Every student comes to that point in their college career where they stumble and fall from their academic pedestal. No matter how high the standing is, there is always room to fall a little further and chances are, if you have continued your education at the collegiate level, you at least want to get a degree at the end of your four years.

With decent grades.

But it's college. Are you really growing up if you don't have your hopes crushed by at least one factor in your life? Especially if that factor determines what you do for the rest of your life.

With that in mind, grades are so crucially important that sometimes you may forget that they are only numbers.

Don't stress about that 48 you got on that lab report because honestly, why does that one grade have to determine how successful or intelligent you are?

Have you ever thought about standardized tests being a waste of your time? Well, they are. Tests don't examine what you know as much as they test how well you can answer a question. So, most of the time it isn't about what you know, its about how good you are at dissecting a question.

The next time you receive a grade you are far from proud of, shrug it off. There is nothing you can do about it.

You failed that organic chemistry test? It's okay. You'll do better on the next one.

The fact of the matter is, you need to learn to accept a bad grade and move along. Failure is only an option if you don't move along. Failure is remaining in a stalemate between hating the grade and hating yourself.

So stop the stalemate and work harder. It's okay to have minor setbacks but don't dwell on those incidents.

Keep moving forward.

You are only the grade you let yourself become.