Hello. I am currently in my 2nd semester of ninth grade in high school. Thus far, my grades have only been A’s and B’s, but that has only been for the first semester. Since then, I am positive some of those grades have turned into C’s and maybe even D’s. It’s just hard to wrap my head around some of the concepts we are using. One of my goals is to leave my freshman year with (preferably) only A’s. That may not be the case, in which some may (again, preferably) be B’s. I’m wondering the following:
Will I still be able to get into an Ivy League School (assuming my grades remain constant for the rest of high school)?
How do I bump my grades back up? Is there anything specifically that I can do? Any studying tips or tricks that helped?
Thanks so much!
Q#1 is a moot point – who knows what will change about what you want from a college in 2.5 - 3 years? Focus on the grades. Why are they low? What’s going wrong?
It seems that I cannot get my head around some of the curriculum. Mid-terms are coming up, and I have already scheduled almost all of my free time meeting with teachers. In the past, meeting with teachers has helped, but still hasn’t helped me reach my goal of attaining an A in the class. I feel discouraged about the lack of performance, and especially worse when friends do much better, which discourages me more from studying. It leads to a spiral of pessimism and procrastination until it gets much worse, which is why I’ve focused more on fixing the problem, but it seems like a lost cause, and I’m not quite sure what to do. Are there any tips or advice you’ve received that have helped you? (mainly just answers for Q2).
First tallk to your teacher about your actual grades.
If you are going into a downward spiral, talk to your school psychologist/guidance counselor. Sometimes people with anxiety/depression/OCD get overly concerned with grades and get into a whole spiral situation.
Yes, I’ve scheduled meetings with teachers throughout the week, and they’ve said that they feel confident enough about my abilities to improve that it isn’t a huge concern as of now. However, I still feel as though I am lacking something on my own end. Is there any way that I can study or improve before the upcoming mid-terms (that might have worked for you) in order to feel more confident?