Failure can be a hard pill to swallow. And you may feel like you’ll never recover from a bad semester. But if you do some introspection, you’ll find out why you failed in the first place. Be honest with yourself. Could it be due to the fact that you were partying way too much or you didn’t give yourself enough time to prepare for the exams? There are many reasons why people fail in life but there are ways to learn from mistakes.

Talk to someone

It’s normal to be hard on yourself after experiencing failure. But you shouldn’t stay down for too long. Speak to a trusted friend, family member or a counsellor about what you’re going through. They may give you tips on how best to bounce back from failure and give you a different perspective. Don’t go through it alone. When you’re going through things, sometimes you may feel like you’re alone and no one else knows what you’re going through. If you open up to someone they may be able to tell you about how they handled their failures and how they overcame them. And this could help you deal with your own pain.

Lack of preparation

When you don’t give yourself enough time to prepare for tests or assignments you’re bound to get poor results. You need to plan ahead on how you’ll tackle each semester, otherwise you’ll end up feeling overwhelmed when faced with deadlines. Create a study schedule which will help you stay focused and on track of all subjects. You’ll feel more in control and organised when you have a plan. And you’ll also stress less when you study more frequently. If you don’t have a concrete study plan your work performance will suffer.

Don’t quit early in the game

Never give up, everything happens for a reason: you’ve heard these clichés countless of times in your life. And they’ve been overused for a reason. They give comfort and motivation in hard times. And you can read more inspirational quotes online or buy a book which will lift your spirits up when you’re down. The goal is to find ways to stay as positive as possible so you’ll have the courage to try again.

Jack of all trades, master of none

Are you juggling a lot of things at once? For instance, you might be fully enrolled in varsity, work part time and still have an active social life. And because you have a hectic schedule, you may find little time to actually study. You need to learn how to prioritise your studies in order to do well. If you really need to work, ask your boss if it’s not possible to reduce your working hours, so you can have free time to study.

Ask for help

Lecturers have consultation hours for a reason and they are there to help you. If you are having trouble understanding your work then it might be a great idea to ask for their help. When lecturers are in class they don’t have time to give you their undivided attention because they have to finish the work they prepared. Whether you’re studying a sales and marketing course or finance, you’ll benefit from visiting your lecturers once in a while.

Join a study group

If you’re struggling with a subject then why don’t you join a study group? Studying with other students will help you grasp the information more easily as they’ll be able to share tips and solutions on how to resolve problems. When you’re studying alone you might procrastinate and wait until the very last minute to start working. But when you’re part of a study group, you’ll be forced to go through the work before meetings.

Take time out

When you’re chopping down a tree with an axe, there’s a point where you need to stop and sharpen it in order for it to produce the best results. A blunt, unsharpened axe will cause you to use more physical strength and therefore take you longer to complete the task. And just as you would pause to sharpen your axe, you need to do the same for your brain. You should learn to take regular breaks in order to do the best job and get the best results. Your brain needs rest and to be recharged in order for it to be used at its maximum capacity. You may think studying without breaks will help you get more work done, but that’s not the case. Your brain needs to recharge in order to boost concentration and your memory.

They say if you want to know how long a year is, ask a student who has failed a year.

Failure is not the end of the world and if you give yourself the chance you can bounce back. Many people have failed before but through it all, they managed to pick themselves up.