Hey, so I just received a shocking score on my math test: a C+. My grade dropped a whole 9%, and this was the lowest test score I’ve gotten for several years now. I’m really bummed out, and I have high expectations to become the valedictorian at my school, but with the competiton, I’d need to work incredibly hard to still potentially be in the running. You may bash me if you want for being an overachiever, but I’d really like to know how other overachievers deal with bad test scores.
Allow yourself to feel sad about it, then brush yourself off and keep moving forward. Study up on the material from that test so that it’s not a gap in your knowledge. Try to identify what went wrong – unhelpful study methods, a bad mindset, not knowing what to expect, or what? That’ll give you something to address for the next test.
Everyone slips up sometimes. In college, I’ve aced tests and I’ve failed them. It happens.
Figure out what went wrong, how to address it, and move forward. If you missed a concept, make sure you go back and master it. The test showed you that you had additional work to do. That’s the purpose of a test (not the grade!)
And realize that although the worst has happened, the world has not ended! That can be liberating.