Celebrating Failure

Celebrating Failure

The Failure

My biggest failure this semester had to be Exam 1 in marketing. This was not a traditional failure in which I set myself up by not preparing. I was caught up on all material including LearnSmart chapters, quizzes, and live lectures. I took active notes on all lectures and chapters. Dr. Cooke told us that if we had kept up with those three things than we wouldn’t have to worry. I also further prepared for the exam by studying a copy of his previous version of exam 1. The week before the exam, I was involved in a car accident. After that, I was left with a totaled car and a sprained back. I did not get as much time to prepare for the exam the week of because of having to deal with the insurance companies and my health. The prescription I was given made me drowsy, dizzy, and unfocused. When I took the exam, I can’t even remember if I took my medicine and it made me lose focus or if I was just so exhausted and in so much pain that I couldn’t concentrate. It didn’t help that Dr. Cooke came to the exam and made an announcement during the exam destroying my concentration. Before I even finished the exam, I knew I was going to fail.

Learning Experience

I learned that the medicine I was taking was ruining my concentration and making it way more difficult for me to study or focus. I also learned how important it is to devote time to studying before the exam which I could not because I was forced to deal with my personal health, attorneys, and insurance companies. I knew the material I was going to be tested on, but I think the circumstances and the condition I was in had a huge influence on my failure. I can say with certainty that the accident was a huge contributor to the failure. For exam 2, I did not even study as much as I did for the first and I got an 81. Given the circumstances I probably shouldn’t have even taken exam 1 when I did but I wanted to get past the accident as soon as I could.

Reflection

Failure is always hard, and I was embarrassed to have myself in such a condition. It was not something that I did to myself. The person who totaled my car almost ruined my first semester at UF. To this day, I am still in pain and forced to fit 3 physical therapy appointments a week in on top of being a full-time student and working 20+ hours at the pharmacy while living on my own! I still feel like I am failing because I am running out of money and my grades suffered after the accident. The advisor I met with encouraged me to drop a class but didn’t bother to tell me about not getting any of my money back. It was almost as if she didn’t even get how important the investment was. At that point, I realized I didn’t have a choice but to push through this and hope that I could still pass. I am already risking everything by trying to make it through this. At this point, I know I don’t have much of a choice. I think that dropping a class and losing about $750 for the class I paid for would have crippled me worse than the accident did. I don’t understand the logic behind what my advisor told me unless she didn’t see how important the money was for a full-time student living on their own with no financial support at all. The biggest risk I am taking is the fact that I am still trying to finish what I started this semester.