I am a freshman in college, I just transferred from one 4-year institution to another. Last semester my GPA was a 3.8, but this semester it’s midterms I have a D and two Cs. My transition was a little hectic, but I am the type of person that beats myself up over a C. I am panicking a little and don’t know what to do. Can I bring my grades up? or is it too late? Will this hurt me bad? How can I fix it? Should I drop a class and receive a N? Please help!
What you are doing now, study-wise, is not working, so you have to overhaul your study methods. Your new school may be more rigorous than your previous school and you have not made the change.
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GO TO CLASS, READ THE CHAPTERS, AND DO THE HOMEWORK!
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Go to Professor’s office hours and Ask this question: “I know this is a really difficult class-- what are some of the common mistakes students make and how can I avoid them?” Also talk to them about if they think you have a chance to succeed in the class at this point.
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If you have problems with the homework, go to Prof’s office hours. If they have any “help sessions” or “study sessions” or “recitations” or any thing extra, go to them.
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Form a study group with other kids in your dorm/class.
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Don’t do the minimum…for STEM classes do extra problems. You can buy books that just have problems for calculus or physics or whatever. Watch videos on line about the topic you are studying.
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Go to the writing center if you need help with papers/math center for math problems (if they have them)
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If things still are not going well, get a tutor.
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Read this book: How to Become a Straight-A Student: The Unconventional Strategies Real College Students Use to Score High While Studying Less by Cal Newport. It helps you with things like time management and how to figure out what to write about for a paper, etc.
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If you feel you need to withdraw from a class, talk to your advisor as to which one might be the best …you may do better when you have less classes to focus on. But some classes may be pre-reqs and will mess your sequence of classes up.
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For your tests, can you evaluate what went wrong? Did you never read that topic? Did you not do the homework for it? Do you kind of remember it but forgot what to do?
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How much time outside of class do you spend studying/doing homework? It is generally expected that for each hour in class, you spend 2-3 outside doing homework. Treat this like a full time job.
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Have you been focusing on other things rather than school work? (sports, partying, rushing fraternities/sororities, video gaming etc etc)? Have you been distracted by any issues in dorm life or emotionally? Any medical/mental health issues?
Basically DO NOT TRY TO DO THIS ON YOUR OWN. Your college has many many resources to help you succeed…use them. If you are lost on what to do first, go to your adviser and talk to them.
TAKE ACTION NOW!