Students failure in academic environment: Causes and possible solutions -By Abdulazeez Toheeb Olawale

When a student is asked why they failed, there likely comments are; “the lecturer failed me” “the exam was too hard” or “we were not being tought well”. This and many more reasons are excuses students give. However, the common causes of failure are interrelated and consequential. You might not have even considered it to be a source of failure but it is.

Besides, there is a lot of activities going on within the school environment which, if not well controlled and carefully chosen, are capable of taking up the entire time of an undisciplined student.

I will show you some subtle causes of failure that you probably haven’t been paying attention to. You will also find some recommended solutions to keep failure at bay.

A combination of your knowledge of what leads to failure and how to avoid it should give you that desired leap of academic excellence.

The first is laziness. This is one of the major reasons for failure. When you’re lazy as a student, you will find it hard to get up to do important things like reading the notes given by the lecturer, doing assignments and carrying out some research to expand your knowledge about that particular course. Some students even find it hard to attend lecture. And the possible solution to this is to get up and do the needful at the right time.

The second is procrastination and lack of time management. Most lecturers know it when you rush your project or essay. If you have the habit of waiting until the dying minute to complete your assignments, you will always end up with little or no quality. I need not tell you that this usually results in poor performance and grades.

In the heart of this habit is procrastination. When you keep shifting the time to read, there’s absolutely no time to read again, it will lead to rush hour preparations. Even if you are able to create some time, you will only be able to read a few portions well. The solution to this is that you plan your time well. Do your assignments early enough, read as much as you can, carry out appropriate research and write your essays almost instantaneously.

The third reason is overconfidence. As much as confidence is good, a student must be very careful not to cross the thin line from confidence to overconfidence. It is one of the common attributes that make students fail. The reason for this is you might become so full of yourself and miss out tiny details that are crucial.

Overconfident students sometimes think they know more than their lecturers. While this might be true in some cases, an overly confident student will not believe he is wrong when he is. Just because you are a brilliant student doesn’t mean you will notice every twist to a particular question or topic. You need to be open to new things. The solution to this is that, If you’re overconfident, take time to relearn whatever you might have known so well or seem to have figured out yourself
The fourth on the list is foulted reading habit. If you don’t know how to study or what works for you, it’s simply because you haven’t taken sufficient time to study yourself and your capacity. Some students read at wrong times and in the wrong way.

If you have always been trained to sleep early in your home, it might be a struggle to wake up really early to read. However, with determination and consistency, you can relearn and get used to it.
Similarly, if you are engaged during the most part of the day, you might not read efficiently at night.
Even if you’ve slept well in the day, a dim light in the night might not make you read and assimilate properly. Solution to this is that, it’s your duty to study how your body system works and read accordingly. You may also inculcate reading habits at some specific times, but this will take a lot of discipline. Practice makes perfect. Try as much as possible to avoid a disorganized reading habit. Start reading early enough to get used to it and recall better.

The fifth point is relying on other knowledge
There is a habit that is so common amongst students – relying on each other in the examination hall. A group of students might share the topics of a course amongst themselves, with a plan to give each other answers whenever a question on that topic comes up in the examination question. And there have been times when the appointed person to read a particular topic isn’t able to read it, and then you go blank in the examination hall, and thus, fail the examination. The school might end up suspending or expelling such students.

There are many forms of exam malpractice. Situations might go awry when that particular teacher ends up not showing up for the exam. As a result, the student fails.The only solution to avoid the numerous consequences of exam malpractice is to prepare adequately for examinations and not expect to be helped by anyone. In conclusion, the failure or success of an examination is mostly dependent on the student, rather than circumstances or the teachers. Therefore, it is ideal for every student that doesn’t want to fail to prepare adequately for examinations.

The sixth reasons is bad sleeping habit.A study has shown that a good hour of sleep helps to relax the brain and make the brain rejuvenated. If you spent the whole night reading, you will need to sleep during the day. If you also read the whole day, you should sleep at night. You can’t stay awake for 24 hours. If you do, you might end up sleeping on your exam sheets.And solution to this is that any student who doesn’t want to fail his examinations must have a good sleeping habit. You must learn to sleep well and early enough. The reason for this is because, sleeping or resting has a way of improving the memory and retention capacity, plus it makes the brain alert to take in new information.

The seventh point is inability to read extensively.Many students have a problem with reading further. They prefer to stick to what the lecturer gives to them as notes. However, the teacher’s notes are not sufficient for outstanding excellence. If you rely so much on your lecturer’s notes, without moving further to know more, you might be stuck during exams. The solution to this is simple as excellent students would also want to go the extra mile to study beyond the notes given in the class.

The eighth an last reason is wrong mind set.It’s what you make up your mind to do or believe in that will work for you. If a student has a mindset of always failing, there is almost no way he will succeed in that examination. Why? He has given up before writing it. This also works for a person who has the mindset of success, no matter how hard a course is, he will pass the examination. Even if there’s a mass failure, there’s a probability that he will slightly pass. The solution is having an incredible mindset that portrays you that no matter what the circumstances around you may be, you will pass an examination and succeed.

In conclusion, the failure or success of an examination is mostly dependent on the student, rather than circumstances or the teachers. Therefore, it is ideal for every student that doesn’t want to fail to prepare adequately for examinations.

Are you a diligent student? Be one today!