So You Got a Bad Test Grade? How Are You Going to Handle It?

College students who performed poorly were granted the opportunity to look at tests of other students. Dweck describes this opportunity on page 36 of her book Mindset and states “those in the growth mindset looked at the tests of people who had done far better than they had.” The students in the “growth mindset” did this because they want to “correct their deficiency” and they want to better themselves and learn from their failures. This gives the students in a "growth mindset" the advantage to become successful later on if they face the same challenge later on in life. Dweck goes on to describe that the students in the “fixed mindset” looked at the tests of people who had done worse than them. This is due to the students wanting to make themselves feel better by thinking, “well, at least I didn’t do as bad as that guy.” Everyone makes excuses sometime or another in their lives, but if you happen to be in a “fixed mindset”, how are you supposed to better yourself if you are not even able to accept your mistakes, such as making a low grade on a test?