The problems of taking your time

Tomorrow is my oral exam in Japanese. The next day is an oral exam as in... a dentist appointment.
The Japanese one is basically where I go in and converse with the teacher and she decides how well I've learned the material. I could have taken it a week from yesterday. Instead I'm taking it two days from yesterday. So what was the deal about yesterday?
Well, simply this. I don't want to come an hour into Austin just to spend 15 or so minutes in class and the rest wasted on Monday. Not when I should be watching my bros at home. Even if I drove myself and didn't have to spend the whole day there, it would not be worth it. So I was determined, COMPETING for one of those five or six slots on Wednesday.
The problem was, we were signing up on the way out, and we could leave once we finished with a conjugation exercise. I figured I needed to go quickly but it would be OK because the majority of people would want the extra study time. But of course, people started finishing. The ones who were doing well in the class. Who were all too willing when the teacher encouraged them to take a Wednesday slot. Some of my te and ta blanks were still empty and almost the entire past negative column. I tried to do the te and ta from memory without making sure about exceptions or funny rules... and I basically went down the nai column and rewrote all the nais as nakattas in the past negative column. Which probably was correct, but I didn't take the time to check for exceptions. The whole time I was preparing a plea in my head in case I had to beg for an already filled Wednesday slot. When I finished, I rushed to Sensei's desk without checking everything over and turned in my paper. I wrote my name in the last slot for Wednesday, 12:20. Not as early as I would have liked, because I plan to meet with my creative writing teacher directly afterwards and I assumed I'd have a lot more time.
After leaving class, I felt pretty terrible. I had rushed my work, which I hate doing, and had only just barely gotten the spot I needed probably more than anyone else in the class. (Pretty sure I live the farthest away, and that I have the most younger siblings to watch while my parents are out. I feel confident in this statement.) I shed a few tears and complained obnoxiously only in my head that this was a terrible way to decide who goes when.
Looking back with a rational mind, it probably made sense, actually. The people who are good at the Japanese will finish the exercise first. The teacher encourages them to take a spot on the much earlier day, and, feeling confident because they are good at Japanese, they will take it.
My tendency to take things slow works against me sometimes. When I get called on in class, if I haven't prepared my answer beforehand, I have to pause and, you know, THINK about it. And then I get prompts, because it looks like I don't know.
Why is the WHOLE WORLD so fast paced? XD
Now, I really need to study for that exam. So that I can not regret taking it early.