The Burdens of Academic Pressure
Hello, Reader!
Personally, academic pressure burdened me since the early GCSE days when my teachers and classmates began noticing that I was studying a lot and scoring highly on tests. I wanted to do well and as a side effect, I created a ‘reputation’ for myself. Soon, it was expected that I would get a high grade. My friends compared their tests with mine and were happy when they picked up marks that I didn’t or when they achieved a higher grade than me. When I was disappointed with a B, they would dismiss it with “I’m lucky if I get a C, stop complaining”. Comparison became a part of my daily life and I also began measuring my own success on how well I did in comparison to others around me. Throughout GCSEs and A-Levels, receiving marked work with a B or less ruined my mood and made me feel like I failed at something. I did hundreds of past papers and, even though they were self-marked, I felt disappointed getting anything below 90%. I couldn’t handle achieving anything less than what I considered ‘acceptable’.
Most of the academic pressure that we experience comes from our own selves. I know that it wouldn’t affect my friends or my teaches if I stopped getting good grades, it would only affect me so it doesn’t matter whether they pressure me, I need to pressure myself. My parents never put pressure on me to do well in school, they saw the value in teaching me that the only person who will suffer if I don’t take responsibility for my studies is me. I’m so grateful for that and I feel blessed to have been raised that way, however, it also made me a huge perfectionist. The desire to succeed and wanting to be consistent in my achievements turned into fearing failure even on the smallest scale.
I only managed to overcome this after I got out of school, out of the environment where this ‘reputation’ defined me, so I don’t have any good advice on how to get rid of this mentality during your studies. How to push through it though? I’m the expert on that. Try to remember that the most important thing is that you’re putting in your all, you’re doing your best. What matters is your work ethic, the knowledge and skills you’re gaining (even if you struggle to transfer them onto an exam paper) and the fact that you actually care about your academic performance. Use that pressure you put on yourself and the stress you’re under to motivate you to push even further.
You’ve got this!
Love, Agnes xo
If you’ve ever cried because of school simply because of the pressure and stress that comes with it - you’re definitely not alone. Academic pressure is something we all experience to some degree, whether it is from our parents, from our teachers or even ourselves. It affects some people more than others depending on how well they’re able to cope with the pressure, but don’t get it twisted- everyone experiences it. I always write this, but I’m so grateful for the grades I worked so hard for and I wouldn’t take back a thing about my school experience because it - all the good and the bad - got me to where I am today… but that doesn’t mean I don’t wish that some things were different.
Personally, academic pressure burdened me since the early GCSE days when my teachers and classmates began noticing that I was studying a lot and scoring highly on tests. I wanted to do well and as a side effect, I created a ‘reputation’ for myself. Soon, it was expected that I would get a high grade. My friends compared their tests with mine and were happy when they picked up marks that I didn’t or when they achieved a higher grade than me. When I was disappointed with a B, they would dismiss it with “I’m lucky if I get a C, stop complaining”. Comparison became a part of my daily life and I also began measuring my own success on how well I did in comparison to others around me. Throughout GCSEs and A-Levels, receiving marked work with a B or less ruined my mood and made me feel like I failed at something. I did hundreds of past papers and, even though they were self-marked, I felt disappointed getting anything below 90%. I couldn’t handle achieving anything less than what I considered ‘acceptable’.
Most of the academic pressure that we experience comes from our own selves. I know that it wouldn’t affect my friends or my teaches if I stopped getting good grades, it would only affect me so it doesn’t matter whether they pressure me, I need to pressure myself. My parents never put pressure on me to do well in school, they saw the value in teaching me that the only person who will suffer if I don’t take responsibility for my studies is me. I’m so grateful for that and I feel blessed to have been raised that way, however, it also made me a huge perfectionist. The desire to succeed and wanting to be consistent in my achievements turned into fearing failure even on the smallest scale.
I only managed to overcome this after I got out of school, out of the environment where this ‘reputation’ defined me, so I don’t have any good advice on how to get rid of this mentality during your studies. How to push through it though? I’m the expert on that. Try to remember that the most important thing is that you’re putting in your all, you’re doing your best. What matters is your work ethic, the knowledge and skills you’re gaining (even if you struggle to transfer them onto an exam paper) and the fact that you actually care about your academic performance. Use that pressure you put on yourself and the stress you’re under to motivate you to push even further.
You’ve got this!
Love, Agnes xo
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