slipping grades

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

This is my fault, but my grades are slipping like crazy right now. I’m currently a sophomore, and I’m in the top 10% of my grade with a 3.9 unweighted. However, my report card came in (the second to last one for this semester) and I have 5 B’s and 2 C’s. I’m so scared. I know I can still try to raise them as much as possible, but I still feel like there won’t be that big of a difference. I calculated it, and that’s a 3.0 unweighted. How much would this affect me college wise? I wanted to go to a UC, but I’m feeling so discouraged lately…

2

Slipping grades definitely don’t look good to colleges, and you’d be on the edge for qualifying for a UC application. What happened? Did you lose motivation, or did something personal happen?

Reflecting is good but please don’t ruminate; you can get stuck in a downwards spiral. Maybe talk to someone close to you or ask teachers for extra cred opportunities?

Of course, you still have junior year, but college apps are much, much closer than you think. Keep going!

3

  1. Look back and evaluate why you think your grades are down.
    Are you taking harder classes this year?
    Are you taking more academic courses this year?
    Are you doing more extra curriculars (sports/music etc)
    Are you not studying enough?
    Are you distracted (looking at phone, computer) while studying?

  2. What can you do to change how you study?
    Can you form a study group?
    Can you go to teacher’s office hours?
    Can you get a tutor at school?
    Can you do extra problems?

  3. Can you pick a couple of the classes and really work hard on them? Get those C’s up to B’s?

  4. You still have time to raise your overall GPA…colleges like when your grades have an upward trend…they see that you are doing better in harder classes junior and senior year

4

It’s a combination of things, but I think the main thing was that I lost motivation. My middle school history teacher would call it the “March slump”, as he noticed that students started to slipping up at around that time LOL. That’s kind of the situation I am in right now. I’m trying to get my act together though, but whenever I try to study I just get so discouraged.