Do It Right The First Time

When I was in eighth grade I had a summative for English on a book that I had not necessarily read but was supposed to have read before test day. As a student that´s not good under pressure, doesn´t like to read and is not a good test taker, I would´ve done anything to get out of reading this book. There were nine chapters if I remember correctly. However many chapters there were too many for me to feel motivated to read it all. I was so put out with this book, assignment, and school as a whole. I would always put off reading this book. I got to chapter four then quit and thought I could use spark notes or something and that would help me pass. I felt so confident in being sneaky and lazy by using this website that I did not have to read the five chapters I had left. Itś not that I couldn´t read it, it was that I thought that I could take the easy way out instead of doing it as I should´ve.

As test day came around I got more nervous and on edge, which I hadn´t until this day. I ultimately made the test harder on me mentally by doing by putting more stress on myself. Whereas if I would´ve read the book instead of using what I read from the website I may have obtained the information much better and would´ve been put at ease knowing it was what actually happen instead of taking some website’s word for it.

When test day arrived I took my test. I felt stressed out but comfortable taking it. Knowing I would worry about certain things like remembering all the information, but also thinking I could do it and that I was likely just overthinking my stressor. At the end of the day, my teacher had upgraded my grades in Jumprope and I got a two with multiple failed standards from lack of explanation and information. After I got this grade I read the entire book over the weekend in two days and redid my summative the Monday after. On this test, I had a better grip on what was happening and didn´t have to connect bits and pieces. When I got my grade back it was a solid three, meaning I met all the standards. Which was amazing. I was so thrilled with myself after finding out that I had passed everything after feeling like a failure. It was so exciting.

By making this mistake I learned that it´s better to do things right the first time around. It saves time, makes you look better, isn´t as stressful, and helps you not anyone else. If I would’ve done my summative right the first time I could’ve just gotten it done and over with by simply reading the book as I should have the first time. Since then I have not used spark notes and have learned through my mistake that even though I may be stressed and not want to do what I need to half-assed it’s always better to get it done the right way the first time.

“Reading” by be creator is licensed under CC BY 2.0.