Midterm Reflection: Successes and Failures

The beginning of my freshman year at Pasadena City College started off well. My classes
were not necessarily easy but rather fair. My grades are not perfect; however, I try to manage an
A average. Even though all of my overall grades were As, some of the assignments made me not
so proud while other assignments did. One of the assignment that bothered me was the RRJ
otherwise known as the Reading Response Journal. The overall objective of the RRJ was to
reflect upon the reading of the book Spare Parts by Joshua Davis. We were given five tasks to
complete within the RRJ; summarizing the chapters, provide a response to the reading, provide
two discussion questions, provide an explanation of your reading process, and look for 3-5
significant words from the reading that were important within the text. After completing these
tasks, the professor would then grade you based on a rubric ranging from 1-4 points for each
tasks; earning up to 20 points total. When I completed the assignment and submitted it in, I was
given back a grade that I felt was disappointing. Out of 20 points, I was only give 14 points. If I
were to calculate 14 out of 20, that would be a 70 percent which is a low C. It was extremely
disappointing for me to earn such a grade when I thought that I had done it correctly. As it turns
out, I did not fulfill enough of the assignment. I found out based on the rubric that I lacked
quality discussion questions which was needed for the assignment as well as a lack of words that
were important toward the text. I realized that in order for me to prevent this from happening
again, I would have to think more critically about forming questions, read the book carefully
while thinking to myself the words that help me understand the test, and finally double checking
the RRJ assignment before submitting because I am often finishing my homework without
proofreading. Nevertheless, to balance my failure I have also gained success through my first
year at college. I am proud to say that I earn an A on my math exams. My overall average within

my Math 131 is a 97 percent. I am glad that math is becoming an easy subject for me because the
truth is that math was my weakness. I hated it and explained about it in my jam reflection;
however, after taking Math 131 with Professor Huang at PCC Rosemead, I felt more comfortable
with it. Learning the concepts was easy for me as I now had the patience for it. High school was
fast paced for me therefore I did not really have time to learn as I had conflicting schedules.
Many formulas filled my head but I never got to learn them as it would go from one ear and out
the other.