Hardships of Physics by Isaac

Hardships of Physics by Isaac - February 2017 Scholarship Essay

Failure is a chance to learn how not to do something instead of simply focusing on what has been done wrong. Each of us has failed at something. I recall an experience in physics rather recently. Throughout the course I struggled to comprehend the concepts and apply the numerous equations.
At the start of the year I knew the course would be difficult and demanding of me, but as always I just tried to cruise by for the first six weeks, believing the class would be as manageable as my other AP classes and would not be too challenging. Not soon after, it was painfully apparent that I was sorely mistaken, in the second and third six weeks when no matter how hard I worked I seemed to be barely understanding the concepts and found the math almost impossible. So I focused and worked harder than ever to try to bring my grade up out of the seventies, but it was little use as my grade remained rather low and the work became increasingly demanding.
Eventually I decided to swallow my pride, stop being stubborn, and go in for tutoring. The teacher was very understanding to my problems in the class and was very supportive to my decision to ask for help. My teacher told me to look at the problems differently by isolating the different parts and applying the necessary equations to them before looking at the problem as a whole. After taking my teacher’s advice the work began to make more sense and the problems were easier to solve. I found myself more relaxed and very thankful for my teacher’s assistance.
This experience gave me a deeper understanding of what it meant to work hard and made me realize that there was nothing wrong with asking for help as there is almost always someone willing to give it. I learned that not everything can be done on my own and that asking people who are there to help you is always a great option. This is an immensely important lesson for college because the professors will not “baby” you and that in order to succeed it would require my own individual will to work and a willingness to ask for help from friends, tutors, and teachers.