going through the motions

I have unofficially failed my chemistry class (unofficial because it's not on beartracks yet). I am ashamed of this (ashamed like when the Coyote Ugly girl's dad saw the Coyote Ugly girl dancing in the Coyote Ugly bar), but I think there are some positives out of this. So many things have been and are still going through my mind. Things like if my GPA falls below 2.0, I get put on the academic probation. If it falls below 1.6, that's the end of my university career. I did not know about these things before. I didn't think I had to worry about these things before. I've always gotten through school with relative ease. I never had to work too hard, study too late, or stress too much. Up until now, I can say that I slacked though my education. Just going through the motions and that's all it took.
This failure had made me realize that my studying methods are just not adequate enough for post secondary education. I never reviewed or did practice questions that were not part of an assignment. This semester, I had no assignments, which didn't motivate me to do the questions. Not doing these questions seriously hurt my marks. It also didn't help that I had to close the bar the night before my midterm and my final. It just didn't occur to me that I needed to study. This event is seriously life changing. Now I'm not going to say I'm going to be the perfect student now, but I will give a lot more effort to my schooling. Having my university career on the line is the best motivation I can get right now. I don't see myself later on in life without a profession. Not a job, but a profession. And being kicked out of university isn't a good way to become a professional.
I'm retaking this course in the spring. A three week, five days a week, session. I passed the lab portion (60%) but I'm going to redo that as well, because I know I can do better. Wow, it took me two years and a failed course to realize that I couldn't just go through the motions, but better now than later. I just hope that my other classes will keep my GPA above 2.0, and more importantly 1.6.