Overcoming Fear of Academic Failure: Reasons Why Students Fail vs. Thrive

Students who want to succeed are often, understandably, afraid of failure. 

Failure is on the minds of many students, especially those with lofty goals like college degrees and more. Similarly, parents of students are afraid of seeing their children fall prey to academic failure, since so much of today’s modern society seems to depend on academic success for upward mobility.

Of course, avoiding academic failure does not always depend on the student alone. Plenty of students find themselves in situations that can make success hard, often due to socioeconomic status and issues with education inequality. These are important issues to address and are very complex. 

For today, we will focus on cases where academic failure refers to the inability of a student with access to all necessary resources to forge ahead. The essential question then becomes, how do students get in the way of their own success?

Reasons for Student Failure

Failure is actually crucial to learning - we can learn from these mistakes and course correct, gaining resilience along the way. However, when students completely fail academically, this means that they are unable to overcome the small failures over time to learn and grow and eventually succeed.

There are many causes of student failure, and usually more than one is at play. But here are some common reasons for student academic failure, starting with perhaps the most insidious: fear.

1. Fear

Fear of Failure

Fear of failure, or even fear of success, causes failure. This seems a bit contradictory, but it’s unfortunately true. Many students allow their fear to overcome their ability to complete essential tasks that will help them succeed academically.

Some students fear failure, so they neglect their studies and stop trying, hoping that if they do not try then they will not have to feel bad about failing. This kind of fear can occur in students who are overachievers or who do not believe in themselves academically. Educators and parents can help students overcome their fear of failure by reminding them that they can learn from failure when they experience it.

Fear of Success

Other students fear success, which is common among students who are worried about the responsibilities they will face if they succeed or the ways their lives might change once they succeed. They might fear college life or a difficult career if they should succeed. Sometimes students are afraid of leaving others, like family members or friends, behind if they succeed.

These students need to be reminded that they are in control of their lives and can decide how far they go. But if they do not reach their full potential, they will be depriving the world of their gifts.

2. Lack of Preparation

Other students fail from a lack of preparation. This can sometimes mean that they did not do the work they needed to along the way or put off necessary steps like studying for tests, finishing key assignments, or completing college applications.

Students who lack preparation might have allowed their learning to fall short during school without seeking the help they needed to understand material and now feel they are too behind to catch up.

Fear of failure or success can actually lead to a lack of preparation, while other times, students do not prepare for other reasons, like laziness.

3. Lack of Motivation

Sometimes students lack motivation, so they become apathetic. When students are unmotivated, they might feel that academic success doesn’t matter or that they will never achieve it. Students who lack motivation might have experienced a good deal of failure early on in their education and feel there is no point in trying any longer.

These students need to find a “why” when it comes to academic success, a reason that will motivate them to achieve their goals. A motivation can come from a career goal, a desire for a future accomplishment, the hope to be financially stable, or even the desire to give back to the community or family members.

Overcoming Fear of Failure

Since failure is a natural part of life and necessary on the way to success, fear of academic failure often happens for students when they have come across a major challenge or roadblock.

With the knowledge that failure is necessary, students can certainly adopt certain mindsets and create habits that help them overcome failure to then reach success. Here are some tips on how to overcome fear of failure as a student.

Accept Failure as a Necessary Part of Life

Once students can accept failure as part of their academic journey, they might have an easier time facing failure in general. The ironic part of this truth is that the only way to avoid failure is to embrace it. If you can realize that you will absolutely fail in pursuit of success, the idea of failure will no longer feel so scary.

However, it is also important to realize that every failure will require you to overcome. You can fail, but then you must learn from that failure and try again.

Have Compassion for Yourself

In order to deal with failure, you must also have great compassion for yourself. Every human being makes mistakes, so if you make a mistake or find yourself on the wrong path, know that you can always redirect. Beating yourself up will never help you overcome failure, but recognizing why you might have failed and learning from it will always help.

Try to process every failure, allow yourself to heal from it, learn what you need to in order to improve, and then come back with a new approach.

Adopt a Mindset of Resilience

The ability to learn from failure and keep working toward your goals anyway comes from adopting a resilience mindset. This takes practice, but you can train yourself to understand that failure is part of life and then be willing to keep trying anyway.

An important aspect of resilience is the desire to learn from mistakes. Even if you fail, knowing that you can find a solution and work toward your goals in new ways should help you overcome failure.

Set Realistic, Smaller Goals Toward a Larger Goal

One way to lessen the fear of failure is to set smaller goals that are more realistic to accomplish. This might mean setting a goal to get a higher grade on your next test or to understand one new concept in a class that is difficult for you.

By achieving small goals that lead you toward a larger academic goal, you will feel more confident along the way and be able to celebrate each accomplishment.

Tips for Students to Thrive Academically

Everyone learns differently, so tips that work for one student might not work for another. That said, all students can benefit from important study tips to help prepare them for success, like these: 

• Study early and often.

• Keep track of academic deadlines.

• Write down your goals.

• Ask for help from your teachers. 

• Be kind to yourself along the way.

• Know your “why” or motivation for success.

• Seek support from peers you admire.

• Keep going.

With these tips in mind, along with a resilience mindset, there is no reason to fear failure. Utilize your resources and keep working toward your goals. Success is not a straight line! You will fail, but failure is part of the process.