Why grades aren’t everything

Many students are right now studying hard in order to give their very best in final exams and essays. When our entire lives revolve around student life it’s easy to get caught up in the world of reading, writing, and of course, the grades. If we’re close to graduating the pressure we feel from ourselves or those around us make us strive to do our best. But this can also be a heavyweight dragging us down when our expectations collapse with reality. 

It’s easy to forget that our value and future prospects are not solely tied into some numbers that will be a part of a piece of paper we receive as documentation, proving the one thing we’ve to spend years doing: getting a degree.

What I want to do with this post is to remind you that perfect grades don’t define you even though they do matter. Your grades are not necessarily a reflection of your intelligence or ability. And remember that good grades are not the purpose of getting a degree. The purpose is to learn and grades are only a small snapshot of reality. Especially when it comes to exams: it is going to be very rare in your future that you will ever have to depend only on your memory, a paper, and a pen. 

Most often on jobs, you will have your computer, google, co-workers to ask and so much more. So getting a bad grade in an exam does not mean you are not smart or clever or will not be able to succeed at a job after university.

I think the best thing we can do as students is to do the best we can learn from all the experiences we are lucky enough to get and remember that bad grades has nothing to do with your value. Bad grades are not the end of the world. It does not mean you won’t ever turn out to anything or restrict you from getting your dream job. Perhaps excellent grades might make this easier, but it won’t make it impossible without them. 

Just remember to do what makes you happy, remind yourself why you chose university and your specific degree in the first place, and perhaps just by refinding a desire to learn you will automatically do better – if not by grade then at least by your mental health!