<p>I need honest and critical advice 
My life depends on this essay haha</p>
<ol>
<li> Tell us about a time when your expectations and outcomes differed. How did you grow from this experience?</li>
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<p>Reflecting back on my entire life, I feel like I experienced more failure than I had experienced success. Especially, academically. I have never been the student who receives straight A’s or report cards with less B’s than A’s. I mean, my grades weren’t terrible and horrific, but they just weren’t grades that would be put up on the refrigerator with a magnet for everyone to see. I didn’t really pay attention to my grades or realized that I could do so much better. It was until sophomore year, however, when I got a huge painful slap in the face with reality. I consider it the climax of my entire educational career.
I faintly remember that one summer day, I had a sudden urge to challenge myself. I wanted to see how far my potentials could reach. Therefore, I decided to enroll myself in courses that were outside my comfort-zone. I went to school with anticipation and a high expectation of grades. Then in a flash, first quarter report cards were passed out and I had received my first ever failing grade on my report card. I had never even fathomed failing a class. I had only imagined, yet Algebra II GT had made it a reality. At the end, my grades obviously came out completely opposite from what I had expected them to be. This failure had somewhat “scarred” me and made me grow a fear of failure. However, I am ironically glad that I experienced this debacle because I feel like I yielded two positive things from this experience: maturity and motivation. Not only did I start to mature as a person, but I matured as a student. Second, I grew motivation and eagerness to face challenges. Starting with a somewhat “clean slate”, I did a little bit better in Junior Year. I definitely wish I could have done better and I know I could have, I feel like it was because I was only thinking about not failing the most important year of high school rather than actually enjoying and absorbing the material. On the bright side, I think the reason why I did better in junior year is because I didn’t do the immature things I had done in sophomore year, such as procrastinating, being careless about my grades, and not studying effectively. It was the year where I really started to focus on my studies and learn the skill to balance challenging classes and eradicate many unwanted grades; a skill I did not have in sophomore year. Then, last but definitely not least, senior year was when everything began to come together. When my grades began to finally see the sun since middle school. The year that proved that I was capable of becoming an “A” student. After the three years of ups and downs, I finally found peace, stability, as well as myself. Now, I know that I can aspire academically as well as face challenges with confidence and without fear. My grades are now refrigerator-worthy. </p>