Before coming to Washington University, you might have been used to doing well in your classes. You cranked out your work and regularly received high grades and awarding test scores. You may have been showered with praise with teachers and parents calling you “smart” or “bright.” Then, you go off to college. You put in just as much effort as before, maybe you put in more effort than you have in your life. Eventually, you get back your grades and they might not be that great. They may be worse than any grades you’ve gotten back before. It can be hard to experience this and not feel disheartened, like maybe you aren’t as bright as everyone has told you. You may look at those that did get good grades and think maybe they are just smarter than you. That they were cut out for this and you weren’t. The truth of the matter is, it’s okay to get lower grades. Your future is not going to be shaped by how smart you are or are not; it’s not based on natural brightness. What really matters is the effort you are willing to put in.

There are two terms, coined by psychologist Carol Dweck, that describe common attitudes one has towards failure: a “fixed mindset” and a “growth mindset”. Someone with a “fixed mindset” believes that abilities and understanding are fixed. For example, the belief that one can never understand or excel in a math class because they are simply “not a math person.” On the other hand, someone with a “growth mindset” sees natural ability as but a piece of the puzzle, sees intelligence as malleable and understanding as obtainable through practice and effort. It is the replacement of an “I can’t do it” with an “I can’t do it, yet.” This allows a bad grade to become an opportunity rather than a devastation.

Much research has been done on how each of the different mindsets affect a student’s performance. In one study run on 5th graders, Dweck and fellow psychologist Claudia Mueller had children perform a series of puzzles and controlled what type of praise the children received. Upon completion of the puzzle, one group was praised for their intelligence while the other group was praised for how hard they had worked on the puzzle. The students who had been praised for their intelligence chose to keep working on similar puzzles, choosing certain success and avoiding challenge. They ranked performance as their main goal, most caring about the appearance of intelligence. The students who had been praised for their effort chose the more difficult puzzles and ranked learning as their main motivation.

Researchers have found that simply explaining neuroplasticity to students can be effective in encouraging a growth mindset, ultimately improving student performance. Neuroplasticity is defined as how an individual’s connectivity between neurons can change with experience; the more you use a neural pathway, the stronger that pathway becomes. This shows that the growth mindset is more than just optimism, it is grounded in fact. Things are not based solely on what abilities one naturally has, that just marks the starting point for an individual. With effort and repeated practice, one can gain understanding and ability in subjects that may have seemed out of reach initially.

So don’t let a bad grade get you down. Don’t let that “weed out class” keep you from pursuing your dreams. If you get a problem wrong, seek out the right answer. Practice it again. If you have a question, ask it. Don’t worry about if the question makes you look bad, worry about enriching your understanding. If being outspoken in class is too intimidating, try asking questions over email or going to office hours. Getting where you want to go is going to take a lot of work. You are going to fail more than once, just make your failures drive you rather than allowing them to bring your dreams to a halt.

This article was originally published in Student Life, the independent newspaper of Washington University in St. Louis. Lauren Alley serves as Managing Editor of the newspaper.