One of the most important things you need to remember is that you are not alone in your failures. I thought that I was the only one who failed the exam and that it came super easy to everyone else. However, the second I spoke up, I realized that everyone had failed at least one exam in college. Arianna Huffington says that “Failure is not the opposite of success; it’s part of the success.” Failure does not have to define you, but instead, failing an exam in college can just be a minor bump on the road of your life.
Overcoming failure can feel difficult, but with the steps that I used below, it does not have to feel as daunting. In fact, becoming resilient to failure and being able to move on and learn from it is one of the most important skills to develop.
Step 1: Limit Negative Effects
First, you need to figure out if there is anything you need to do immediately. For example, you slept through your exam. If your professor has office hours that day, you should go to your professor right away and ask them if you can make up the exam at another time. If they do not have office hours, you should immediately send them an email to ask for a make-up exam. Everybody makes mistakes, make the impact of yours as small as possible.
Step 2: Take a Step Back
Second, you should step away from your failure and give yourself time to let your emotions settle down. In the moment, your failed exam can seem like the worst thing in the entire world. Step back, call your parents, talk to a friend, go to a sports game, or get some delicious Berkey Creamery ice cream. It is important to approach your failure in a way that you can learn from it, without your emotions weighing you down. There is no mistake that you cannot recover from.
Step 3: Identify the Cause
Albert Einstein said “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.” Identifying the cause of your failure is important so that you can change up what you were doing and get a different result the next time. Asking yourself the following questions can help you identify what happened.
- Are you taking too many classes/credits this semester?
- Did you not pay attention in class or stop going to class all together?
- Did you start studying for the exam too late?
- Did you sleep enough the night before?
- Is there something going on in your personal life that is hindering you from doing your best?
Analyzing your failure can help you develop a new plan that will improve your total success for the next exam and in the rest of your college career.
Step 4: Develop a Plan
Think about why you failed and change up your habits so that you can improve next time.
For example, you discovered that you failed your exam because you were not paying attention in class. Developing a plan for success could be as simple as shutting your phone completely down during class or not sitting next to your friend that likes to talk to you during class.
Step 5: Ask for Help!
This was the most important step for me. When I came to college, I thought that going to all of my lectures and doing my homework would be enough for me to be successful in college. However, I realized that was not true for me and that asking for help was the smartest thing I could do in college. We all need help sometimes and nobody should allow their pride to keep them from asking for help. Go to your professor’s office hours, study groups, exam reviews or the tutoring center on campus. There is no shame in asking for help.
I hope you will adjust your perspective on failure and be thankful for what you can learn from both your successes and failures.
Samantha Avery
Team G Envoy
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