Upon starting my third year of high school, I was invincible when it came to tests and homework. I was always a straight A student and had never failed a test.
Not once.
Until my Junior year. I had enrolled in AP United States History (APUSH). I wasn't sure what to expect, as I was taking a college level course in order to earn college credit.
The very first day of class was great. My teacher, Mrs. Browdy, was so welcoming. Her room was homey. She played a video for us that basically explained that this class wasn't going to be any normal class; it was going to be a safe haven. It would become part of us and we would call it home.
And that's exactly what we did.
Starting the coursework was a bit intimidating. We were instructed to take our own notes of Chapter 1. Forty some pages later, I was confident I knew everything about the coming of the United States. From Pangea on. The next day was our first test, over Chapter 1.
I failed. Miserably.
I was so confused. How had this happened?? I was so mad at my teacher for failing me. How dare she? After reviewing the test, I was the one at fault. I hadn't studied. None of us had. We all failed the test.
Me? Study?
I had never needed to study before and I always got A’s on my tests. I was beside myself. I wanted to drop the class.
The next day of class we all showed up prepared to take a quiz and do more lecturing. Instead, Mrs. Browdy had a better idea. She sat us all in different seats and asked why we thought we had failed. We made every excuse in the book.
Mrs. Browdy didn't want excuses, however, she had an explanation of her own.
We were now in a college class. We were going to fail. She knew that. She reminded us that we're human and that when we get to college, we weren't going to ace every test. She was prepared all along to have this talk with us. She told us about the first time she failed. Much similar to our experience. She explained that we all needed to find the way we study best and stick to it. She allowed us to do test corrections for almost every test. And she allowed us to work in groups for our quizzes.
Throughout the year we failed. Over and over. But in order to learn the material, we corrected our mistakes. And learned that failing a test, wasn't the end of the world.
Thank you, Mrs. Browdy.
