failing tafe/uni/other study
Does anyone find that failing assessments at tafe or uni or school really rattles you?? or is it just me? i've failed so many assignments at tafe and i've been seeing a tutor just recently but i dont understand a thing. it makes me feel pretty stupid and then I start wandering why I bother with it all when I can't pass a simple task. I didnt go today because I knew I'd get my results back and would of failed it again....
Why does it seem so easy for some people? They do the work without a hassle, but I work really hard and study but I just can't get my marks anywhere near as good.
Is it just me who makes such a big deal out of this? I'm sick of failing in everything I wish I was actually smart. The minute I think I understand something, I get knocked back but that all mighty "unsatisfactory", again and again....
this isnt just about me having a sook, I just want to see if others have felt this way
Comments
Yeah I totally understand,'m doing a tafe course and we aren't allowed any help,im literally just drowning in this work and I don't know what to do anymore, if I fail tafe then I fail school as well because its connected
hey @jessun123 sounds like a tough gig at tafe/school at the moment. When you say you're not allowed any help, I'm wondering if there's a student support service you could go to and explain a bit about how you're feeling at the moment? They might be able to offer some tips or even extensions on due dates etc.
Totally relate!!
Not only do assignments rattle me, the whole idea of uni does.
Failing isn't fun at all, you are not alone!! No one goes to uni or tafe with the intention of failing. It makes you feel so useless and pathetic. I definitely considered dropping out after I failed. But now I'm really glad I didn't.
I think it's really great you've started seeing a tutor. Your tutors and lecturers are the best people to help because they are the ones teaching you and marking you. Perhaps you could make an appointment to sit down with each of them individually and talk about what is going on for you and ask for some study tips and their advice and some feedback on where you've gone wrong with your previous tests and assignments. My uni have thing where 3rd years run study sessons for particualr subjects which I think is great because they;ve actually done the subject and passed and can give you some great tips! Study groups with other people in your class is great too. That's really helped me with a few of my hard subjects.
I think finding out how and where you study is really important. For me home is not good because as everyone else has mentioned there are so many distractions! I go to a small, quite local cafe or a park in summer. I like them because here not everyone is sitting down studying really hard like at a library and so I dont feel as much pressure. I also like using coloured pens to make my notes and diagrams and coloured flashcards so it all seems a bit more fun!!
I think it's great if you are really struggling to set up a plan with yiur uni/tafe. Maybe you might be able to do alternative assessments?
Hang in there. You are not the only one. Uni/tafe is hard and the fact that you are 1) going 2) going despite struggling and 3)asking for help is pretty unbelievably amazing!!!
It's silly because a course like landscaping really shouldnt be this hard for me. It's not overly complicated. Maybe I'm just not set out for sitting down with a peice of paper and pen and learning stuff... that's why I chose the apprenticeship but the TAFE component is bringing me down.
Everyone learns differently, you might just be better at visual stuff then writing down test and assignment stuff
Maybe if you could get your tafe teachers to explain things in more of a hands on way or ask them to discuss with you in depth about how or when you would use what you are learning out in the real world then stuff (you might even already know) about landscaping might be easier to translate on to paper?
I second @hartley_ 's suggestion of using the library. I did my undergrad at a uni pretty close to my house and I went there practically every day!! Not that you have to do that, but the library usually has silent study areas + has all the books you might need.
I actually study at home because I live a bit far from campus and if I would have to get up quite early to get to uni, which leads me to another useful point, which is getting enough sleep!!!! I used to be so bad at this and my schoolwork suffered as a result. Now I try to sleep and wake up at regular times, and it helps so much with concentration and memory.
hey @j95
I think we've all been there - I too feel pretty damn bad when I don't do well in my assessments. During my uni days I haven't had much trouble but I did fail plenty of things in high school. Each time it happened, I felt worse about myself and couldn't understand why it was so hard for me to just pass when everyone else seemed to be doing fine.
I agree with @safari93 about talking to your tutor as well as the lecturer or whoever is running your units. Perhaps it might be a good idea to make a list of the things you don't understand and take them to your tutor so you can work through them. It might also be helpful to look through the assignments you failed with your tutor so you can work out where you went wrong and improve on it for your future assignments.
Don't think that you aren't smart just because you've failed a few things in your course! Studying is tough for all of us and you never really know how hard the other students are working to stay on top of their work - it might not be as easy for them as it seems.
thanks!! i find it really hard to study at home because somebody is always asking me something or wanting me to do something and lets be honest - those game of thrones/rick&morty/adventure time DVDs are too much to say no to. How do you two do it?
@j95 I know exactly what you mean. I actually started studying at my university library recently for this reason, I just can't get anything done at home lately. In my room I have my guitars, playstation, tv, netflix, and dude.. how good is rick & morty? I loved adventure time too and i'm dying for more GOT.
I have a BMO mug at work lol.
Anyway, you should totally try studying somewhere away from home. I've been able to get stuff done at my park too. Basically anywhere where there's less distractions.
While I was at uni I lived with my family of four other adults and a 1 year old baby - needless to say it was noisy as hell and there was always somethingggg going on that would distract me
It was during this time that I made the library my second home!
I would go to the uni library or the local library, take a buttload of snacks and set up for the day to study and do assignments
I found that there were less distractions there and that if I had bothered to actually go to the library I felt like I might aswell study and get it over with so I could go home and chill later.
As for failing, i know what you mean. If I put my all into an assignment and failed or got a mark much worse than I expected I would feel so crap about myself. I found that taking more time to read and understand the question or what it was they were asking of me, asking lecturers and other students aswell really helped
I had to slow down from being so eager to start and finish an assignment and figure out what it really asked, I realised that I was so convinced that id get a good mark because i tried so hard - but i didnt know what they were really asking so i was answering a different question - regardless of how good the answer or essay was, it was wrong!
Maybe ask your tutor or lecturers and teachers what they are really asking and unpack the question further - im sure you will get it then 🙂 and then your hard work will be going in the right direction
Hey @j95 !! I don't think you're the only person who feels down when they don't do so well on an assignment - I know I've felt embarrassed at myself and hopeless when I fail an assignment, especially if it's an important one. I usually try to muster up the courage to actually look at my assignment afterwards to see what the feedback says, since it would usually tell you where you went wrong and how to go about doing better.
Have you tried working on your assignments with your tutor? You might also want to talk to whoever is running your unit(s) to see if they can talk to you more about what tthey are teaching you. Even talking to them after class could help, especially if there are concepts you learn which might be confusing for you.
It might also be a good idea to talk to someone about your thoughts on your learning, because it can be hard to learn anything if you are having a mental block. Talking about it might give you an understanding of what's going on and how it is affecting your studies
