5 Tips for coping with exam failure

Dealing with academic failure is never enjoyable.

Whether it’s an important exam or just an end of unit test, whether you were expecting disappointment or you felt prepared and it was a complete shock, failing an exam can leave you with that lingering sinking feeling.

Many students believe they will be judged by their peers and that they might have let down their teachers or parents. This especially stings if your support system has given up a lot to afford you certain opportunities or extra support at school. Similarly, the hit or failure can be hard to take if a lot is riding on the results.

It can leave you feeling dejected, embarrassed and disheartened. Our tutors know the feeling and have supported hundreds of students through these gut-wrenching times and out the other side to a more positive future.

What’s most important is how you handle this confidence knock and make an epic comeback.

Put things into perspective

The first and potentially greatest hurdle after receiving bad grades is to regulate and manage the feelings and emotions brought about by the failure, so you can avoid spiralling into self-deprecation.

Reassure yourself with the fact that you’re definitely not the first and certainly won’t be the last person in this position. Many people have been disappointed by failure, in particular academic failure, so you are not alone.

Undoubtedly, it is a knock to the confidence, so do things that make you feel good for a while. Remind yourself of the ways in which you are worthy, brilliant and add value to others lives. Chat to loved ones and hopefully, their reassurance will remind you that it’s a bad day, not a bad life.

One set of bad grades doesn’t define you or mean you’re not a good student, instead, it’s about how we rise after falling.

Comparison is the thief of joy

Another thing to bear in mind is to try and avoid making comparisons between yourself and your peers. This won’t help and may put you in a worse headspace.

Comparison is the thief of joy. You should be your only competition and have the goal of improving on your previous performance.

Do we need a bit of failure?

Once you’ve come to terms with the failure and know that it’s not the end of the world, try to look at the silver linings. Have you ever considered that we might need a bit of failure in our lives?

There’s no doubt that failure of any degree offers invaluable opportunities for learning and a closer — in fact, most successful people have had setbacks throughout their school life and career. Failure is just one of those life lessons that no one wants to go through but many of us will, unfortunately, have to learn the hard way.

Ultimately it’s part and parcel of life and you’ve got to experience some lows to appreciate the highs:)

Where did you go wrong?

The next stage of coping with exam failure is to focus on what you have control over. It’s vital to try and hone in on problem areas and assess what negatively impacted your performance so that you can implement change.

Was your revision technique off? Had you been staying up too late, cramming revision or not taking regular breaks? Perhaps you haven’t quite yet worked out what your learning technique is, or maybe you had difficulty sticking to your study schedule? Where possible, get as much feedback as you can. Depending on your exam board you might be able to have your exam transcripts returned to highlight areas for improvement so this is worth checking with your teachers.

With this in mind try not to be so hard on yourself or wallow in negativity. Once you’ve established what went wrong, consider your next steps and take action.

It’s time to discuss your next options.

Bouncing back

So, it’s time to make a plan of action.

If it’s a major exam, consider the option of resitting, all the while staying positive! One thing to bear in mind is that we must all make mistakes to learn from them. Who knows, this could be the shock to the system that you needed to really get your head down. Remain positive and committed.

If you know you’ve not been doing all you can to fulfil your potential.

Next, troubleshoot your specific problems. If your failure was due to running out of time or misreading the question, make sure you’re completing practise papers under timed conditions. This will familiarise you with the amount of time you’ll be limited to in the exam and will force you to zone in on the exact wording of questions.

You might have struggled due to gaps in your knowledge or a lack of understanding of the main concepts. If so, you should prioritise developing a thorough base understanding and memorising key definitions and terminology.

If you find you need further help with key elements of the syllabus, our excellent tutors are on hand to help.

In conclusion

Overall, facing failure is a natural part of life and although we can’t take away the sting of receiving the bad news, Scoodle’s tutors are keen to help you fulfil your true potential. Know that this exam failure is only temporary and don’t let it trick you into believing that you can’t achieve your academic goals.

Things worth having certainly don’t come easy and this applies to your education too.

For help dealing with academic failure and bouncing back from disappointing results book a tutor today.