My Reflection Of Myself As A Passer Student

Throughout a majority of my academic career, I was a straight-A student. My grades were an extremely important thing to me; I reasoned that my grades were representative of my success and if I didn’t earn an A, then I was a failure. I cried and called myself a failure when I received my very first B. Catching my first glimpse of the B for the first time, my heart sank. ‘All of my hard work - for nothing!’, I thought to myself. I didn’t believe that I could have done better. After the second B, I considered that perhaps grades weren’t as important as I had originally thought. As time went on from my first B to my fourth, my heart sank less and the tears dried up. I began to notice the things I was doing wrong and used that information to turn

While reading Ken Bain’s book “What the Best College Students Do” of the five different types of students he describes, I feel like I fall under the label of one having mediocre grades but achieving success. I make good grades, however I do not necessarily believe my grades always reflect my hard work, determination and effort put in, similar to his theory on false hope in standardized testing. Throughout my school career, I have consistently made A and B grades. I can remember only one C grade, which was a quarter grade, and very disappointing, but a lesson learned. At the same time though, and as Bain helped me realize through his text, grades are not everything and making a C is not something that is going to kill me; there is simply more to school than a letter grade. In fact he points out through most of the 1800s schools only used two grades, pass or fail. As seen nowadays, schools have since adopted the letter grade system.

During my high school days and the last few semesters when I was at Sandhill Community College I was way too comfortable. I slacked off and all I was thinking about was just getting doing the minimum to just be finished already. Recently, I was pushed by the looks of my grades that I just needed to get things done; I wanted to be free, not to do my best, just to finish so I could say I passed all my classes. Now I realize life isn’t about just getting by, but about bringing all you have to be able to become successful in what needs to be done. In the next paragraphs I will explain what I expected to happen, what actually happened, what I learned, and how I will apply what I learned to future plan.

Everyone has a different level of fear and curiosity that spurs them to approach intellectual risk in their own unique ways. Many students avoid AP classes or honors because “in the high-stakes world of accomplished children, a B+ is akin to failure, and failure is not allowed,” as stated by Pamela Paul. In general, students have the fear of failure drilled into their heads since they were young, and to them “failure” is all about low grades as opposed to lack of learning. The few who are curious enough and have a strong enough desire to learn are the ones who are viewed as less accomplished because they take risks and so are the ones to fail, but they are also the ones who learn more.

“Conquering the Freshman Fear of Failure,” by David L. Kirp, main idea id that every student starts college with the overwhelming feeling that they have to succeed. “This fear of failing hits poor, minority, and first generation college students especially hard. (pg.1 p.3)” I am the first person in my family to go to college in my family, and I am so driven to make them proud, and make every cent they are paying worth it. The idea of succeeding means so much to me that I would become devastated if I got even a “C” on an exam. I pressure myself to become an example to my brother and sister, so one day they will have the influence and courage to become something great in the life. I am trying to reach for the stars, but my biggest fear is my

I admit, I had a very challenging time last semester, and as a result my grades suffered. I don’t mean to make excuses for my poor performance in school but I would like to explain my circumstance. During my second semester of college I treated my classes like I did in high school thinking I could coast by and pass my classes, but when I noticed how poorly I was doing in class everything was already headed downhill. I started the second

My first failure discouraged me to the point where, I felt like I would never reach an advanced math level again. The lack of self-confidence that resulted from my sub-par math scores soon began to negatively affect some of my other classes. I quickly realized that the trend had to stop. I worked diligently to achieve what, at the time, seemed unattainable. My change in the outlook of my repeated failures helped me to finally succeed. Throughout the course of the last two years, I have grown more self-aware in my study habits. I push myself even harder when I think I have done the best I can.

Before my admission to Houston Community College, I was lost on how to succeed in my courses. However, my admission to this institute exposed me to different courses which educated me on different lessons on how not only to survive in college, but also how to succeed in my classwork. There are two main lessons that I wish to pass on to other students on how they can flourish in their courses.

Pérez, Angel B. "Want to Get Into College? Learn to Fail." Education Week. N.p., 11 May 2016. Web. 16 Sept. 2016.

Failure is not an option. That was instilled upon me at an early. I took this mantra with me when I attended Special Forces Combat Diver School at Key West in 2010. My drowning and subsequent failure at Dive School resided in my mind for months to come. I assumed everything I hope to achieve was lost. After the summer had passed and as the semester was about to begin, I recognized that I could still achieve my goals, but it would take time, dedication, and sacrifice. I had to prove myself above my peers. I was already in my junior year of my Political Science degree with at least 4 more semester’s worth of courses to complete. In addition to my ROTC curriculum and working part time, my academic scheduled was already overwhelming. After detailed research and intensive analysis, I realized I could achieve a second

When a person is on the verge of failing a course, if they catch the failing grade fast enough, there are many things they can change to reach success in the course. The things they make different may have been their downfall to begin with. They could have never studied. While it is great to take good notes in class, what good are the notes if they are never practically used? Another part of studying is to look at the textbook outside of a classroom setting, and in college the student must buy the books don’t let them go to waste. To study properly

In this paper I will be explaining my biggest failure, how I was affected, and what I learned from this failure. I know there will be more failures in my life but at this time my biggest failure has been the many failed tests and assignments at the Early College. Most of my failures have been caused by my own procrastination.

With vivid images of failure in my mind, I pushed myself harder than ever before with one goal in mind: to be the best that I could be. Driven not by a fear of failure, but of not being able to make the most out of my life, I was able to achieve both first rate grades and personal pride in my work. Without my resolution to succeed, I would never have stepped outside my comfort zone and gained both the knowledge and experience that accompanies.

I was in Mr. Griffin History class when I saw a student exhibiting a negative identity pattern of failure. While in the class the student was require to complete a class assignment in which he had to write a paragraph about the three important developments made during the Renaissance period. As soonest everyone started to work on the assignment the student walked up to the Mr. Griffin staying that he could not complete the assignment because it was too difficult for him and writing a paragraph is too much to do. This shows that the student has a mentality of failure already limiting his ability to complete the assignment successfully.

Only the beginning of junior year, I was afraid to continue the class. I was afraid I was going to flunk out. The class carried on as I sat there day after day with the thought of failing on my mind. However, that only made me even more determined to get a higher grade on the next test. I could not let a bad grade eat me up and demolish my desire to succeed. Later when the second test was passed back, I looked at it, flashed a smile, and flipped through it, noticing only a few minor mistakes. Returning to the front page, I stared at that 92% until the end of class.