Repeaters: Another chance

As one types the MyLasalle URL in the search bar, the three months of the past term flash back with every period of the address and all the time and effort (or the lack of it) that one has dedicated to the term’s subjects suddenly dawns heavily. 

Were all my late nights worth it? Did all my quiz and seatwork grades make the cut? Did I exert enough effort in the first place? Then there’s a lull while you enter, not knowing if fate is playing with you or the website just crashed. And then you proceed to the main page and click, “See Grades.” Take a deep breath.

The moment you see your grade

It’s the situation most of us tend to avoid if we want to graduate on time. The last thing we want to see when we open MLS. It’s a 0.0 saying that it’s not the last we’ve seen of a subject. There are the fortunate ones who can graduate without ever having to see this, but there are many who have to face the consequences. This is pretty much the worst thing anyone can realize when checking their grades and seeing it has actually happened to you. 

If you spent most of the term not studying, too tired for the class, not actually being in the class, or generally unable to or unwilling to exert effort, then you probably had it coming. Maybe you have already thought of how you could make up for it or explain it. If you put a lot of time and effort trying to get a high grade only to end up with a flat zero, then you would probably have a harder time taking it in. It might have surprised you considering how things seemed to be going well. Either way, the moment after you realize what happened is the moment when the consequences have to sink in and you ask yourself: “What now?” What goes through someone’s mind when they repeat a subject?

Sinking in

Of course, after seeing the results, it’s time for a student to evaluate what their failure means. How a student understands why there’s a 0.0 on MLS seems to play a big part in how they would perform during the retake and what they make of it afterwards.

A lot of the retakers we asked have accepted the zeroes wholeheartedly and with open arms. One student, taking up Industrial Engineering, took it as a lesson to make up for failures by working harder to achieve his goals. Like this, many others also had similarly positive changes after their experience, like learning to focus better or adapting to the problems they encountered. As upset as they were when they failed, they managed to see it as another of life’s lessons to do better next time so that they don’t make the same mistakes again. This resulted in personal changes like better study habits, stronger concentration, better time management, and other ways for them to avoid the same problems.

While some expected to repeat based on the “effort” they exerted on the subject, some blame their failed mark on the knowledge and understanding they got from the subject. A third year advertising major shares that he deserved to repeat COMALGE “…Because I wasn’t able to acquire a proficient understanding in that subject which is necessary for the next math subjects.”

“I shouldn’t be taking this again,” think most of those who still won’t accept they failed a certain subject. Students could see their failures as a waste of effort. An ISE junior shares that the fact that an unfair professor gave 50% of his or her block a failing grade despite being absent for most of the classes is the reason why repeating the subject was never fair. Albert Rivera (III, BS CS-ST) says, “I knew for a fact that failing was not my fault as I exerted the same amount of effort that I did and passed the subject.”

A failure might even put certain students in worse conditions for learning than before. Terror professors, absences, and bad luck can put students through the harsh reality that sometimes you could still fail even if you worked hard, and the cost of precious time, money, and more could drain the motivation of some. Having to retake a class can even put emotional stress on someone because of the judgement of parents or peers. A Statistics student recalls his failure causing his blockmates to look down on him, alienating him from his first classmates in the University. Instead of a failure pushing a student to do better, it can discourage some from trying to care about academics. 

Regardless of looking at their failure positively or negatively, regardless of being lazy or the professor being biased, a lot of the retakers looked at their retaking as a way of overwriting their past performance on the subject. “It’s fine. There’s a reason why God put me here. One of them I feel is for me to really understand the concepts,” shares a Stat sophomore. John (IV, AB-ISE) also affirms that even though things should not have gone to the point of repeating the subject, he still thinks that it’s all part of the learning process.

A different ending

Finally, the term ends once again. This is when the repeater decides what to make of what happened. Pass or fail, sometimes a lesson is learned and sometimes things take a turn for the worse. Different students deal with failure in their own way and this could range from gaining better study habits to a loss of motivation. 

A failure is a unique experience for everyone. It seems how this failure is addressed is where the student makes a choice. You can choose what lessons you take from how you messed up. Whether you decide to take it as a sign to become a new person or a reason to believe making an effort is no longer worth it, you move on with whatever you choose to learn from it.