We have just said hello to July 2019. The sun is out, our big coats have been chucked in the cupboard, and our Facebook feeds are filled with smiles and animal emojis, which can mean only one thing: Results Day is here.
In the age of smartphone photography and social media, it is easier than ever to snap a quick animal selfie and take to the social media stage, where you can share your most recent exam success with friends family and colleagues. Of course, this is great! The people who care about you want nothing more than to congratulate you and be proud of your achievements, as they should be, after all you’ve done fantastically well! As I’ve mentioned countless times now, being a vet student is about far more than just the textbooks and the stethoscope: we are a close knit family who all care and support one another. With this in mind, reading about the exam success or graduation of all my vetty friends has never failed to put a smile on my face and brighten up my day.
However, with all the success stories filling our world, it can make failure feel like a very lonely and seemingly hopeless place to be stuck in. As I write this, I am taking time out from revision in preparation for August resist exam period after failing not one but THREE of my third year Veterinary Science exams.
Anybody who knows me is most likely aware that exams are not my strong point: for years I have battled through, trialling one revision technique after the other, hoping I’ll find some sort of break through, yet somehow, anxiety always seems to get the better of me and I never perform as well as I hope to. Of course, this never gets easier (every time I read the word ‘FAIL’, it feels like my world is crumbling around me!) but there are ways and means of finding coping methods and moving on from even the most hopeless feeling failure.
1) Be Kind to Yourself
Even if all along you were expecting to underperform in the end of year exams, getting negative results can still be a shock! So don’t be scared to take a bit of time for yourself: chat with a friend and let your worries out of the bottle, have a cup of tea and a tasty snack (you deserve it!! Summer diet can definitely wait a while!), and have a cry if you need to (honestly, it’s like a little relief tap that can really aid your concentration!). Revision for resits does not have to start immediately, take a little time for yourself to process the information and your emotions- you’ll be much better equipped to attack the revision afterwards!
2) Know You Are Not Alone
Yes, you are surrounded by Facebook posts about people celebrating their exam success, but YOU ARE NOT THE ONLY PERSON DISAPPOINTED BY EXAM RESULTS!! It’s true, hardly anybody posts ‘just missed out on passing my third year exams’ but that doesn’t mean you’re on your own! There will be plenty of people in your situation, it does not make you any less of a vet student!
3) Never Give Up
Failing an exam (or 3, or all!!) does not mean it’s the end of the road for you: you’ve got this far, the vet school knows you can do it, your friends and family know you can do it, so keep fighting for your dream and keep believing in yourself!
We live in the beautiful but treacherous age of social media where we am so easily and so readily share our successes online, but we have a tendency to ignore or even hide our failures. It is super important to remember that failure is a completely normal part of life: it does not make us weak, it does not mean we are not good enough, it is just part of the learning process and the way in which we grow.
Barking Mad 