How to cope when grades don't go your way

You are studying at university and you have received your first grade, and it is less than ideal. You are a foreign student and the grading system at home is vastly different from that of the United Kingdom. You begin to panic and are unsure of what to do because you are a naturally neurotic person. Slow down, someone needs to pull you into a corner and let you know this. I am not sure if they have done so as yet, but it is not the end of the world, no matter how much you catastrophise it.

Life goes on and the great thing about the University of Birmingham is that your lecturers give feedback on how you can improve in your next assessment. Apply their recommendations and you should be good, but also try to submit your work earlier to your lecturer and see if they can give you feedback before the actual submission. Some lecturers are kind enough to do this for you and this is also beneficial.

Also, try and reframe your thinking about grades. There is a lot of focus on grades and sometimes we lose sight of the fact that attending university is about expanding and growing your mind. It is for you to contribute to society in a positive and meaningful way when you graduate. Please do have fun while studying and at the back of your mind, there should always be a strong desire to learn and apply new information in your field so you can grow as a person. Perhaps a bad grade is just a sign that you have completed an assignment and now, with improvement, you become more astute in how you present your work.

And while grades are important, don’t forget to make connections both in and out of university, especially in your field of study. Surround yourself with people who have more experience than you do and you will see improvement in your work. So before you wallow about a bad grade, please remember the true reason you are at university: to learn, to improve, and to build whatever practice you are in.

I try to view grades the way a sportsman views a bad result: that was yesterday and this is today, so what can I do differently to improve myself? Answer this question for yourself and you are on your way to improvement. Before forgetting, it is important to be kind to yourself while studying. Don’t make university more stressful than it already is.