By Thamar Jones
The first half of the first semester for the school year has just ended and maybe you didn’t do as well as you’d hope. Maybe you flunked it. I cringe just remembering how stressed out I used to be this time of year: all the guilt I used to feel about the time I wasted; procrastinating on a project; not giving myself enough time to study for a test; not writing down and therefore forgetting to do my assignments; the regret runs deep. Maybe you are facing some regrets of your own but there is still some time for you to pull your grades up before the semester ends—if you take action now.
Let’s break it down into steps.
Step 1: Check your grade.
Start by evaluating where you are and what you need to do to catch up. You know that newsfeed you monitor five times a day? Do the same for your grades and school work. If you weren’t keeping track during the semester, set an appointment with your teachers to go over your grades and assess what can be done to improve your score.
Are you missing a crucial assignment that you could redo (or maybe you just forgot to turn it in)? Could you rewrite an essay for more points? If you correct those math problems, might you get half credit? Every point counts so figure out what you can do to maximize your total. It might be easier than you think.
Step 2: Talk to your teacher about extra credit.
Teachers love when students are proactive. Talk to them about taking on an extra assignment that would help raise your grade. Extra credit might entail doing something like participating in a science fair, writing an extra essay, or giving a presentation to the class. It never hurts to ask!
Step 3: Get ahead on what is coming up this for the rest of the semester.
Find out if there’s going to be a major report, project, or test that will impact your grade. Make sure you are clear on what you need to do to really ace these final assignments to raise the grade as much as possible.
Step 4: Consider getting a tutor to finish out the semester.
If you’re overwhelmed by homework stress, this may be the perfect time to get some extra help. A tutor can help you save your grade and help you make a plan for the rest of the semester.
Taking action is really going to help you to feel more in control of the situation. So don’t let another day go by without making the effort to improve your performance in school and pull those grades up!
