Assignment Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect you, and what lessons did you learn? Response Failure is an inevitable part of life. We cannot be successful in everything we partake in. Personally, how successful one becomes is dependent on the method he or she uses to overcome adversity and failure. If Thomas Edison had given up on the light bulb, we could be still living in darkness today. However, I now look towards something much less significant than that — my own experience of failure, one that has stood out among every other failure and success I have gone through.
I massively flunked my mid-term exams back in Secondary 4 at age 15. I should make clear that this was not my most debilitating failure, nor was this the event that has left the biggest dent in my confidence. However, this failure was, without a doubt, the most significant in my life. It completely changed the way I approached not only my academics, but life in general. It all started innocuously enough. New topics were hurled at me like proverbial missiles. I thought I could grasp the concepts quickly enough.
My approach was to wing it and cram at the last minute. Compared to my peers, I was quite relaxed. Little did I know that the transition I had to make would be equivalent to the Brunei Bay — huge, largely undiscovered, and very threatening to whoever was not sufficiently prepared for it. I quickly found out for myself that such a simple miscalculation of judgment could result in dire consequences. As I took the first batch of exams, it hit me like a truck– Secondary 4 was no playground.
Where were the straightforward questions that I was used to? Why were the papers dominated by free-response questions? Questions were swirling around my head akin to the inside of a washing machine. I was confused and dazed but not worried. I was still confident that I could pull it off. Believe it or not, I did manage to pull it off-the worst exam results I had ever received. The prognosis was quite grim, to say the least. My Chinese, physics and additional mathematics results were in tatters, and my other subjects were barely manageable.
But the one that turned my stomach was biology. The fact that I had failed very miserably sent my head spinning. I had no idea to do. I had not been the most outstanding student, but I consistently posted results near the top range of my school. And in one swift, decisive maneuver, I thought I had managed to completely obliterate my reputation. As one might imagine, since I originate from quite a stereotypical Asian household, I received an enormous backlash and was verbally torn apart by my parents, based on my “atrocious” results.
Now, let it be known that I absolutely despise receiving scoldings from anyone. Which teenager doesn’t? But, as I filtered out my parents’ admonishments, something stirred within me. I knew I was wrong. I had received advice, be it from teachers, friends, or filtered from the barrage of words cascading out of my parents’ mouths. I had to invest more effort into my academics. Do revision. Break out from the bad habits I had developed. Plan ahead. Looking back, I realize why I failed. I was over-dependent on others.
When it came time to fend for myself, I failed miserably. Changing that mentality helped me tremendously. My grades slowly picked up once again and I managed great results for my O Levels. This has carried over to other aspects of my life. Once, I was a little 15-year old baby, shielded from everything, provided with everything. This is not the case anymore. I might lag back sometimes, but I am as determined and hungry as ever for success. Using this new mentality, I am sure I can achieve a lot, as long as I remain modest, and not be over-confident of my abilities.
