Hey, I’m a Freshman, and currently this semester’s been pretty abysmal. So I started off with a C on a Trig Test, and then my other tests have not been up to my usual standards. Recently, all of my tests have been bad, and my grades have been slipping. For college standards, they’re still good, but I just want all this failing and disappointment to stop. Any advice?
Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Get tutoring!
Hey, it’s not really that my grades are slipping for competitive T20 standards, it’s just that they’re slipping for ranking. I don’t think that I need tutoring as my grades aren’t near that level yet. Thanks for the response though!
Does your school even report rank to colleges? If not, don’t worry about it if your grades are still good. (My daughter’s school internally ranks but they wont report it on transcripts).
Not sure if they do. Kinda cheers me up knowing that. Thanks!
As a high school teacher, I’m far less concerned about your transcript than what’s going on to cause such an “abysmal” combination of grades.
Struggling in one particular class is one thing. But you say that NONE of your tests have “been up to your usual standards.”
Can you tell us why? What has happened to cause such a change? Is it that you’re not paying attention? Not doing homework? Doing something else with time that used to be spent studying?
This sort of thing seldom happens in a vacuum-- can you tell us why your grades have taken such a nosedive?
The thing is, I’m not sure, and that’s what’s been really worrying me.
Also, asking for a tutor works if you’re B+ and want an A. It doesn’t mean getting D. (In college you need to make use of tutors early on regardless of grade in order to really master the material.)
OK, you’re a freshman. Let’s come up with a list of typical possiblities:
- You've changed schools. Is the issue one of being distracted by a new place, new people?
- You're getting older. Are you less interested in schoolwork? Are you spending more time socializing or on a hobby?
- Are you simply in over your head academically? Taking classes that are too hard?
- How are your notes? High school teachers sometimes expect that you'll take down not just what we write, but also what we say.
- Have you been giving your homework the attention it deserves?
- How has your attendance been? Trig in particular builds and builds and builds and builds. Miss too many classes in a row, or at all, and you're hopelessly lost.
- Where do you sit in classes? Sometimes alphabetical order is a problem-- the A's are always in front and the kids at the very end of the alphabet are in the back. It's easy to be distracted in class. Is this an issue?
- What time do you turn off the electronics and actually go to sleep? Note, I didn't say "bed", I said "sleep."
- How many hours a day do you spend on electronics?
- How are things at home? Pretty much like in the past or have there been some major changes?
Is any of this sounding like it could be a contributing factor?
Here are some tips to start doing things differently:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/high-school-life/2026961-what-to-do-when-you-arent-doing-well-in-a-hs-class-p1.html
None. My parents and I just think that the C on the Trig Test shook me and broke my rhythm. I can’t really think of any other reason.
OK, so you think you’ve identified the problem. Now it’s time for a solution.
Go back and re-take that trig test; consider asking your teacher if she has a blank copy you can use. Not for credit, just to press the “reset” button. Do the same with every single test since then, for any test that was lower than, say, an 85 or 90. Re do them, looking up the answers if necessary. Convince yourself that you’re caught up, that you’re back into that old rhythm.
I can’t retake it, my teacher doesn’t allow that, plus finals are coming soon, so I doubt I can reach my target grade.
Your teacher doesn’t allow a retake to change a grade, but I doubt s/he would refuse your retaking it as a learning tool, to show yourself what you’ve learned since then and what you might still need to learn.
Forget that “target grade”, focus on learning and showing yourself that you HAVE learned.
I didn’t say you should retake for credit. I said you should review it so you’re confident in the material.
This isnt about grades, its about education.
I have reviewed it, the upsetting thing is that it was just one mistake that really spiraled me downhill there. I’m still confident in my Trigonometry abilities.
Ok, so what’s your plan?
You’re confident in Your abilities yet you’re spiraling down. If your confidence was warranted, I would think your grades would reflect those abilities. You seem to be looking for a quick fix, when maybe it’s more basic than that.
Can you explain what you mean by a spiral?
When I grade a test, I give credit if the answer is right, and take away credit if the answer is wrong.
If you’re losing credit, it’s because you’re getting the answers wrong. It’s not about a trend in grades, it’s about the answers you put on this particular test.
To get the answers right, you need to know the material. That’s what I’m suggesting…that you go back to where you started getting the answers wrong, and get caught up.
Your grades have dropped significantly. Based on that, I’m not confident in your trig abilities.
All the double talk in the world won’t change the correlation between the answers you put on the page and the grade you receive.
I made a mistake in the Law of Cosines formula. I have asked my teacher, and I have gotten the mistake rectified. As our teacher enters the tests out of 100, missing a problem could drop your test grade to as low as 90%. As the mistake applied to all problems regarding Law of Cosines, my grade certainly wasn’t pretty.
My plan is mainly just more self confidence I guess. The Trig test shook me up a little, and I got nervous during every single math test. It really just scares me knowing that one error can trip me up so much.
Maybe “abysmal” is too strong of a word here. . . It’s just that my standards are set at an extremely high level. In the end of this semester, I can assure you that my grades will still be fine (4.0 UW).
I think that maybe I’m expecting too much of myself. I’ve never been good at Math, and it’s hard to reach my expectations for myself without getting a near flawless test each time. Thank you for your concern by the way, it’s amazing how a stranger on the Internet can show so much care.
I forgot to mention this, I am also taking an Algebra 2 online course with a current grade of a 94. I’m not sure whether this affects it or not, as I don’t think it does. Sometimes the root of the problem may come from the least likely source though.