HELP! I failed my test/exam/course: NOW WHAT?

Hello, my name is Emma, and in today's video, I'm going to talk about something that happens

to a lot of students learning English and just students in general, and it's something

a lot of people don't really talk about, and that's what do you do when you fail your English

test or your English course, or any course, okay?

So, this happens.

It happens a lot.

When I was in university, I actually failed my statistics math course.

I had to drop the course and I remember feeling really bad afterwards, okay.

But luckily, I had a second chance and the second time, I actually did amazing and it

was a really good experience and I learned a lot from failing the first time.

So, when you fail, I have some tips for you.

I hope you don't fail, but if it happens, this video can help you deal with how you're

feeling as well as give you some good tips on how to do better next time, okay?

So, let's get started.

The first thing I want to say is it's okay if you feel - or if you fail something.

So, if you don't do well on your test, if you don't do well in your course, if you don't

get the mark you want, it's okay to feel bad, alright?

It sucks, it sucks when you don't do well on something you really tried hard to do,

especially if you're taking the TOEFL or the IELTS or the CELPIP or any of these tests.

It really can make you feel bad when you don't do well on those, okay?

So, it's okay to feel bad, but it's also good to remember this: You can learn from it.

So, even though you didn't get the score you wanted or the mark you wanted, it's actually

an opportunity to learn where you went wrong and how you can do better next time.

So, you can feel bad, but it's also good to realize, you know, you can try again and you

can learn from your mistakes.

The second thing I wanted to say is that it happens a lot.

We're students, or people learning English, they take the TOEFL, they take the IELTS,

they take a university exam, they take different tests and they get a lower score than what

they wanted, okay?

So, maybe a student wanted an 8 on the IELTS and they got a 6, or maybe they wanted a 6

and they got a 4, okay?

So, a lot of the times, this happens.

So, there's no shame when this happens.

It happens a lot to many people.

So, if this happens to you, remember, you're not the only one this has happened to.

Many people don't do well, or as well as they'd like, on these tests.

And, as a result, many people actually do take these tests multiple times.

Sometimes they take these tests twice, sometimes three times, and that's okay.

So, you know, if you're one of the people who have difficulty with this test, and a

lot of people do, you can take it again and a lot of people succeed or do well the second

time or the third time, so remember that.

You're not alone.

The third thing I wanted to say is that when you're learning English, English can seem

like the most important thing in your life, okay?

And you can think about - it can really affect the way you see yourself, okay?

So, I want you to always remember that you are more than your English.

English is just one skill, alright?

So, if you don't do well in your English course, if you have trouble with the present perfect,

if you have trouble with grammar, if you don't know how to use articles, that's okay.

It's a small part of the language, but it's also a small part of who you are.

English is just one skill.

So, if you think about this, if this is you, and I've written "English" here, in you, English

might be a little small thing like this, okay?

It's important to remember the other things that make you great.

Maybe you're a very nice person or a very funny person, or you're really smart.

Maybe you're actually great with English, but only when you're at the bar, and maybe

in a test situation, your English just, for some reason, you have a lot of trouble with

it.

That's okay.

Maybe you love movies.

My main point is that English is a very small part of you and that there's a lot of other

things in your life that make you amazing, so don't let doing bad on one test make you

feel like you're not great, because you are!

The other thing I like to remind people is if you think about somebody like Einstein,

alright?

He's this great genius.

He may have failed the IELTS, we don't know, he never took it, but had he taken the IELTS,

he might have failed it, because maybe English wasn't his strong area.

Maybe he was way better at Math or Science, and so the main point is that you are more

than your English, okay?

So, don't forget that.

Now, let's look at some other pieces of advice I have on how to learn from when you don't

do well on your test.

Okay, so after you fail something, or you don't do as well as you'd hoped, it's a good

idea to ask what went wrong, why did that happen?

For a lot of students, one thing that can happen is they get text anxiety.

Okay, so what is text anxiety?

This is when you're able to speak English or you're able to do well in English or other

subjects as well, until the day of the test.

So, maybe you've done great in class or, you know, you understand the concepts, you understand

what you're doing, but on the day of the test, your heart beats too fast, you feel sick,

you can't concentrate, you keep hearing the clock go "tick, tick, tick", you're running

out of time and you can't - you have trouble doing well because of your stress.

So, this happens to a lot of people when they take tests, and we call that test anxiety.

And now, here's the issue.

Stress, so when you have those feelings where you're panicking and you're really stressed,

it decreases your ability to use English, okay?

So, when you have a lot of stress, if you're learning English, your English abilities will

go down.

So, this can happen during any test, but especially when you're, you know, doing maybe a speaking

part of the IELTS or the TOEFL or, you know, there's something to do with the clock and

timing.

So, the key here is when you're in a stressful environment like a test, you can learn stress

management techniques before the test, so that way, when you're in the test, you can

feel calmer and that can really help your English as well.

So, think about it, how were you feeling the day of your test?

Were you very stressed?

And what can you do next time, so you don't feel so much stress?

Maybe it's as simple as walking around before you take the test, or maybe it's just simple

breathing exercises or being better prepared.

So, really think about how can you help your stress levels for the next time.

Another tip of mine for if you've failed, and this is, again, about knowing what happened

and what went wrong, it's - the first time you fail something, sometimes the reason is

because you weren't expecting certain things on the test, or in, you know, the class.

So maybe, for example, you'd never been in that environment before, or maybe you weren't

expecting a certain type of question on the test.

Maybe you hadn't studied that part.

So, sometimes one of the good things about failing is that the next time, you have a

better idea on what to expect and what you need to study, okay?

So, know the test and know the environment and learn from that from your first time taking

the test.

A lot of students, you know, when they're thinking about these tests, they say, "I can't

do it, it's just too hard."

And these tests can be very hard, that's true.

The key here is to think in small steps.

So instead of thinking "I have to get a 9 on the IELTS", or "I have to get 100% on my

English exam", it's better to think: what can do you do now in a small step?

So, maybe it's something like, you know, I'm going to study for this test for ten minutes

tonight, okay?

By breaking down a big thing into smaller things, you can feel a lot - more confident

that you can actually do it, okay?

And this is similar to my 7th piece of advice: learn to make smart goals, okay?

So, learn to make smart goals.

What's a smart goal?

Well, when we're talking about smart goals, what we're talking about is a goal that's

specific, a goal that you can measure, a goal that's achievable, and realistic, and has

some sort of time in it.

So, for example, a smart goal might be "I will write three present perfect sentences

tonight.", okay?

So, you have the timing, tonight.

Is it realistic?

Yes, you can do three present perfect sentences, that's realistic.

Is it achievable?

Yes, you know, you're not saying "I want to learn every piece of English grammar."

No, that wouldn't be achievable.

I want to learn every single English word, that's not achievable either.

I don't know every English word, okay?

So, by focusing on maybe writing three sentences, that's something you can do.

It's achievable.

How can you measure it?

Well, your goal is "I want to write three sentences", you can measure it, you can count,

first sentence, second sentence, third sentence, it's measurable.

And it's specific, okay?

So, you're not talking about three sentences of anything, you're talking about three present

perfect sentences.

That's a very specific type of sentence.

So, that's just one example, but the key here is when you make a goal, your goal shouldn't

be big like, "I'm going to get a 9 on the IELTS", that's too big.

Try to make your goal smaller and that can actually really be powerful and help you do

well on your test the next time you take it.

So, let's learn a couple of other pieces of advice.

Okay, so my 8th tip is know your study habits, okay.

Know what you do and what you're not doing.

So, are you the kind of person that studies at 3:00am?

Or, are you the kind of person that studies maybe in the morning?

Are you the kind of person that takes many breaks, or do you not take any breaks, okay?

Do you exercise when you're studying?

Do you eat well, or do you snack on potato chips?

Do you have enough resources?

Are you the kind of person that doesn't know what to study and you study better with people?

Or maybe you're the kind of person that doesn't study well with people, you're better with

studying on your own, okay.

So, one of the key things is knowing yourself and what works for you, because if you can

figure out study strategies that work well for you, then you're more likely to do well

when you try to take the test again.

So, for example, I'm somebody who procrastinates.

So, what does procrastinate?

It means I - instead of doing something right away, like studying, I might watch TV instead,

and then maybe I don't want to study, so then maybe I'll wash the dishes and then I'll leave

studying until the very last minute.

So, I know this about myself.

I know I procrastinate, so I need to use strategies or think of ways in advance, so I don't procrastinate,

okay?

So, when you know things about yourself, you can figure out, okay, what can I do so I don't

that again, or so I do that more, okay?

My 9th tip is know your strengths, okay?

So, what do I mean by this?

Everybody is good at something and when it comes to English, that's very much true, okay?

You might have some people who say "My English is not good, I don't speak English well.",

but in English, there's always some things we do better than others, and that doesn't

mean we're perfect at it, but there's certain things we're better at.

So, for me, when I was learning French, I was really like - my strength was reading.

I loved reading French.

But when it came to listening to French, I found that really hard.

So, when I studied, I would use reading to help me study for a test.

So maybe you're somebody who is good at singing, or you like to sing.

You can actually use music and songs to help you study.

You know, you can use the grammar in songs or maybe you can make your own song about

what you're learning.

Like I said, I like to read.

Maybe you can find books of things you really like to read in English.

So, knowing your strengths can really help you figure out a study plan that works for

you.

My next tip, number 10, this one I actually think is one of the most important, and that's

- when you fail something, you need to think about what you can change for the next time,

and what you can't change.

So, for example, if you took the TOEFL and you didn't get the score you wanted, maybe

something you can't change is you have to take the test.

Maybe it's mandatory, you have to do it, so this is something you can't change.

Maybe you can't change the time you take the test.

Maybe they only offer the test at 11:00am, and maybe you can't choose the date.

Maybe they only offer it in the summer, okay?

So, you can write down what you can't chance, and then you can write down what you can change,

okay?

So, maybe you can change your own study habits.

Maybe you can change whether you study with people or alone.

Maybe you can change, you know, you can get a teacher to help you, or a tutor.

Maybe the first time you didn't have anyone, and you want somebody, so maybe you can do

Skype lessons with someone, okay?

Maybe you can watch more videos or practice more quizzes or read more.

So, this is good to really think about it carefully.

What can you change so you will do better on the test next time, and what can you not

change?

My final tip, tip number 11, is actually two tips.

The first one is also very important - sleep, okay?

A lot of the times people don't do well on tests because they stayed up the night before

or they haven't been sleeping well because, you know, they're studying and they have a

lot of stress.

But sleeping is so important to your memory.

You remember more because you sleep.

If you don't sleep, you're going to have a hard time remembering what you're learning.

So, when you learn anything, you need to sleep.

What I'm going to tell you is not based in science that I know of, it's just what I do

myself.

When I'm learning something, I will follow my own four sleep rule, which means I will

learn something or study something, I will sleep, then I will look at it again, I will

sleep, I look at it again, I sleep, and I look at it again and I sleep.

I have four sleeps or four times that I sleep when I'm studying material, okay?

I don't know if that works for everyone, but that works for me, so I call it my four sleep

rule, and I try to do that every time I study.

I look at the stuff on four different days at least.

Another thing I recommend is reward yourself, okay?

It's hard when you fail a test.

It's very hard, and you can feel really sad about it, but the key here is if you try to

do the test again, that's amazing, okay?

Just trying again is huge!

It's amazing to try, especially when it might not have gone the way you wanted it the first

time, so trying again is so important, and reward yourself for it.

Tell yourself, "You know what, I didn't do well the first time, but I'm trying.

That's the main thing."

So maybe, you know, think about something you really like to do and after you study

or after you put some effort in, reward yourself.

Do something that you like because you've earned it by trying again.

Alright, so thank you so much for watching this video.

I hope you've found it useful and learned some things about different tips you can do

when things don't go the way you want them to.

I invite you to visit our website at www.engvid.com . There, you can actually find a lot of resources

on many different topics, and you can try our quiz, so you can practice what you've

learned in this video.

You can also subscribe to my channel, where we have a lot of other resources including

resources on pronunciation, listening, grammar, vocabulary, test prep, so for those of your

taking IELTS or TOEFL or TOEIC, we have a lot of resources.

So, thank you very much for watching.

Good luck on trying again!

I wish you success and I know you're going to do amazing, so until next time, thank you

and take care.