Marks vs Learning: How Students Can Find the Balance

Finding the balance between marks and learning is a very tricky concept for any student.

Why marks feel like everything

You can’t blame a student for caring a lot about marks. On paper, every applicant is a number and a PDF, and what makes you stand out is what is on it: your grades and experiences. To get into university you have to meet the requirements, to get an internship your marks count, and they may even count for your first job after university.

It is the age-old challenge every student faces, myself included in my days. So how do we balance it?

Marks vs learning: two ways to work

Generally speaking, if you do things with the idea of chasing marks, you may get better marks but you don’t grow or learn much. If you do things to learn, put your best in and work hard, the marks tend to follow with time.

A few marks can be a game changer

At a student level, your only concern is the degree and not the rest of your life. But keeping the bigger picture in mind helps. Some lessons are learnt the hard way, like a system crashing because you never considered something. Losing a few marks but learning that lesson as a student can be a game changer.

The more you remind yourself that learning comes first, the more it becomes how you work. Over the long term, that is what pays off.

Grades matter, but they should not be the only goal. It is a lesson we all learn at some point.

How have you balanced marks and learning?