I’ve been so busy in these days that I hadn't even got time for myself.

I've tried Histology again and again, but nothing seems to work. Honestly I'm tired and frustrated, because I have studied A LOT. I guess its a matter of luck 🥲🍀

Here there are few photos from the past days, lessons and study sessions were intense (there’s my cat trying to give me some moral support).

I think it is safe to say that I am an expert at failing exams. I have failed exams throughout my 6 years of high school (yes, we are in high school for 6 years in Spain). I have failed because I didn’t study enough, because I didn’t study at all (I was THE worst at 13), beacause my studying methods were not exactly correct and even because I trusted myself a little too much. 

I used to be ashamed of this, especially on a community like Studyblr where everyone seems like a straight A student (and probably is, props to that!), but I’ve decided to keep it real and maybe help other people on my situation. 

So here are my tips on how to act after failing a (or mutliple) exam(s):

Trust your emotions: I am one of those people who needs to mourn and feel shitty about themselves to actually DO something about it. Whether you are like me or not, it is very important to focus on your emotions. What are you feeling? Are you sad? Angry? Happy? Do you feel nothing at all? Take notes. Answer these questions. Who are you angry with? Yourself? Your professor(s)? I think it is KEY to allow yourself to feel everything before you can process and move to the next things.

Think slowly: After letting yourself feel all your feelings, you should sit down and think slowly. What where the actions that have led me to this situation? Maybe you haven’t studied as much as you thought, maybe you didn’t sleep enough before the exam or maybe that class is not for you. Either way, it is necessary to cool down and try to think straight. You will not get anything clear if you’re still processing your emotions. Give yourself time. 

Talk to someone (if that fails, write it down): some of us are not able to manage our feelings by ourselves, and that is completely okay. Sometimes we just need a shoulder to cry on, or a person who will listen and lead us to the right conclussions (or just listen, we often get to that conclussions alone). If you are not cofortable with oversharing, there are other ways to let it all out! Grab a notebook (or a journal, if you already have one) and write down all of your frustrations. You will check that having all of your troubles written down makes them easier to tackle. 

Get to work: okay, you have tackled the first three steps, and you are on the right mindset. What now? I would suggest you get right to work. If you’re having trouble with a certain topic (or even if it is the entire subject that’s wearing you down) I would suggest you start doing research. Get all of your class notes and everything you have used to study and circle all the things that you didn’t understand as clearly as the rest. Use the internet or another tipe of resources to get to know the subject better. Email you professors or go see them if you have doubts, they will most likely guide you in what you’re doing wrong. 

The final product: if you have the chance to take that exam again, become an expert on the subject. I’ve found that many of my classmates and even myself start hating a class or a certain professor just because they have failed the exam. Don’t. This will only be a waste of time and energy for you. Be wise with your time. Use it to become the best at the subject you weren’t totally prepared for. 

When in doubt...: if you are studying and still doubting youself because of your past failure on that test, remember to take care of yourself. Remind yourself how capable you are. Practice self care when you are feeling extremely stressed. Find what helps you keep on track. It might be looking at others’ studyblrs to get inspo, talking to friends who are going through the same things you are. What I found really helps me are quotes, I have an entire Pinterest board dedicated to quotes to keep me going, and whenever I’m feeling down, I’ll take a look at them (I might even do a post with my favorites). I also love listening to motivational podcasts or reading about influential figures who were once “failures”.

Remember to keep going and never doubt yourself. As one of my favorite quotes says: “Be careful not to see “failure” as a sign that you’re on the wrong path. Failure is nothing more than a test of how badly you want something. So maybe you need to try something better, but always try again.” - Sam Brown

Saturday 16/12/17

When I opened the email of my exam results yesterday, I didn’t do as well as I thought I might have, and, of course, I was upset.

After a day of thinking about it and my initial dejection, I’ve come to realise that it’s been an especially hard year for me with many obstacles, but I’ve faced them head-on and made it to the end of this year’s journey.

I did well and although I’m not top, it doesn’t matter. All that matters is that I’ve worked hard, passed, joined basketball, made friends and had fun with them.

I know while you’re in high school or university/college it can seem like study is the only thing that’s important and what defines you, but it’s not. As long as you pass, it’s important that you know you’ve tried your best while having fun and enjoying yourself because the memories you can make with your friends now will last forever.

As one of my best friends who I met and got to know better this year put it, “don’t be too hard on yourself” and “I’m just glad I can spend second year with you”.

So join a sport (you don’t have to be good at it or have played it before, there’s heaps of social teams!), pick up a new hobby or revisit an old one (like magic tricks for me!), go out with your friends and enjoy yourself. Let what you want define you.

If you fail or don’t do as well as you expected, know that you tried and you’ve learnt something from it. This year, I learnt the tenacity to get through any obstacle, I learnt that it’s okay to fail, I learnt that study isn’t the only thing in life and I am allowed to have fun, I learnt that you don’t have to be the best to have fun, I learnt that it’s okay to not be the best and you can always work towards being better at anything, I learnt the study techniques that didn’t work for me personally and new study techniques, and I learnt how to be a better friend.

I learnt that it’s okay to be despondent about not doing well at something as long as you pick yourself up and start again, the next time even wiser.

In a lot of ways- failing an exam, or if you’re an overachiever like I am, getting a less than satisfying grade- is like going through a breakup. The process goes something like this: 

First comes the commitment (or lack of): So you’ve either studied your ass off for this exam, committed numerous valuable hours in return for a disappointing result. Or, you’ve studied considerably less than you should’ve...

Denial: Denial comes in many forms. The first, is disbelief, even if you had a hunch you did poorly. Surely you deserve better than what you got? 

Mourning: This period is probably where most people are at when they read this, and it’s undoubtedly the worst; marked by rants and tears. 

Recovery: The last and ideal stage- getting to this stage as quickly as possible should be your aim.

 Exams are such a personal thing, it’s you and only you sitting that exam, and as a result, the outcome of that exam is personal. So, when you do fail, it can feel like the end of the world (especially if it’s an important one)- unfortunately, the way the educational system works, exams are ultimately inevitable. Just as exams are an unavoidable part of your schooling, so is failure- though what constitutes as ‘failing’ is somewhat subjective. Needless to say, everyone has failed at some point or another... 

Nevertheless, there are significant incentives to recover from this post-failure slump that you’re probably in. Especially if you have more exams coming up soon, it is a good idea to get into the right headspace so that this exam doesn’t effect your future results. So how exactly can you recover from failure, and hopefully improve from your mistakes?  

First and most importantly, calm the hell down and get some perspective. A good way to gain some perspective to google stories of successful people who overcame their failure. Also, this is cheesy and probably gets said way too much but, exams are ultimately not everything, there is much more to life than a few numbers and letters. It’s important to think of your grades (as life in general) as an upward moving trajectory. Ideally, you should be gradually improving, despite the troughs and valleys (aka failures) that you face.

Adopt a growth mindset: Many of us have a fixed mindset, which is pretty much when we think our abilities are limited and predetermined by factors beyond our control, like IQ, etc. However, it’s been scientifically proven that adopting a growth mindset, which is where you believe that it is well within your capabilities to improve, actually leads to success. Remember, your abilities are malleable.  

Evaluate on what went wrong.... Now, this is the part where real improvements can be made. Get out a piece of paper, or if your not bothered, sit in a quiet room somewhere and just reflect on what you think went wrong in that exam, or during the preparation process for it. An important thing to note is: think of things that are your fault. A.k.a things that you can fix. If you blame your exam failure on your teacher, or something else that is practically beyond your control ,it can seem like a pretty helpless situation. So the reasons: I am not smart enough for this, or the teacher marked me too harshly (they might’ve, but what can you do about it now?) are not the reasons you should be thinking of.

 Here is a list of possible things that you might think of:

Lack of preparation: studying wayyy to late, or too little.

Wrong preparation: studying the wrong material, or studying in an way that isn’t effective for the type of exam that you took.

Overwhelmed with life, studying, everything: Overcommitment is the biggest culprit here.

Procrastination: probably the biggest killer, and usually contributes to 1,2,3. Luckily, it’s also the easiest one to fix. 

Poor exam technique or anxiety (obviously I’m not a medical professional, but if you think your anxiety is a serious concern, talk to your school counsellor, or someone in your school who may be able to organise alternative testing conditions for you. Though if you’re anxiety is because of mindset, that can always be overcome, with preparation and practice exams)

Now for each of the reasons you came up with, think of solutions (or just use google) , AND FOLLOW THOSE SOLUTIONS.  

To be completely honest, there is no magical formula for success, just as there is no magic in the world that will automatically stop you from failing. The only thing that is close to magic though, is action. We’ve all been there, after we get a disappointing grade, we say to ourselves: “next time I will study so hard”. “Next time” comes way too quickly, and before we know it, we’re back in that same cycle of talking but no action. What most people fail to appreciate is, the power of action. It can be boring, slow and painful, but taking active steps is the most effective way to improve. 

Once you’ve diagnosed the issues, and found suitable strategies, it is 100% within YOUR CONTROL to do everything in your power to improve. Also, its vital that you leave your past failures behind you, but keep the lessons you learnt from them. Remember, your failures don’t have to stay with you, but the lessons you learn from them can.   

*I’ve linked some videos that have really motivated me in the past, and hopefully they can do the same for you :)

Theme: Failure, comparison, and finding your own pathAudience: Teens & Young Adults Every morning, Kiran chose the seat beside the window. Not because he liked the view. But because it gave him somewhere else to look when exam papers were returned. “First rank — Nisha!” The class clapped. “Second — Rahul!” More applause. Kiran quietly folded his paper before anyone could see his…