Now that all of us have received all of our results, it is the perfect timing to deal with how to approach the disappointment of not performing as well as one would have expected to in his/her exams. If not everything went your way in January and June, do not lose heart. September can offer you a chance to continue on your path to success.
1. Be Positive
Perhaps, being positive is not really the first option that comes to mind when facing such disappointment, especially when your Facebook newsfeed is full of “feeling proud” statuses of friends and colleagues who made it through. However, being positive is the only choice which would lead to a positive result in the long run. Denial, anger and despair will always remain an option but they definitely won’t help you pass that resit in September. So do your best to remain positive, don’t just look at that dissatisfying result. Be proud of your other achievements too. This will help you convince yourself that you are more than smart enough to achieve a pass the next time round.
2. Recognise your mistakes
One of the tricks of passing a resit is acceptance. When the student accepts the disappointing reality, he/she will be able to look into the matter further and understand what he/she has done wrong. For instance, it is futile to study from the same material if it was outdated or insufficient to begin with. What students usually do wrong in an exam is that they regurgitate all of their notes without adapting their answer to the question. Therefore, take some time to think of what you could have possibly done wrong, speak with your lecturers if need be. Do not be afraid to ask questions, at the end of the day you will surely thank yourself for it.
3. Believe in yourself
Undoubtedly, not getting the Grade you expected or the Grade you worked hard for makes you think of yourself as a failure but facing your resit in September with the fear of failure will certainly not help you pass it! The key is to have faith in yourself. Do not be discouraged to start studying again. Motivate yourself to focus and work hard.
4. Give yourself a break
Well, you all know how tempting it is to extend a study break of ten minutes to one whole hour simply to watch the next ’Game of Thrones’ episode, or to go round and catch that Pokémon close to your house, or even just to stare at the wall of your bedroom daydreaming! Anything can appeal amusing compared to that huge pile of notes on the desk and it is no rocket science to understand that distractions are everywhere. There is only one simple solution to this universal problem; and that’s discipline. The temptation to go out with friends, party or swim is a big one to defeat, especially because it is summer. However, keep in mind that your ultimate goal is to succeed. Make an effort to manage your time well, meaning that if for instance you plan on going to the beach, don’t spend a whole day in the sun because that means a full day of no studying and a lot of tiredness the following day! A practical option would be to wake up early in the morning to study and then go to the beach later and have fun.
5. Don’t be too hard on yourself
Well, as little ’Annie’ said, “it’s a hard-knock life”, but a resit is not the end of the world. One should not just think of what he/she has done wrong, but one should also identify all that he/she has done right and apply it again this time round. An exam you don’t do well in can easily become a unit which you will most likely dislike. However, no matter how irritating the subject is or how boring or impossible it all seems, everyone should keep repeating one thing to him/herself: “I will pass it.” It is only with such a positive mindset that you can pass that resit with flying colors. So don’t be too hard on yourself, just because things didn’t go your way the first time round, it doesn’t mean that you cannot do this. A resit is an opportunity to do it all again and to do it better!
