Dear friends,

With a person that struggles with anxiety, I used to stress a lot on how well I did on tests and exams. There were times where I lost sleep because I studied too much, or I missed out on stuff because I was too busy preparing. I have said this before (as well as others have I am sure), and I will say it again: grades do not define you.

I failed a Tom Sawyer test in my 7th grade English class. Look where I am now. I'm still in college and still getting good grades.

I didn't get credit for my one AP English test, but I'm still thriving!

I somehow got A's in my science classes in high school, and I still don't know crap about biology!

In my opinion, I hate tests. Not because it takes a lot of work to study for them and what not, but because I feel like nowadays we, the students, try to memorize as much as we can for the exams, and then forget the information right when it is done. I'm not saying everyone does that, but I'm sure a lot of people do.

There's always rules about not cheating on tests in middle school and high school, but we all have cheated at least ONE time on a test. You think if I'm having trouble with something at a future job, I'm just going to try and GUESS on what I should do? No, I'm going to ask for help and find the "answer."

See, I like to think of "cheating" as working on collaborating with other individuals because that's what we will be doing for the rest of our lives. I am in NO way saying "Go cheat!" No, that is not it. I'm saying that there was always that rule in school, and if you got caught, you got caught. If you didn't, you survived. I feel as though there is always that link between cheating and those students who don't try as much. Man, I know that some of the smartest kids from my school cheated on tests and they are thriving in college.

Tests don't mean anything regarding your overall being.

Yeah, I suck in English classes. Doesn't mean I can't speak English. Doesn't mean I'm dumb.

It just means I struggle with those topics more than others. That's life! We all have our weaknesses and strengths. We fail and we succeed. There's no in between.

My point of this article is not to urge students to give up on studying or go cheat on your exams. I want to make that very clear.

My whole reason for this article is to say that if you fail a test or don't do that well on one, don't dread over it. It's one exam. My mom told me that she got a 0 or something on exam once, and she still has a job and is doing well. My dad tells me all the time that he wasn't the greatest student (sorry mom and dad, I promise I'm not trying shit talk you), and he still has his own business that he and his dad put together.

Failing a test won't ruin your career. It is STILL important to study and work hard in school, don't forget that. All I am saying is that that is the best you can do: work hard and study. Do what you can to the best of your ability, and that's what counts. Tests don't define you!

Again, tests don't define you!

I hope teachers reading this don't take this the wrong way. I'm sure teachers cheated when they were in school, but they're teachers now! Again, that wasn't supposed to come across as an insult.

Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed this topic of discussion, and I will see you next time with a new article. Peace!

Your Friend,

Al