5 Things to do when you fail an exam in college

Here are 5 things to do when you fail an exam in college. Exams don’t always go as planned. This post is to help you navigate when that happens.

College is interesting. You can think you have all your ducks in a row only to meet a curveball on exam day. The curveball could be anything, too many things to list so the list is important.

The point is, what happens when you fail an exam you feel you did everything to prepare for?

Before I get into what to do about it I shall say a few things for the record. While I am very aware that there are students who fail because they are lazy and they don’t want to do what is necessary to do well, this post is not for them.

This post is for the student who did everything they were supposed to do and more only to trip at the finish line.

I want you to know that it’s not just you. It isn’t all your fault. You are not worthless for having tripped this one time. It is not the end of the world. There is always something to be done. With that out of the way, let’s look at what to do when you fail an exam in college.

1. Don’t panic

The first and most important thing for you to do is to not panic. When we panic we do foolish things and make ill-advised decisions, so don’t panic. You need to relax.

2. Analyze what happened

The second thing to do is to think about what happened. Look at the last 24/48 hours. What happened? Were you sleeping for at least 4 hours a night?

If you are not sleeping, then could be that your brain just crushed on exam day. This happens to students all the time.

Or perhaps you got some stressful news. Did something happen in one of your relationships? Could be between you and your family or between you and your friends, or between you and your partner?

Or perhaps you simply don’t test well. Whatever it is, try to analyze it so you can make sure this doesn’t happen again.

3. Keep studying

You need to keep studying. Why? If you get a chance to take a makeup exam you can’t afford to embarrass yourself.

It is for that reason that you need to keep studying for that subject you tanked while you wait to speak to your instructor.

4. Talk to your instructor

Naturally, the next thing to do is to speak to your instructor. Now this will be affected by the rapport you have created with your instructor.

I have written a blog post on how to create a good rapport with your instructor and shall link it here because that rapport comes in handy for situations like these.

Something else that will also come in handy is your analysis of what happened. Your instructor will ask you what happened so you better have an answer and a good one at that. you are looking for lenience, and mercy, right? So that answer better carries some weight.

5. Do a make-up exam

If you have a good enough reason then any instructor with a beating heart will grant you a make-up exam.

This goes back to why I said that you have to keep studying. When you get a second chance you need to show your instructor that his mercy was not for nothing. That you are in fact brilliant you just had a bad day.

If you make yourself proud it will safeguard that leniency for other students who need it in the future so no pressure.

I hope this helps. We’ve all had at least one bad exam day where we were just thrown off our game if that happened to you then don’t worry about it. It can be fixed.

That is all for now. Thanks for stopping by. Stay safe.