Everyone thinks about grades. They are a numeric value that is given to you to tell you how well you did and how hard you worked.

Depending on the assignment and the grader, it can be an accurate assessment of how much time you put into it and how hard you worked.

However, just because it might tell you that you put in hours of work or tried your very best that doesn't mean that the 59.9 that you received tells you more about yourself than the 99.9 that you received on something else.

College is hard. You're gonna get grades that you're proud of and you're gonna get grades that you're ashamed of.

These grades are just numbers.

They don't get to tell you how you feel about yourself. They are given to help gauge your understanding of the material. Just because you may not understand the material that doesn't mean you're not smart.

Sometimes it's just a sign of you not learning well with the style of teaching your professor is using. Sometimes it's just a sign that the material is hard and you'll have to try a little harder. Sometimes it's a sign that you do know it but you didn't want to put the level of work you needed to.

No matter what the reason is for whatever grade you got, you have to remember that it doesn't determine your worth.

You get hundreds of grades in your life. Did you let your 75% on your multiplication tables test determine how you felt about yourself in 3rd grade? So why would you let it decide how you felt about yourself now?

The answer is, you shouldn't.

Grades are important and you should want A's and you should want to work hard to get them. But you will fall short sometimes and you shouldn't let those times decide that you're not smart or that you're lazy or that you aren't good enough.

Take your grades, take the feedback, reflect why you got the grades you got, and learn from it.

Celebrate when you get a grade you're proud of. Don't hate on yourself when you get a grade you're not proud of. Study harder, do better next time, but don't get too upset.

These grades mean next to nothing in the long run. You should always do your best in every aspect of your life. Grades are no exception but you won't always get what you want. That's just life. So don't let a failing grade make you upset and think that you're not smart.

You can always do better. You can try harder. You can fix grades.

So as finals are approaching and you start to stress out and think that these grades will determine how smart you are or how well you will do in the future, stop. You won't remember every grade when you get your dream job. You won't remember the failing grade on that test in 5 years, so why worry about it now.

You should care about your grades and always try our best, but if you fall short, learn from it and move on.

You'll do better next time but either way the grade, good or bad, doesn't define who you are.