the more students are led to focus on how well they’re doing, the less engaged they tend to be with what they’re doing.
I think this is a problem with a lot of my classes. I've made a bigger effort to not think about the grades, but instead how I felt about my preparation and how I felt taking it.
I also think classes with real life applications are better. For example, in my tax class we have to volunteer and file tax returns for underprivileged people in the community. Because I was doing people's real tax returns (very scary at first!!) I was more motivated to master the material.