Nobody ever wants this to happen, but guess what? It does and it happens more often than you think it does. College is no walk in the park, and the reality for most of us is that we might fail a midterm or two. Do not fret, failing a midterm does not mean you are guaranteed to fail the class and it is definitely not the end of the world.
I failed my very first college midterm so I was obviously not off to a good start. When I found out my grade I thought I was going to either break down into tears or die from being so overwhelmed. My initial reaction was to rush over to the college advising office, and withdraw from the class. I ended up speaking to a student advisor that informed me that failing a midterm is completely normal, and not something to stress out about. He also helped me calculate my grade in the class to reassure me that it was still possible for me to pass the class despite failing my midterm. I evidently would have to work extremely hard to now pass this class, but it is the possibility of me passing that put me at ease.
After telling my friends that I had failed, I realized that I was not alone. Some of them performed poorly on their midterms as well. I concluded that this is a common occurrence for freshmen in college because we are all trying to adjust to our new environment which can take a toll on our grades. This briefly made me feel better, but it did not change the fact that I failed.
Failure, this is what the majority of us fear most. Truth is, we often put too much emphasis on our grades. Does a bad grade really make one a failure? We might think it does, to an extent, but in the grand scheme of things failing a midterm or failing a class is minuscule. This does not go to say that you should not put the effort in, but just remember that if put in the necessary work and you still failed, it is not the end of the world.
If you recently failed a midterm, do not let that cause you to give up on the class. I know I wanted to give up once I failed, but giving up will only make your situation worse. At the end of the day, it is just one test so do not sweat it.
