Don't Not Study

    Hubris is arrogance, overconfidence, and overambition all wrapped up in one word. I'm guessing we are all familiar with the word pride. Well, just multiply pride by 10 and you will get hubris. It relates to excessive pride that becomes so big that it gets blown out of proportion and leads someone to their downfall. I experienced this once and I swear to myself that I will never, ever go through it again.

6th grade. Fresh out of elementary school. Entering the world of 6 different classes every day. 6 different teachers. 6 times the amount of studying. Actually, in my case 5 times the amount of studying. Why only 5? Because my dumb 11-year-old self thought I was a math genius.



    Coming out of 5th grade, I was put into the honors 6/7 math class, the honors math class for 6th graders. Being put into that class made my ego WAY too big for my liking. I relied too much on my prior knowledge that I didn't necessarily study for my first test. I only put minimal effort into my studying -- relying on my "genius" math skills instead of hard work. I merely just skimmed through the notes and believed that my elementary school learning would be enough to ace the test. I'm sure you already know how the test went...
(real footage of me taking the test)

    Getting my test back, I see a big, fat, red 65 on the top of the paper. A D. The lowest grade I've ever received in my academic career (it was even lower than my first Calc BC score... and that's saying something). Honestly without the test corrections my teacher let me do, I would've not passed that class with an A... This was my downfall caused by my fatal, excessive pride.
    I wanted to cry. I wanted to go back in time and study for this test. I wanted to tell my past self that I, in fact, did not know the material well enough to be able to not study and be fine. I wanted to start everything over. And I wished I wasn't so prideful in myself.
    I learned a very, very important lesson that day. Always study. Never just skim through notes. Always make sure that I have a good understanding of EVERYTHING. 
    Although my momentary hubris doesn't compare to Oedipus' large-scale hubris, I will never let myself go down this path ever again.
:)


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