I know… I know… If you’re a perfectionist like me, you probably get hung up on that almost part but I promise, it’s important.

I had a history test about a week ago that got me thinking.

It was a pretty important exam and I was pretty worried about it beforehand. Every time I tried to read the textbook my brain seemed to wander off to my happy place where it has nothing to do with World Wars or Archdukes of anything. My happy place might have the wonders of me doing fun things with fun people (instead of sitting and zoning out at my desk,) it comes with the unfortunate consequence that –

I learn almost nothing.

Right? I’m sure you know that feeling. You study for hours and then start wondering, did I even learn anything?

It was a week before the test and I’d officially procrastinated to my limit for that test. I’d promised myself I’d study for too many days without doing it. Well… almost… I actually did procrastinate another day until I learned this new idea.

Okay… Reading the textbook was too boring to do. What if I just accepted that? What else could I do to prepare for the test.

Instead of the usual reading, I just skimmed it taking some notes. Then I pulled out my index cards and fancy colored pens to make some flash cards about my notes. Over that final week before the test, I went through all of the flashcards a little bit each day. And it felt kinda’ funny, right?

I knew I could remember the flash cards. I had them memorized.

But I kept thinking, what if not reading the chapter completely bites me in the butt? Do I actually know what I need to know?

And Then The Test Day Came…

I got my usual pre-test jitters as the teacher handed out the tests. I closed out of my textbook and stayed unusually silent waiting to see if my new strategy led to massive success or an embarrassing failure.

Keep in mind: this is what I’ve been trying to do recently.

I used to study “scared.” I’d study in a way that I’ve seen work for me before. That was okay but it never let me learn how to improve. By trying new stuff, I can embarrass myself but the hope is that I learn something new and better.

Once the test was in front of me, I was pleasantly surprised.

It was like…

I know that.

I know that.

I think I know that.

I know that.

And that was essentially the whole test for me short of one super frustrating question that I kept bouncing back and forth on. You know those kinds of questions? You spend pretty much half the test changing your answer?

Anyway…

Overall, I felt really good about the test. I was sure I got a great score on it.

And that’s one of the strangest things about it.

I felt completely confident after the test. I don’t normally feel that way. It was like I actually knew what I was doing instead of just trying to do well on it.

The Results – One Week Later

And that brings me to the point of this article – that took a while 😛 Sorry

I got the test back and it was a 95%. I literally got one question wrong. It was that same question I found frustrating at the time.

When I saw that score I was pretty disappointed. I know that’s crazy. A 95 is a good score but it does feel bad to know you were 1 question away from perfect. It kind of ate away at me for a couple hours before I decided to look into it during study hall.

I pulled out my test. I reread the question. I pulled out my textbook and I dug… and dug… and dug… and… I found nothing about the question.

The question answer wasn’t even in the chapter! In fact, I eventually came to the bright idea of checking the index where I learned the answer was in the NEXT chapter. The one I was supposed to read AFTER completing that test… Oh boy…

I don’t know about you but I can let myself get wound up pretty tight about silly things like that. It just didn’t seem right.

So… at the end of the school day I went to the teacher’s office and asked him about it. He said something like, “Well… I did mention it in class,” and kind of blew off my concern.

Well… I don’t know if he mentioned it in class but it wasn’t in my notes and I’m pretty good about taking tons of them.

I really don’t know what happened but now to get to my point – I’m trying again here… 🙂

Losing a perfect grade can come down to missing a passing statement the teacher made while you were using the restroom or something. If you lose focus for two seconds, you can lose a perfect grade.

Or worse, losing a perfect grade might not even come from something you control.

Is it really fair to worry about those two seconds you lost focus?

Sure… I can think of situations where I should have got a perfect score but did something stupid to screw it up. In this situations, I get feeling bad about it.

But it’s not about the grade you get, right? An almost perfect score is just as good as a perfect score if you did everything right to get it. Sure… maybe it won’t look good on your report card but that’s just one of those things you can’t control at times. As long as you do everything right, I don’t think you should let yourself feel bad about it.

I’m writing this partially to remind myself. I hope that it can help you remember that the next time you’re a little disappointed with your results.

Almost perfect can be just as good as perfect.

Edit:

I just wanted to answer a question from Jade here to make sure you all know what I’m talking about. I got this memorization focused study strategy from Smart Student Secrets’ HTNSA free ebook.

Overall, It was a super helpful read. I got a ton of new ideas for learning stuff better and thinking right about it. It was a bit on the long end. And it had so much information that I’ve only scratched the surface. It has been super helpful for me.