Don't Call it a Comeback

Starting a 'Back to School' series, by popular demand.  This week, I read a tweet that enraged me to the core, and I went on to scribe my thoughts. I found that my words spoke volumes to those going through that stage in their lives. As I too will be joining the flock this September, returning to an educational institute to further my career prospects, I thought it best to deal with these issues bit-by-bit. The first port of call in this series is dealing with bad baggage from the previous term/year, and how to improve, this academic year.

 Shirt : H&M | Trousers : ZARA | Sandals : ZARA

Results Day & the Summer
So you've received your results & you're not too pleased with whats staring back at you on paper. Fair enough. My advice is to give yourself time to wallow in self-pity. Trying to speed up the process by going straight into work-mode is futile. The work produced in the time will be of low quality, and you will lose the will to carry on. Whether its a day, or days...take a time-out. Cry if you need to. After a few days off, snap back to reality. THIS IS KEY! The moment of realisation when those low grades sink in, is when you need to pick up a pen and paper and start drafting an action plan.

 Studs : Matalan | Necklace : TK Maxx | Watch : Guess | Rings : DP/H&M

Action Plan
I grew up under a roof that placed great importance on academic achievements. My father drummed in the need for a SWOT analysis after every academic term.
Strength
Weakness
Opportunity
Threat

Its important to acknowledge where you went wrong. Yes, we live in a society thats infatuated with a blame culture. When something goes wrong, someone can always be held accountable. However, upon receipt of results, you need to denounce membership of that culture and accept that you had a part to play in your feeling of disappointment. When you can reach that stage of acceptance, is the moment you can openly acknowledge your faults and weaknesses. 

My SWOT Analysis
At the end of 2nd year, I accepted that my STRENGTH was retaining a lot of information in a short space of time. This system of studying may have worked for SATs, GCSEs and ALevels, but was proving difficult in University. I recognised that was WEAKNESS was the application of that knowledge. I am a procrastinator-by-nature, and would always revise last-minute. That didn't give me enough time to understand and apply my knowledge in-time to translate it to wisdom on paper. This meant that I was always scraping the bottom of the barrel. I never failed/ had retakes, as I understood the work, but I did not apply it to the question/ support it with external sources. Acknowledging your weakness does not always mean changing your system. I was realistic enough to know that I could not sacrifice my social life (THREAT) through the year to study continuously. Instead, I still left my revision until last minute, but I incorporated study-groups and peer-grading (OPPORTUNITY) into my revision system.

Onyxsta says...BLEURGH!! Carry out a SWOT Analysis, and prepare for low grades to go amiss. Xisses

Disclaimer: This advice is generic. Feel free to contact me & ask for more help/advice at nkeks@hotmail.com.