By Emily Winters
As we head into the second half of the semester, we as students may be experiencing more stress and the pressure of completing all our assignments on time - and to the best of our ability. Have you done poorly on a couple assignments this semester?
As a student myself, I have experienced the demoralization that can come after receiving a less than stellar grade on an exam or assignment. Personally, after receiving a poor grade, I began to wonder why I was in school or in my program. The next time I went to write, I was paralyzed with fear, second guessing my thoughts and my writing style.
How can we combat fear that can paralyze your output, throw you off your schedule, and stifle your creativity?
Here are a few tips and ways to center yourself. It is possible to learn from failure!
1. So, you’ve failed your first test - it is not
over! Often, after failing their first test, students come to the Learning Center with plans to drop the course and enroll again at a later date. But remember - you have at least two more tests in the course! Working with a tutor, forming a study group with classmates, and utilizing your professor’s office hours can help you get back on track.
2. Did you receive an “at risk” progress report? It is important to balance and manage your emotions. One helpful tip for centering yourself is take a deep breath - three seconds through your nose, hold for two seconds, and let out a six second breath through your mouth. This will help dissipate some of your anxiety and clear your head so that you can form a plan for moving onto your next assignments.
3. Practice self-compassion and self-care. So, you’ve failed some assignments and have skipped class more than once this semester - recognize that this does not make you a “bad” person. After recognizing this, take stock of your priorities, treat yourself to your favorite food or indulge in a hobby, and then sit down and write down a schedule for finishing assignments, craft that apology email to your professor, or make a peer tutoring or student success appointment to meet with someone who can help you make a game plan.
4. Make decisions. Taking multiple courses while balancing family life, friends, and a job is difficult and often demoralizing. Sometimes,
when we have multiple large assignments all at once, it can be overwhelming, which could lead to no work at all getting done on any of the assignments. As a student, I have been there! Therefore, to learn from this failure to accomplish tasks, dedicate your time to a specific task. Do you have an hour to work on three assignments? Dedicate twenty minutes to each and hold yourself accountable: do not go over the time limit.
5. Recognize your limits. Have you produced less than stellar work because of a last-minute submission? If you recognize your limits, you will be in a better headspace to ask for help, or an extension. While professors do not always grant extensions, if you are looking at your schedule for the week and recognize that you will not be able to accomplish the work, ask for an extension before the last minute! Through knowing yourself, you can avoid failure.
Check out this video by Mike Clayton from Online Project Management Courses: https://youtu.be/wmMgjrqhHrw. While Clayton is not speaking about academic failure and is discussing failure in the professional world, many of his tips can be useful to us as students, such as: “There is no such thing as failure: only feedback.” If you process and learn from your mistakes, you will make less of them in the future and avoid what Clayton calls “unnecessary failure.”
With these tips in mind, I strongly believe we can get through the rest of the semester - together!
Are you struggling with the basics, and feel hopeless about continuing without a sturdy foundation? Attend a review session for pre-calculus and algebra foundational basics! Email us at learningcenter@camden.rutgers.edu to find out when and where the sessions meet.
Do you want to discuss this further, or meet with a peer tutor or a student success coach? Chat with us via the chat button in the bottom right hand of the screen or visit RAPTOR CONNECT to schedule an appointment today!
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