How to Deal with Disappointing Entrance Exam Results

July 20, 2017

• University and Higher Education

You have worked incredibly hard this time, given it your absolute best in the entrance exam. Unsealing the envelope, you cautiously slide out a thin slice of paper and hold it up to the light. You grip the letter between your fingertips as the print comes into view:it says that the entrance exam did not go as you had planned. What do you do?

Dramatics aside, this scene is one many students will either live or have imagined. Now that entrance exams are being used by many more schools, colleges, and universities, pupils are increasingly being prepared to face them. While readying your brain for the challenge, it is also essential to prepare yourself for dealing with the outcomes; all outcomes.

Ideally, students sitting entrance exams, and especially those who have worked hard for them, would be successful. However, falling short of targets can never be fully prevented and is, more often than not, the start of a helpful learning curve.

Just remember to not give up on your broader goals. For example, if you wanted to be an Engineer, losing out on your top choice university owing to an entry exam shortfall will not hinder your path to becoming an Engineer. The journey may be longer and more complicated now at your second choice university, but the destination- being an Engineer- is still very much within your reach.

When you don’t give up, you force yourself to devise creative solutions to problems. As soon as you receive the disappointing results, think about some other routes to achieving your dreams and don’t waste time in pursuing them.

Whatever you do, refuse to beat yourself up. Remind yourself of the excellent effort you put in to preparation and the instances of talent you have already demonstrated. Channel your frustration towards re-aligning your aspirations: working out where you are and how you need to get where you should be.

Coping with failure is, after all, an important life skill, since you learn to make the most of what you have, and in the course of this, you will come to discover how strong and confident you can be.

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