We can’t always get perfect grades for all of our midterms; we’re human. Sometimes even if we’ve studied to capacity and feel prepared, we find we’re not.
Getting results back is, a lot of times, stressful and scary… especially if you find the number in front of you to be lower than expected. In those times when you feel caught off guard and anxiety ridden by a score, you may go through a process of emotion: the five steps of midterm grief.
1. Denial
Grades have just been posted for your last exam and your heartbeat heightens. As you peek at the result, your stomach drops. There’s no way this is right. I thought I did so much better than this. This must be wrong. Maybe it wasn’t calculated right or maybe it’s not out of the right number of points. I had to have done better than this.
2. Anger
As you finally start to realize your grade is not wrong and that you’re really stuck with it, you begin to experience a new emotion, anger. How could this happen? That exam wasn’t fair, there’s no way it was. Why me?
3. Bargaining
After your anger slowly starts to subside, you feel a little glimmer of possibility. Maybe you can somehow undo it… in some way or another at least. I should talk to the professor and try to make this grade better. Maybe I can do more work for extra points.
4. Depression
When you realize the exam grade is final and there’s no going back, the reality of it all finally sinks in. How could I let myself do this poorly? I should have done so well. I don’t deserve this. I’m so upset and disappointed in myself.
5. Acceptance
Thank goodness this process usually ends in acceptance. It’s the only way to truly move on and not dwell on something that can’t be changed. You calculate your full grade and begin thinking of ways to improve and exactly what you need to do. It’s all going to be okay. I didn’t do as well as I hoped but there will be more exams and more chances to do better.
If you go through this process or a similar one when you get your grades back, you are not alone. It’s a monumental mix of emotions that quickly flood in one after the other and it’s pretty universal. Accept it, and move forward.
Photo Sources:
http://pashto.wunderground.com/wximage/kshippychic/71?gallery=
http://eofdreams.com/rain.html
http://robertfinkelstein.wordpress.com/quotes-and-images/beautiful-sunrise/
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