Midterms Wrecked My Grade

Pre-College Topics High School Life
1

Have any of my fellow members been in an experience where they received a bad grade on their midterm?
That’s what happened on my physics exam. I don’t know what it is but do grades generally drop junior year?
Because mine have. I used to be a As and B student but I really dislike my teachers this year and as result my grades were recovering from dropping during the first quarter. That is until midterms. Here are my grades:

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/a/img538/3402/HVB1ej.png

Will colleges frown on this? I hear they only look at the whole year letter grade.
Is that true? Because that would really save myself considering this situation is destroying all that
I’ve worked for in my high school career.

2

you could always do good on the finals…

3

For my school, they look at semester grades only.

I’m going to be honest with you, these grades aren’t the best. Do you know where you want to go? Because that makes a huge difference. MIT is a lot stricter in their standards than maybe your local school.

However, if you goal is to get to MIT, there are still ways. It’s just going to be a lot of hardwork. For example, I got a huge F on one of the most important courses in my high school career. Yet, I’m still a huge prospect for MIT. Because I made sure that all my grades following were perfect and did a LOT of work to fix my record.

4

@I2Hope

I am aspiring to attend my state school, Uconn. I have a 3.6 gpa but I’m sure by the end of the year, it’ll be lowered. It looks like I’m going to have to do what you and the above poster said, work harder and do better on the final.
Perhaps I still have a chance…?

5

I definitely think is still possible. Colleges forgive, and I think having these hard times or grade drops can be a great learning experience. I sure as hell learned a lot from that F I mentioned. And you always have next semester year to blow up your record. You will always have these grades when they look at your transcript, but if you make sure next semester is perfect and your senior year are perfect with a really good transcript (hard courses), you can explain these grades to the colleges as just being a bad year or something.

Also, if you want to boost your GPA, there is always dual enrollment or online classes. Or you could makeup the grade in an online program. I’m not sure the policies for your state though, so you’d have to think over what is best for you. In my state we have grade forgiveness.

6

Remember while colleges do look at midterm and midyear grades. It was the junior year GPA they were considering. So as long as there is a good A-B trend going on they wont really care if your senior year GPA was lowered. As long as you dont completely slack off you should be fine.

7

My friends brother goes to Uconn out of state though but he had very good extracurriculars and recommendations. His GPA was on the low side but he show did okay on the SATs compared to the average of accepted applicants.

8

Do midterm grades factor into GPA? I got a 92 in Hon English 9 as my lowest midterm, so I can’t tell, but that worries me for future exams :stuck_out_tongue:

9

Here’s the part that disturbs me:
“I used to be a As and B student but I really dislike my teachers this year and as result my grades were recovering from dropping during the first quarter”

I’m fine with you disliking your teacher. But you seem to dislike them all… so perhaps the issue isn’t all of them? And the “as a result” thing seems to imply that if only you liked your teachers, your grades wouldn’t be an issue. That’s an issue for several reasons.

For starters, they’re not going anywhere. So if you hope to salvage your grades this year, you have to get beyond your dislike of your teachers.

But I suspect that there’s more going on here. If it wasn’t a typo, and you really do dislike 6 or 7 teachers, then I’ve got to ask: what else is going on? Is there some background issue that’s coloring your perceptions this year?

OK, to the specifics. You want to do better in Physics. Start showing up for extra help, not just the day before a test, but on a regular basis. I’ve found that the kids who do the best job of pulling their grades up make a habit of stopping by a few days a week with a short question or two. Before homeroom or on the way to the bus, they’ll stop by and run something by me. It’s painless for them, since it doesn’t pull them away from other activities, but the conglomerate of all the questions they ask really helps them learn the material.

Take a look at teacher websites. Not just your teacher(s) but teachers from other schools as well. Ask here, and on Social Media and find some good Physics teachers, and take a look at their sites. You’ll find some teachers who do a wonderful job of recording their own videos to explain material.

One poor midterm grade will not effect your chances of attending UConn. If it’s not part of a bigger issue, you should be able to recover. But it’s got to be about you and the effort you put forth, not about whether you like your teachers or not. It begins with personal responsibility. The Physics midterm didn’t wreck your grade, your performance on it did.

Today might be a great opportunity to turn over a new leaf- you’re off and are homebound all day as the blizzard winds down. Get started :slight_smile:

Good luck!

10

@bjkmom

You’re right. I never thought I would be inspired by someone on a forum but it looks like I really do need a re-evaluation. Thank you!

11

I’m so impressed! It takes a lot of maturity to admit that.

I strongly suspect that your Physics grade - and your other grades - are about to skyrocket as you take more responsibility for your own grades.

The best of luck to you!

12

I am pretty much in the same boat you are (or were). First year taking physics and it became my lowest mid term. Pretty much freaking out now