Let me start this off by saying something important: I am not a good student. I’ve failed more exams than I care to remember, and I struggle every week to figure out what in the world is going on in my classes. Yet I’m still here! I’m still alive! I’m still breathing! And so are you.
Midterms just wrapped up, and I’m sure you and everyone you know got slammed with exams, homeworks, and projects that all seemed to be due in the same week, if not on the same day. It was a tough time, let’s be honest. But it’s over! On to the next week. But what if the exam didn’t go well? Maybe you forgot that one formula on your notes sheet, or maybe your friend did a problem a different way than you, or maybe you were just having an off day! After all the exams are over and the smoke has cleared, it’s almost tradition to start stressing about the results. It’s a vicious cycle that we all get stuck in, but consider this — it’s just an exam!
That’s the motto that Professor Mishah Salman repeats before, during, and after every exam in his classes. It’s a simple phrase, but it carries a lot of meaning behind it. It IS just an exam! It doesn’t define you as a person, it doesn’t make you a bad student, and it absolutely will not ruin your chances of graduating or landing that dream job. Salman and I both can promise you that.
So let’s say you do get a bad grade on an exam. You get that silly little Canvas notification and it’s not exactly the grade you expected or wanted. It happens! One of the first things you should do is to take a breath and remember — it’s just one assignment. There will be others, and this will just be a percentage of your final grade. It isn’t the end of the world and you can recover! There are a few key steps to getting back on track.
The first step is to reflect. Take a few minutes to look through the feedback and see where you went wrong. Do your best to understand and improve on those areas. Think about how you prepared and consider if there are other, more effective ways to study. Some people study best in groups, doing practice problems and bouncing ideas off of each other. Others retain information better if they study alone, going through notes, lecture slides, and textbooks. And some others like a mix of both. See what works best for you, and do that for the next exam.
The next step is to prepare. Stevens offers a whole slew of academic support, including one-on-one tutoring from the Academic Student Center, office hours with professors or TAs, and many clubs that can be great networks to connect with someone that has already taken that class and is willing to help out. Take advantage of these resources (you’re paying for them, might as well use them!) to clear up any concepts that may be confusing or to get some help with upcoming assignments and exams.
Finally, make a plan and stick to it. Deciding which methods for studying work best for you and following through on them is important. Finding a study buddy is a great way to keep each other accountable. Another option is taking more time to review the material after each class to make sure everything makes sense. If something isn’t clear and you can’t figure it out, reach out to a friend, the professor, or your TA for help. Figuring out a way to prioritize each class’s workload also helps by making the work more manageable and show you where you need to allocate your time and efforts.
No matter how much it may suck to have to buckle down and focus more on your classes, I can assure you it’ll suck less than getting back another bad grade and going through all this again. So don’t beat yourself up, just make sure to reflect, prepare, and make a plan for the rest of the class. And remember — it’s just an exam!
