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so you've been struggling all semester
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and now you want to Ace your finals can
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you do it yes you can hey it's Amy I was
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valoran and got a 4.0 from Caltech and
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I've actually never gotten a final grade
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below an a before but I actually did
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struggle in multiple classes and thought
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I would fail during the semester I got
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bad grades which killed my confidence
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but I always managed to end the semester
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strong without sacrificing sleep yes I
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still got an average of 8 hours even
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during final season this video will be
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different from all other study tips
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videos because we're going to see what I
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did come to life as requested by you for
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more story time make sure to stick to
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the end because you'll be learning the
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one key mindset that will not only
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transform your grades but also make you
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Ace life let's go so High School
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freshman and sophomore year I was to say
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the least comfortable in math it was my
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best subject I was in AP calc BC and AP
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stats my sophomore year below lo and
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behold the second semester of my junior
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year was a rude awakening I started
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taking linear algebra and whoo whoo whoa
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whoo before you go like oh my gosh
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you're struggling in linear algebra
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junior year like that's a hard math
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class anyway we in this community in the
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internet in different parts of the world
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what I go through and what I share is
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still translatable to whatever your
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situation is the first L I took was that
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my mom actually bought me the wrong
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textbook the thing with Asian parents
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sometimes is they like to save a little
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too much money in areas so there was a
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much cheaper version on eBay that she
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got but it was like 5 10 years too old
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so the textbook pages didn't even match
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up to what the teacher assigned me and
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the homework problems were numbered in
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correctly so I always had to ask my
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friends what are the questions in your
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textbook so then I could actually do the
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right questions for homework and studied
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the right chapters besides that little
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logistical snafu huh snafu what a weird
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well the class was very tedious every
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piece of homework took super long
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because this was a class coordinated by
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our nearby College it was also very
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disorganized we had a group chat called
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leaner Squad always create group chats
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that's a tip I have even if you don't
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help each other you can complain
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together and it makes it a lot more fun
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and complain we did so most of the chat
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was like oh this professor is so
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disorganized oh my gosh this is so hard
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like I'm going to fail everyone was
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struggling in that class to say the
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least I honestly was just scraping by on
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the homework and understanding the
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online lectures that was a problem too
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we didn't have inperson lessons the like
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third and fourth piece of homework I got
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back like the Grays weren't the hottest
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I don't remember specifically but it was
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just not looking good and then here
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comes the midterm test my time to take
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the midterm was a Friday morning and the
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the night before we had prom I was
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really excited as you can imagine for my
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first prom I got a little cocky so I did
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not study much for that linear algebra
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midterm I was arrogant and my attitude
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was like H I'll just figure it out on
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the test because I'm usually good at
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math I think I understand it oh no the
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previous night was fun prom blah blah
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blah I didn't have a date by the way I
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never had a date but the linear algebra
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test the next morning was rough this is
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a disaster the moment I opened it up I
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was like huh I don't understand it well
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enough I was simply lost you know that
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feeling where like you don't know what
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grade you got but you know it's really
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bad I knew that this was already an L
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like there was nothing I could do about
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it in that moment so after I completed
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the test to the best of my ability then
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I handed it in with a big pit in my
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stomach few days or like a week later I
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got the grade back I saw the grade in my
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campus portal and my face got hot I just
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felt like such a failure like am I
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really going to get a B in math when I
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was intending to do Engineering in
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college so how could I have let this
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happen but this was the defining moment
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I could either let my cockiness about
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being good at math continue and think
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that this surf level understanding was
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enough to figure problems out or I could
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do the hard thing admit that I was bad
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at this and double down on the hard
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Concepts it doesn't even matter if I
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thought that linear algebra or math was
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supposed to be easy I clearly didn't
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know what I was doing well enough so I
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had to go back and develop that deep
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Mastery of the linear algebra Concepts
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to actually apply them in harder
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problems that were going to come up
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later in that semester so when you're
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going about your semester maybe it's a
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little too late now but it's good for
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the future try to always be reflecting
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and detecting when things are not going
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right so you can course correct yourself
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so you're on a positive track to your
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ending semester grade the key here is
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that I reflected when I got this big L I
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took a moment to admit to myself that I
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was lying to myself that I knew the
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concepts well I took comfort in that
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other people were complaining with me I
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was like like it's okay because everyone
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else is struggling too I know we like
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following the group sometimes and if in
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your school you're not surrounded by
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students who want to do well is hard but
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we have to remember that at the end of
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the day what you do now is going to pay
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off years into the future it doesn't
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matter what other people around you
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think of you those people in high school
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not the people in my math class
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specifically but I'm just saying that
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those people who don't try so hard in
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school aren't going to be that cool a
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few years down the road just try trust
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me on this like I said in my how to Ace
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math no matter what video we have to
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really understand Math instead of just
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taking things at face value and
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memorizing them since I believed in that
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doing bad in linear algebra was a moment
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that tested my value because if I
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believe that then even in the face of
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difficulty I need to go back to that
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value ideally you yourself will catch
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when you're wavering but then sometimes
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we get a wakeup call that bad math test
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SCH was like a wakeup call to me well
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more like a slap in the face
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honestly none of that one is but it's up
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to us to decide how we react to the
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consequences of our wavering are we
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going to let ourselves keep slipping or
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are we going to do the tough thing to
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avoid even worse consequences so that
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was my own personal thinking but as a
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group the people in the class and I we
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were all complaining about the tests in
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the group chat and then suddenly someone
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asked hey you want to pull our money to
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make a check account the moment I opened
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that message I got excited I was like oh
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my gosh this is going to make my life so
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much easier this is going to make me be
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able to Breeze through homework and
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instead of seeing those half Solutions I
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can just follow the real solutions but
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that was my initial reaction and I took
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a moment and I was like suddenly felt so
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guilty I was like man like I'm not sure
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I was really tempted not going to lie
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but I debated for a couple days and then
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I I decided no I'm not going to take
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part of this because I had the
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determination and pride in my abilities
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to figure it out with more effort I am
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someone that really believes that with
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the right effort you can definitely see
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results that's that growth mindset
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that's so key to being a star student to
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being a good employee to being
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successful in any area of your life you
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might also be tempted by copout
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sometimes but we want to realize that if
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it's hard that means it's worth doing
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because I was going to put in more
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effort because it's tough that means
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that you're actually learning and I was
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hoping that that's how I could actually
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score better on the final so for the
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second half of the semester I always had
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that thick heavy textbook in my hand I
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carried it to lunch I carried it to
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breaks in the library I carried it to my
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tennis matches where when I was waiting
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to play I would be opening it up and
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reading reviewing problems practice
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problem Solutions Concepts over and over
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again I did so many practice problems
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and not only the number of practice
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problems but I made sure that there were
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variations of them too basically when I
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Was preparing for the final there wasn't
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a type of problem that I haven't seen
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before when it came to that level of
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linear algebra I really had to test
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myself and stretch my brain beyond what
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was comfortable because I also applied
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the tough Concepts and studied harder
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Concepts that I wasn't even sure if they
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were 100% going to be on the test but if
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they were I was ready I'm ready I'm
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ready I'm ready I'm ready when it came
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to the final I was confident as you
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should be when you prepared well enough
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people always ask me how much should you
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study to be prepared only you can answer
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that question my answer is that you
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study until you feel done and that's
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different for everyone you got to take
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charge and be the coach of your own life
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top students don't have a coach out
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there telling them what to do they know
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the kind of result they want and they
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ask themselves how am I going to get
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there so you can apply that same top
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student thinking okay so I open up the
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final breezing through the problems
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honestly and then I flipped to the last
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problem I was taken a back by first but
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I realized I actually saw a variation of
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this problem before even though this
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took it a little level higher but
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because I developed the deep
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understanding of the math concepts I
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could apply that to problems I haven't
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seen exactly before and that were even
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harder I guess going the extra mile to
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study the harder things actually paid
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off what do you know I finished a little
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earlier than the time allotted for the
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final and I felt confident that i' had
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secured my a for the semester a few
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weeks later my friend in class told me
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the grades are out pulled down my
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Infinite Campus portal typed in my
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username guess what grade I got from
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struggling so hard all semester I would
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say that I deserved that 100% honestly I
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was kind of shy to share it when people
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ask me what I got you know what's kind
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of interesting why is it okay in this
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day and age for people to show off how
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pretty they are on the internet but then
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a student seems arrogant for showing a
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good grade they got when that actually
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took hard work and dedication I don't
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get we have to re-evaluate our values
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guys so the lesson's here as I explained
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throughout we need to take
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accountability and always reflect when
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something goes wrong we need to believe
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that we are fully responsible for
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whatever that poor result was after I
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got the bad grade on my midterm that I
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was like well everyone else got a B too
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and well the teacher was disorganized my
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mom didn't even buy me the right
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textbook then there's no way I could
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have ended up with an A in that class
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there's no way I would have ended up
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with the highest 4.8 GPA that was ever
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in my school district there's no way
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that could happen if you don't be in
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control and that's exactly the mindset
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we are in control control have a strong
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internal locus of control that whatever
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that is that you want in school in life
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that you can literally take actions that
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will get you that result and because of
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that belief of you taking the steps
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resulting in that achievement then it
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becomes an easy decision it's like well
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if I can put in this work and get this
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great result then I'm going to put in
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this great work that's a way of thinking
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that I think really helped me not only
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Excel but to not really burn out because
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I believe that every hard class I took
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every situation I was in that was my own
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choice and kind of a related lesson but
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do not spend too much time moping yes I
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did feel sad and my cheeks got so hot
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and embarrassed after I saw my grade but
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I also had to play a bunch of tennis
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matches at the Air Force Academy so I
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can't bring that negative energy to
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another thing that day and then keep
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compounding that negative energy to make
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my day worse and worse so I'm getting on
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my preaching role again but not directly
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related to the final this channel is all
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about acing life too to do well in
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school and in life another thing you
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should control is your emotions control
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your emotions discipline your mind you
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have to know how to reset yourself for
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the next big thing you're going to do
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and ask yourself what is important right
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now for example my sister who's a senior
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at Caltech the night before she took her
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act she had a terrible terrible night
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I'm not going to go into the specifics
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but she went to bed at like 3:00 a.m. in
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like tears but the next day she still
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had to do what she had to do she still
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had to take the ACT that we paid for and
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guess what she got a 35 still so you
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have to be able to compartmentalize and
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not let one thing affect another since
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life is going to inevitably throw things
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at you and once you accept that you are
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going to run into difficulties then when
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bad things happen you can confidently
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take them in stride one L is 1 L but it
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doesn't have to be 500 L's and I didn't
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have to have a bad test experience and
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then have another bad tennis experience
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just like you might have struggled all
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semester bad grades before don't mean
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that they have to keep compounding fall
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and winter break are coming up so take
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advantage of that time to catch up and
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make your next semester even stronger
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and well Amy that's all good and all but
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how do you you seem to have so much fire
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inside of you to keep going all the time
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how do you actually not burn out I've
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gotten these questions a lot too and yes
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exactly we need to have some fire
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burning inside of us to actually want
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these things and to really give our all
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and get them so to hear the truth about
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how I'm so motivated all the time then
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check out this video good luck on your
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finals and I promise you no matter what
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happens you're going to make it out
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alive do your best and you'll have no
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regrets peace can you do it
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yeah you can that was weird
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[Music]
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one
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