While freshman year of college is filled with fun and friends, it is also filled with schoolwork – the main reason why we are at Penn State. The first few weeks of school are simple. The first week is syllabus week. The second week you learn new things, but nothing is too hard or crazy yet. The third week you take complex notes, submit weekly assignments, and more. Around the fourth week, you submit large projects and take exams. Navigating exams is all part of the freshman experience.  

Scantron Paper Commonly Seen In Exams: Click on Image for Link
Although it is not purposeful, it always has happened that most of your exams fall in the same week (even in high school.) This dreaded exam week is something all of us are never looking forward to. Being in the library, constantly studying, and staring at your computer or that giant textbook. As you finish one assignment, you go right into another. For many of us, our junior and senior years of high school were impacted by COVID, allowing for many open-note tests or take-home assignments. As Brookings states, “Most of us have never lived through a pandemic, and there is so much we don’t know about students’ capacity for resiliency in these circumstances and what a timeline for recovery will look like.” Because of this, it sometimes takes longer to study than it should, as we have not practiced these intense study habits in a long time. When you finish studying, sometimes, you just hope that you studied hard enough to earn the grade you want on this assignment or exam. Most times, you go to bed, exhausted from a long day of studying.  

As you wake up on exam day, sometimes it can be nerve-wracking. Especially because this is our first exam, it can make us nervous to know what the format might be, how many questions there are, and more. Exam nerves are a real thing, and they happen to many people. The National Library of Medicine states, “Approximately 25–40% of US students suffer from test anxiety.” For many, the dreaded walk to the Pollock Testing Center, the Forum Building, and more is where these nerves hit most. While taking the exam, you are trying to recall all your studying and hope that you did well when you turn it in. When turning the exam in, you always have a feeling whether you did well or not.  

Pollock Testing Center at Penn State: Click on Image for Link 

As you get the exams back, it is common to do not as well as you thought on one. I know personally, I was happy with one of my exam grades, but felt I could’ve done better on the other. After realizing the things I got wrong, I felt better about the exam I thought I had done better on. After all, the things I could’ve done better on were the things I was struggling with while studying. This shows me that although I felt failure at first, I will be able to study harder and improve next time. It is important to keep in mind that one exam does not determine our entire grade; in most cases.  

Overall, part of being a freshman in college is learning new things. Whether it is study habits for exams or learning how to do better on an exam, we will all learn these things as the year goes on. Best Colleges tells us, “Don’t let a single F define you as a student. In college, as in life, you’ll always face setbacks. Learning how to gracefully respond to failures will shape your future more than a poor grade.” Even if the grade is not an F, and it just is a grade that doesn’t satisfy you, feeling failure is part of life, and we will find new ways to overcome it as time progresses.