The Way to True Academic Success by Peyton Castiel

The Way to True Academic Success by Peyton Castiel - September 2026 Scholarship Essay

Sternocleidomastoid. Coracobrachialis. Semimembranosus. These are just 3 of the 158 terms that I had to memorize for one of my anatomy exams in my junior year of high school. This class was notoriously feared for its tsunami of information: dozens of bones, muscles, nerves, and physiological pathways to memorize. Many of my friends spent countless, exhausting hours highlighting and staring at diagrams until 12 am in the morning. But I knew that this wasn’t the solution to retrieve and store significant amounts of information. Instead of wasting time staring, I hid the labels of models and forced them to recall them from scratch. By focusing on retrieval over passive review, I cut out hours of pointless studying. The strategy was undeniably effective: I never failed to earn a perfect 100% on every single anatomy exam.

But of course, what’s better than studying with a group of friends instead of by yourself? Seeing my friends struggle using the passive reading method, I decided to share active recall rather than keeping it to myself. We ditched re-reading our notes, and instead focused on quizzing each other until we got it right. This changed everything. My friends began to utilize this strategy in other classes and managed to break their own barriers. Active recall isn’t just a study trick, but it’s a method that can work for absolutely anyone.

This success has completely altered my day to day life. It has allowed my friends and I to retain knowledge in a short period of time. We didn’t have to miss out on life just to keep our grades up. I was able to focus on myself and the people that I care the most. Many of the spare hours I had were allocated to my extracurriculars and hanging out with friends. I never saw studying as a chore but rather as an exciting challenge. This method has allowed me to reach true academic success by allowing me to have balance between my life and education.