I know it, you know it, everyone knows.

9th-grade-me would deny knowing how I got such a sad grade but present-time-me knows the truth. There are times when you have so much anxiety that you think you got a failing grade but pull out a fantastic grade. It’s because you studied as much as you could, you tied up all loose ends, and you probably triple or quadruple checked your test.

Then there are other times when you stress out so much that you don’t know what to study, so you study things but they aren’t going in your brain. But that’s a lie. There are times when I stress out so much, I kind of go numb and I get lost. I even give up at one point and at the last moment, I buckle my seat belt and try to get it done. At the end of the day though, I know that I’ve failed for sure. I know that I didn’t try my best and I didn’t give it my all. I gave up too quickly and I sold myself short. I can’t let myself do that anymore. If you think you’re going to fail and you do, you must know that you tried your hardest. And with growth and thousands of test grades later, I know when I kid myself and I know when I have finished strong.

With a terrible grade, I know that I tried my best and that test or anxiety got the best of me. With a different terrible grade, I know that I didn’t try my hardest and I didn’t do my best. There is a difference and I know when I feel one or the other. I think you guys know when you feel one or the other too. For Round 2, it’s the latter. I hope Round 3 is ready because it’s payback time.