Personal Narrative: Lessons Learned From My Failure

Failure is a part of life. While many see failure as a negative thing, I have started to see it as a situation that can make you a better person. Failure drives me to never make that mistake again. I first realized this when I took my first AP class and AP exam and received a score of 2. This journey all started sophomore year when I took AP World History. I quickly learned that I needed to actually read and take notes to be able to succeed in the class. It took a few poor grades on essays and tests for me to understand this. Despite this new revelation, I still struggled in the class. When it came time to start reviewing and preparing for the exam, I put an immense amount of effort, but not as hard as I should’ve been. Exam day came and

I am not new to the idea of failing, but I refuse to accept failure as a mistake I will be remembered by. Through recent experiences I have learned how to react to failure, ask for help, and move on with my life.

Failure can feel devastating when you are living through the experience. I felt this way during one of the greatest failures in my life, failing to qualify for State History Day in my junior year of high school. This was my third History Day competition and I had previously qualified for State. While I entered the event with confidence from previous competitions and a final product that I thought was close to perfect, experiencing failure this time taught me how to strive for the best that I can be, persevere through tough times, and that sometimes your best isn't always the best.

In life we all have encountered successes and failures, sooner or later. Although failure is dreadful, I can only learn from it. I have failed multiple times, but I matured and learned from the experience. I, being a teenager, thought a job would make me more efficient; however it was the exact opposite.

Failing is not a pleasant feeling in the world, but there’s no other way around it then to learn from it and to get back up again. From our experiences, humans learn what to do and what not to the next time people try it again. In this world, humans must be able to get out of their comfort zone and fight against their will to give up in order to deepen their understanding of the world. In order for individuals to learn more, humans must develop a way to go beyond what is

I parked the car removed the keys from the ignition. The instructor began to combine all the points together, in my head I kept repeating “O God, I hope I passed.” It was not until then she said “Congratulations, you passed you’re driving test.” Right then, I just wanted to cry tears of joy because I was recalling the time when I failed on my first attempt and made sure to recover from that mistake by practicing every time I was not busy or on the weekend with my parents. I had put so much pressure on myself. I was just speechless at the end. I walked down the ramp and looked at my dad in excitement and relief. I was so proud of myself for going back and facing my fear of that dreadful place. I know now that whatever I put my mind to I can do. Even though it was a hard thing I had to face for two months and being so nervous the day of the test, I made sure not to give up even when times are tough. Resilience, determination and motivation was key to succeeding on my second

Throughout my life, failure has been a constant reminder of how much I more I have to grow and learn. A time when I have experienced a significant failure was in my Calculus AP class. Before this class I would've thought that math was the easiest subject for me, hover, upon taking this course I've never been more wrong. The failure in this class progressed from a D to and F. I was devastated when I realized how inadequately I was performing, compared to previous successes. I remember studying all night for a test just to receive an F on it anyway. It was then that I realized that I was missing a fundamental step in the problem solving experience. Since I usually make really good grades, the thought of having an F on my progress report was eating

Have you ever failed at something so important to you? Ever since I was a little girl I dreamed of driving and feeling the fresh wind in my hair. I turned 15 a year and a half ago and I was so excited to finally get my permit and to live out my dream, but things didn't go as plan. Ben Franklin said it the best when he said “You can do anything you set your mind to” I didn’t believe I could pass the test which made me terrified to even take it.

One way I turned my failure into success is by taking responsibility of the grade. That helped me recognize that

Failure is how I learn to better myself despite its negative outcome, I always manage to alternate its impact on me because I know that it is only temporary. It was essential to never let failure restrain me from my own success. For example, my senior year in high school was very stressful primarily because of my calculus class which I was dreadfully failing. Each time I failed a test or quiz, it motivated me to try harder and keep going until I attained better results. Eventually, my hard work and dedication paid off and I was able to successfully graduate high school with a passing

Although I passed, it did not feel the same. I still felt like I had failed my dad. My dad had taken another day off from work to be with me because I could not get the job done the first time. When I walked out of the test room, my dad was relieved to hear the news that I had passed. He had the same excitement on his face that he had last week when he thought that I had passed the test. It was like my dad wiped my failure from his memory and just focused on my success. I realized that everything does not always work out and sometimes failure can be better than success. When I failed the first test, I was upset and I knew that I had to change my study habits to get a better score. By failing the test, I had realized that one cannot go their whole life relying on luck. If someone wants to gain success, than they must work for it. Sometimes failure is necessary for someone to move forward. This experience helped to show me that it is ok to fail. The important thing is to learn from the failure and try to fix it for the next time. Maybe it was important for me to fail in order to learn the necessary adjustments I had to make to gain success the next time

This feeling of failing and never being able to succeed emerge on a cold January day, i was scheduled to take my drivers exam that day. I'm a nervous wreck at this time trying to remember everything i need to do right in order to acquire my license, as the instructor opened the door to get into the car my heart suddenly starts pounding harder and harder. I finally took a deep breath and began the test, everything was going well, I had no problem with the parallel parking and was using all my turn signals. When we started the road test i was thinking to myself “the hard part is over, now it is just the home stretch” well that was what i thought at least.

Failure is a dirty word. Being so charged with the feeling of despair that is to fail, and not the adulation that is to succeed. It has been said that failing is the first step to success, and my greatest failure came at a critical time in my academic career. During the fall of my senior year I choose to take the most rigorous course work I ever have. Encouraged by my teachers to take AP courses I elected to take AP Physics and AP Literature. This as it turns out was a bad time to take these courses, as my seasonal depression has been getting worse over the years. The demands of my new AP classes would prove to be a challenge I could not only rise up to but embrace the challenge. My grades began to dip as the air turned colder and the days

Traditionally, failure is seen as a negative concept and is defined as lacking success. I, on the other hand, try to put a positive spin on everything in life. I see failure as an obstacle that is experienced by all, but it does not define an individual. Failure in essence will force an individual to be more receptive to their surroundings and actions and also will force an individual to mature. Looking back on my childhood years I can now pinpoint the areas where I failed and I can confidently say that I have grown and prospered due to those failures. The three major failures I have experienced were my attention deficit issues which affected my ability to succeed in school, my anti-social habit that I let consume my early years, and my

Recount an incident or time when you experience failure. How did it affect you, and what lessons did you learn?