Overcoming Obstacles And Never Giving Up

As PC2 is coming closer, one can feel the tension in the class room. People who failed PC1 are trying really hard to improve (especially their writing). But whatever they do and how hard they try...everything seems to have been in vain once they see the mark on their homework. Desperation, frustration and anger.... "Why do I make so silly mistakes?"  "I don't know what else to do", "I've tried so hard and PC2 is already in 3 days!"
This atmosphere reminds me of my first semester in Innsbruck. Although (as already explained in the blog entry below) I haven't learned much concerning the English language, I have learned A LOT about being a student in college. Back in school, most of us had an A in English. The good marks were taken for granted, and since most of us also had an A in the final English exam, we thought college would be as easy as pie: we'd study a little bit, party a lot, write exams and have our bachelors degree in no time. But after about 1- 2 months in college, one figures out that it's not gonna be that easy. Students start studying harder and do everything they can, which is mostly not good enough. They fail exams although they study harder than ever before in school.
In Innsbruck I had the exact same problems. I used to be a very good student, but somehow my talent seemed to have left me after I'd signed up for college. My homework marks were frustrating and I started to ask myself: "Should I really be studying English?".

And now comes the good message for  everyone who feels the same:

Everything is new and you need to get used to being a student and being responsible for yourself. After some time, some bad marks and maybe even some failed exams, you will figure out the best way of studying and (unless this is really not the right study for you) you will LOVE studying again. The most important thing is to NOT GIVE UP! Make a list of common mistakes you made in homeworks or exams and focus on avoiding them. Write and rewrite homeworks again and again-  practice makes perfect! Consider a homework with a lot of marked mistakes as a help rather than a tragedy, because you can only learn by making mistakes. Give up the absolute wish to write A's or B's. Be happy with passing an exam. Only then (without this pressure) will you be able to actually write A's and B's. This is how I survived my first year in college and how I started to love studying again.