Recently, I failed my first astronomy exam. After studying for hours, taking diligent notes and getting help from my friends I still had a test score that was extremely below average. Getting my score back was disheartening for many reasons. To begin with, failing a test in college is nothing like failing a test in high school. The culmination of the three tests are worth 50% of my grade. If I continue to fail my tests, no matter how well I do on other assignments, I am not going to pass this class. Furthermore, it is the only score in the grade book, so I will have the dreaded “E” at midterm which is horrifying to me.
Resiliency is a term that means a lot to me. It is defined as “the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties,” which is extremely important in college. Often times I feel myself getting knocked down and frustrated with my college experience. I am working all the time and I feel like my grades do not reflect the effort I am putting in. Even more so I get discouraged when my classmates text or play games during the class and receive a better grade than me because it is, in their words, “so easy,” when it is never that easy for me. However, resiliency recognizes this and offers hope for a brighter future.
Instead of feeling sorry for myself, I am working actively to change my grade. I’ve emailed my teacher and I am studying more. The most important thing is that I am not giving up despite my undesirable test score. I will not let one exam score impact the way I view my abilities and I will not let it discourage me from my future endeavors in this class.
As Vine Lombardi once said, "It's not whether you get knocked down, it's whether you get back up." I've been knocked down to a really low point that I have not yet experienced in college but I am I not going to settle and allow this to be my fate. I believe in my ability to succeed, if I work hard, study and get help whenever I need it I will overcome this huge barrier that has been thrown my way. College has made me step outside of my comfort zone every day and this is just one more challenge that I cannot wait to beat. If the Patriots could came back from a 28-3 deficit, than I can come back from this.
When college students inevitably fail an exam, it is ok because it is just a step in the learning process. Sometimes to learn you have to fail and that’s the thing up until now I don’t think I have ever realized. Failing is not a negative thing and from here on it I refuse to believe anything besides that.
