If I had to think back to a time I was a surface learner it would have to be when I took AP calculus in my senior year of high school. Like most other classes in high school, I really only looked aimed for the grades and not so much learning and understanding the content I was being fed day in and day out. But in no other class was it more clear to me that I was only learning at the surface level. I took notes, passed the tests, quizzes and homework and ultimately passed the course. As Bain puts it “Surface learners usually focus only on passing the exam, not on ever using anything they read”. And that’s exactly what I did, I did not pass the AP exam, an exam that really required a deep understanding of the material. I achieved the bare minimum and as a consequence I have to take calculus again this year. The second time around I do not plan on making the same mistakes.