Disappointing Assignment Marks

What do you do when you get a disappointing assignment mark?


We all have times when we think we have done brilliantly then get
an assignment


back and are really disappointed instead. You could just feel
really bad, or you could


try these steps:


1. REVIEW AND UNDERSTAND


The first step is to work through the feedback and work out what
went wrong.


– Did you not meet the criteria?


– What feedback were you given from the teacher?


– Do you understand the feedback?


– Can you work out why you got the mark you did?


If you don’t understand why you got the mark you did, it is
ESSENTIAL you ask your


teacher for further clarification. Otherwise you will keep making
the same mistakes.


2. CHALLENGE OR ACCEPT


Once you understand what the issue was, you can either accept it,
or challenge it.


ACCEPT: If you feel now that the mark was actually fair enough,
then it is time to


move on. There is no point beating yourself up anymore about your
disappointing


mark.


Instead you need to treat this as a learning process, the people
who are most


successful in life don’t let their mistakes get them down, they
see them as a learning


opportunity where they can improve and make sure it doesn’t
happen again.


However, if you really think your mark was unfair and you had met
all of the criteria,


you can talk to your teacher and politely explain your point of
view and ask if they


would reconsider your mark.


3. LEARN AND CHANGE


The only way to improve, is to work out what you did wrong, then
try and fix it.


It is actually a really good idea to re-do part of the work and
re-submit. Not everyone


has the commitment to do this, but if you do – then wow – you
will really see the


benefit in your results. It might just be a case of re-doing a
section of the assignment


and asking your teacher to review it.


But if you don’t have another go, you won’t know whether or not
you have really


taken the feedback on board. Some students let a bad mark get
them down and start


to think they are not capable of succeeding, so they don’t try to
address the issue,


make similar mistakes again and just feel worse. Don’t be that
sort of person! Learn


from what you have done and have another try.


Another good thing you can do is to ask to see other students’
work who received


top grades for their assignments – to evaluate what was missing
in yours or how you


could improve yours next time.


It would also be a great idea for your next assignment to show
your teacher a plan,


or a draft early on, explaining how you think you’ve met the
criteria, and seek


feedback well BEFORE handing it in.