The Day Regret of the day I Received My Second-Semester Grades in 9th Grade

About this article

I still remember the day I received my second-semester grades in 9th grade.

I was aiming for a Tokyo metropolitan high school that I had admired after visiting its school festival.

At the end of 8th grade, my average grade was around 4 out of 5. I was not particularly dissatisfied with my grades, and I did not especially enjoy studying. I also did not have a big goal for my future.

Then, when I entered 9th grade, I learned how important my school record would be for admission to a Tokyo metropolitan high school.

“Thirty percent? Then I have to do something about it.”

That was what I thought.

So I came up with my own strategy for improving my grades.

Japanese was not a particularly difficult subject for me, so I aimed for a 5. I was very good at technology, so I aimed for a 5 there as well.

On the other hand, I was not good at sports, and I thought I had no artistic talent. I assumed getting a 5 in physical education or art would be difficult, so instead of trying to compete through talent or the quality of my work, I focused on working as hard as I could to get a 4.

I set my own goals—“I’ll aim for a 5 here” and “I’ll aim for a 4 here”—and worked hard at school.

Then came the day I received my second-semester grades in 9th grade.

That day, I went to my Japanese teacher after school.

My test scores in Japanese had been reasonably high, so when I saw that I had received a 4, I asked:

“Teacher, what percentage did I get for a 4? I worked really hard.”

The teacher said,

“89.”

“...89?”

I still remember that number. I remember being told that number in the printer room.

I had worked very hard, so I was extremely frustrated that I had received a 4.

But what bothered me even more was this:

“Then what was I missing?”

And by the time I had that question, it was already the day my second-semester grades were announced.

The grades used for my Tokyo metropolitan high school application could no longer be changed. In other words, even if I decided at that moment to work harder on something, it was already too late for that particular evaluation.

That was when I realized something.

Working hard and knowing where you currently stand are two different things.

If I had known during the first semester what I was missing, what I needed to improve to move from a 4 to a 5, and what I needed to do before the next evaluation, things might have been different.

I do not know whether the result would actually have changed. I do not know whether 89% would have been enough for a 5.

But at least I could have worked with a clearer sense of direction instead of working hard without knowing exactly what I needed to improve.

In fact, after entering high school, I started asking my teachers these kinds of questions myself.

“How well do you think I understand this?”

“What would I need to improve to get a 4?”

“What score would I need on the next test?”

Honestly, asking these questions myself was not easy.

But I wish I had known to ask them earlier.

Looking back, there is something else I wonder about.

At the time, I had decided quite early that improving my grades in physical education would be difficult because I was bad at sports, and that improving my art grade would be difficult because I thought I had no artistic talent.

But was that really true?

If I had understood more about how I was being evaluated, found ways to improve things like assignments and my participation in class, and approached those subjects with a little more enjoyment, perhaps the results could have been different.

Maybe some of the things I thought I simply could not do because I “didn’t have the talent” were things I could have approached differently.

This is not a success story about getting good grades.

It is a story about something I wish I had known earlier.

A regret I wish I had learned from sooner.

A grade of 3, 4, or 5 tells you where you ended up, but it does not necessarily tell you what to do next.

Of course, the basics come first: completing assignments and homework, attending class, and making a consistent effort to participate and engage.

Beyond that, it can be useful to ask:

“What led to this grade?”

“What would I need to improve to get a higher grade next time?”

And if you are going to ask, it is better to ask while there is still time to act on the answer.

I learned that on the day I received my second-semester grades in 9th grade.

But by then, it was too late.

That is why this is a regret I want to pass on to the students who come after me.

If you want to improve your grades, ask your teacher while you still have time.

“What am I missing right now?”

“What should I do before the next evaluation?”

I wish I had known to ask those questions much earlier.

In the end, I decided not to apply to that Tokyo metropolitan high school and chose a less competitive one because I felt that my first choice might be a little too risky.

But I did well on the actual entrance exam, and in the end, my results were enough for my original first choice. That is why the “89” from that day has remained such a significant regret for me.

I’ll write more about that decision and what I was thinking at the time another day.