Those Waiting for the Results: From the Keju to Today, How to Get Through the Wait

A message came in to the back end, from Turkey.

She said she had just finished the KPSS (Turkey's civil service selection examination) in early September. After the exam, talk that "this exam will be cancelled" began to circulate on social media; as of publication, the Student Selection and Placement Center (ÖSYM) has not commented publicly on the matter (according to Turkish media reports of September 9, 2026 and ÖSYM's official announcement page). The last line of her message was:

The hardest part isn't the exam. It's the waiting.

I looked at that line for a long time. Because people more than a thousand years ago said the same thing.

Results day, twelve hundred years ago

In the Tang dynasty, the announcement of results for the jinshi examination was a festival for the whole city.

The record in the Xin Tangshu (New Book of Tang), "Treatise on Selection," is brisk: "Once the candidates have passed... there are also the Qujiang banquet and the name-inscription seats." Newly successful jinshi went to Qujiang for a banquet, placing their wine cups on dishes to float downstream — whoever the cup drifted to had to drink; this was called "Qujiang floating cups." After the banquet they would inscribe their names beneath the Great Wild Goose Pagoda, known as "inscribing names at the Wild Goose Pagoda."

The phrase "having one's name on the golden roll" has been handed down all the way from that era.

But the other side of results day was failure for the vast majority. Tang-dynasty jinshi admissions were extremely few, and many people sat the exam for ten or twenty years. So that era also left behind the most poetry about "waiting."

During the waiting period, the ancients did three things

First, they performed rituals. Worshipping the Wen Chang Emperor, thanking their teachers, making offerings to ancestors, hosting guests — handing what was already done over to a set of procedures, so the heart could settle.

Second, they found something to do. Some copied scriptures, some travelled, some wrote poetry. The worst thing about a waiting period is "having nothing to do but wait."

Third, they separated "what I control" from "what I don't." The exam paper has already been handed in — that is in someone else's hands; whether to eat a good meal today — that is your own.

How to understand "exam luck" in terms of fortune theory

When people talk about exam luck, the Wen Chang position and the Wen Chang Emperor are the two terms most often mentioned. One thing needs to be made clear here: no method can guarantee an exam result.

What does "Wen Chang" mean in the tradition? It is about the state in which a person is most likely to bring out what they already know — condition, rhythm, frame of mind. It is the same idea as athletes talking about "having the touch." It is a traditional concept, offered for reference.

So the things you can actually do during the waiting period are quite plain:

• Set a rule to check messages only once a day, and keep your phone far away the rest of the time
• Don't scroll the rumours on social media, and especially don't go looking at what others "heard" (regarding the cancellation talk in Turkey this time, as of publication the authorities have said nothing)
• Give your hands a task: washing dishes, running, a jigsaw puzzle, anything — let the body share a little of the load for the mind
• Hand the result over to the process: you have already finished the exam; what remains is not yours

If you are waiting right now

What torments you most in a waiting period is never the result, but that suspended feeling. If it has already left you with long-term insomnia, no appetite, or persistently low mood, please see a doctor or a psychological counsellor first — this is not a matter of willpower; it is a signal that needs care.

If you simply want to put your mind a little more at ease, you can describe the situation, let 占卜迷指 recommend a suitable method, and give you a reading with a bit more composure; if you are tired, export and save it first and look at it again in two weeks.

In the "Four Joys," said to come from Wang Zhu's Shengtongshi (Poems of a Prodigy) of the Song dynasty, it is written: a long drought broken by sweet rain; meeting an old friend in a strange land; the night of the wedding candle in the bridal chamber; the hour one's name appears on the golden roll. The ancients wrote "waiting" into one of the four things in a life most worth waiting for.

So wait slowly. The news that should come will come.

Sources

• Full text of Xin Tangshu (New Book of Tang), "Treatise on Selection, Part One" (Chinese Text Project)
• ÖSYM (Turkey's Student Selection and Placement Center) official announcement page
• Turkish media: post-KPSS cancellation rumours, ÖSYM makes no statement (2026-09-09)
• Related report after the KPSS Lisans exam

Disclaimer: This article is traditional-culture and folklore content, for entertainment and self-reflection only. It does not constitute medical, psychological, investment, legal or marital decision advice. Please do not submit sensitive personal information such as ID or passport numbers or your home address. If you experience persistent insomnia, anxiety or physical discomfort, please seek medical attention or consult a professional promptly.