Trying hard isn’t cringe. Coasting and pretending you didn’t want it is.

Pretending not to care is insurance. If you never admit you wanted it, a bad result cannot embarrass you, and that protection is why coasting became a style. The cost is that you also cannot get the thing, since everything worth having requires visibly wanting it in front of people who might watch you miss. Most people doing well gave up that insurance early.

Pick one thing you will openly admit to caring about, and let people see the effort. Say you are trying out, say you studied for it. You will feel exposed for about a week, and then you will just be someone who tries.