A+ Stephenson (Or, How I Learned to Succeed from Failure)

By Mitchell Stephenson

The Stepping Stone, May 2024

In my junior year in college, I almost failed a class. I took “The History of the Vietnam War” as an elective because I was interested in that period of American history. I went to all the classes, but did not do all the reading. It was a large class, so I never spoke with the professor directly. Nor did I go to any office hours. This was a class that had only a mid-term, research paper and a final exam. There was no graded homework or other way to contribute to one’s grade.

Before the mid-term, the professor told us that if we did not do well, we still had the opportunity to improve our overall grade if we did well on the final exam. I did not think that would be relevant for me. I will never forget the feeling I had when I turned over my graded mid-term and saw the letter “F” circled in red pen. I had never failed a class before, or even come close. I was devastated.

It was too late to drop the class. I was worried about the impact on my GPA. I was concerned about whether failing the class might cause me to not graduate on time. I questioned my ability to succeed in similar upper-level classes. This was not the only class in which I was struggling. I knew I had to change something.

The first thing I did was to catch up on all the reading. That included re-reading what I had already read. I read every page of every assignment. I did that throughout the remainder of the class. The next thing I did was to work hard on my research paper. I worked with the teaching assistant, and scored a B+. Next I practiced, over and over, for a mock final exam. I figured if I practiced writing the exam questions, and they turned out to be close to what I anticipated, then I would have a chance to do well on the final exam. I must have practiced drafting the final essay questions at least 10 times. I was ready.

On the day of the final exam, I felt good. There were four or five questions. The first few required shorter answers. When I turned the page of the blue book where we prepared our responses and saw the last question, it was close to the exact question I practiced for. I answered it just like I practiced. I knew I had done well.

I figured with the F on the mid-term, the B+ on the paper, and a good result on the final exam, I had a chance to get at least a C in the class. Those days, you had to call for your final grades. I remember calling the number, putting in the class code, and hearing the automated voice say “The History of the Vietnam War … Stephenson … final grade A.” I was amazed at hearing this. Then I remembered what the teacher said about doing poorly on the mid-term and having a chance to recover in the final exam. I knew I must have scored an A+ on the final, if not a perfect score. That led my roommates, who knew about my struggles in the class, to nickname me “A+ Stephenson.”

I learned valuable lessons from turning failure to success in that class that I carry with me today:

The first step in reversing a failure is to dedicate yourself to being successful. There was a brief period after I received the initial F where I had to decide whether to try and be successful in the class or give up. I remember thinking about giving up and what that would mean for me. I spent time with that possibility and realized I could not accept it. If I was going to fail the class, it was not going to be due to lack of effort. I resigned myself to taking the actions to catch up on what I missed. I knew it was going to be hard and take hours and hours of work. It was a decision to study more, and especially not to give up. The first step in reversing failure is to decide not to accept it or to let it define you.

It is necessary to self-reflect to figure out what really went wrong. Once I decided to reverse my failure, I had to figure out how to do that. I had to go through the difficult experience of looking in the mirror and reflecting on what I had, and had not, done to contribute to the grade. I realized that a large contributing factor was extra-curricular activities. These took me away from my studies. I had been taking martial arts classes, which I really enjoyed, in a neighboring town. Doing so required spending hours of each week commuting. I was also traveling home by bus on occasional weekends. I realized I needed to spend (much) more time studying and cut out the martial arts classes. I could catch up on reading during my bus rides back home. The self-reflection helped me realize what I needed to do to be successful.

Asking for help is really important when you are struggling. After I received the F, I never questioned or challenged it. I knew it was right. The truth is, I deserved the grade. I knew I needed help. I went to office hours. I spoke with the professor and the teaching assistant about my research paper. I brought in drafts. I asked for feedback. I made updates. I did my best. Even though I got a B+ (and not an A) on the paper, I knew it was positive progress. I understood what the professor expected of students in the class and what a successful result looked like. It helped me understand how to prepare for the final exam.

What Happened Next

Failure is part of the growth process. If we learn from it, we can succeed.

After that class, I ended up taking more elective history classes in addition to my math major and double majored in both subjects. I would not have tried that if I had not been able to turn failure into success in that class.

The lessons I learned, especially about study habits, contributed to my decision to study for actuarial exams and become an actuary. That decision informed my career path and created opportunities that may never have otherwise become available.

Learning to deal with failure has helped me often since then. I have struggled in other classes and exams, at work, and in aspects of my personal life. That formula for turning around failure to success has proved invaluable to me on multiple occasions.

One of my favorite quotes on the subject comes from Michael Jordan, who said, “I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

Mitchell Stephenson, FSA, MAAA, is the head of model governance at Fannie Mae and can be reached at mbstep684@gmail.com or via LinkedIn.