I believe that hard work and perseverance will result in success. Not always the success that was entirely intended, nor the complete success of something, without failures along the way, but there will be success. It is also not entirely true that hard work will make you better or more successful at something than another person that puts in less effort than you do, because sometimes people just have more natural talent at things. But, If through all your hard work and perseverance (knowing that you gave it your absolute all) you still happen to fail, I will not lie to you it will be depressing, but at least you know you gave it everything you had for something you cared about.

The Beginning of 8th grade was like any other year for me. I started the year off doing my homework the way I usually did it, like running a race, meaning as fast as possible. I also was not adjusting to the higher expectations of 8th grade. World History had always been a class I was good at and I expected to breeze by it the way I did with all my subjects. It was not the best start to the year, when I had forgotten my first two assignments which both resulted in zeros. Because of my slow start, my concern grew that I would not be able to breeze past this subject, but I had confidence that I would be fine with my work ethic.

Halfway through the quarter I had received second-rate test scores and quizzes and I had an 82 average, which was far from where I’d wanted my grade to be. My lackadaisical attitude had dug me into a deep hole. I worked a little harder in the second half of the quarter and barely lifted my grade up to a 90%, but on the final day of the quarter my grade dropped to an 88%, do to a poor essay I had done.

“It was not my fault, the class is just really hard.” I had told my parents when
They had learned of my grade. Even though I would not admit it, even to myself I knew that it was my fault and I could have done better. “If you put the time and effort in you will do just fine, and if you do not do well then at least you know you tried your best.” My mother told me.

Deciding that I would try my hardest to get a good grade in this class, I decided that I would go beyond what had to be done to succeed. I started seeing my teacher during free periods for extra help on things I did not understand (Instead of asking my friends, like usual), and taking my book home every night whether there was homework or not. I also stopped waiting until the last minute to hand homework in and study.

I received my best grade of the year to date, a 97%. I was jubilant with the amount of work I put into one test and the outcome of all my effort. My grade was changing before my eyes and by the end of the second quarter my grade was an A+. Keeping this work ethic for the rest of the year I pulled out an A+ average over the next three quarters.

This class taught me that hard work and effort will lead almost anyone to succeed in almost anything they want. With a little help from my teachers and family I was able to succeed in the class. I did however, have tests over the remainder of the year that I did not receive great grades on even when I did put in a lot of work, but I kept my head up, like a basketball player after he misses the game winning shot, and I would try even harder on the next test and maybe I would make the shot and win the game. But if I did miss and everyone misses a few times in their lives, at least I knew that I gave it my all just like what my mother told me.