of this article, which summarizes recent work that debunks the "self-esteem myth", the false but widely held belief that "a favorable opinion of oneself [is] the central psychological source from which all manner of positive outcomes spring". And then, there are the studies that we all tend to overrate ourselves [PDF], and that the least competent tend to overrate themselves the most.

I suppose there is reason to interpret my psychological tendencies here as evidence of immaturity (both as a practitioner of philosophy and more generally as a human). But no matter what, I suppose I should take advantage of this manic episode and get cracking on the next test...