Welcome to Reggie Responds, Roar’s advice column! Our columnists are here to provide you helpful, or maybe not so helpful, advice. Tune in on Fridays to see what they have to say about your problems.
Q: This term I’ve been getting unsatisfactory grades despite the amount of hard work put into my essays, and it sucks to see other people do much better than me.
Nikita: Receiving a low grade on an essay after having put in a ton of effort — and being so sure that you’ve done well — feels like an absolute punch to the gut. And it’s particularly heartbreaking when seemingly everyone you know has done well on that very assignment.
But getting stuck on that does absolutely no good to anyone involved. Pick yourself up and learn from your mistakes! Talk to your course mates and ask them for any study tips they might have. Reach out to your tutors for advice and detailed feedback, ask them for recommendations for secondary material you can reference in your essays, and discuss your future essay plans with them. Despite it being Easter break, quite a few professors are still reachable via email, so do reach out to them if you can (and in case they’re not, you always have Revision Week to clarify any remaining doubts before exams.) Remember, these professors are here to help you, so don’t be afraid to reach out!
Understanding why you got low grades is very important, but focusing on your failures will only serve to demotivate you. So get up, dust yourself off, and start afresh with a positive attitude. And while you’re at it, remember to cut yourself some slack — you are knee-deep in a global pandemic, after all.
Q: How can I stop being so stressed? Everything is so serious at the moment, and I don’t know how to have fun anymore.
Matthew: I really feel you! Too often I feel as though the fun gets sucked out of situations because every single thing we say or do is overanalysed to the point of misery. Sometimes it’s so important to just shut the rest of the world out (ironic considering London couldn’t be a busier place). It’s the reason I think social media is so dangerous. If we aren’t following the crowd, it’s very easy for our opinions to get shut-down by the overwhelming majority who make us afraid to express ourselves.
This seriousness that you mention limits our uniqueness. In the post-pandemic era, I really hope we will all learn to love each other for our individuality, and just let everyone be. It’s a tough life as it is, and a little bit of kindness would allow us all to have some more fun and let go. Because ultimately, most of us are good people, and if we all trusted each other that little bit more, and focused on prioritising our happiness, it would be a much more pleasant existence.
Thank you for reading Reggie Responds this term! We wish you all a happy Easter break and will be back next time! – Ally, Alex, Matthew and Nikita
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