Worried about grades

College Life
1

<p>So I'm an international student here, and I'm at a top school in the US. Apparently this school is said to practice grade inflation too, but I havent seen any of it yet. :( I'm also tentatively a law school aspirant.
We've had two mid terms till now, and I haven't really done as well as I would have thought in them. I admit that one of the classes I am taking is a sophomore level class, which not many students do in my school, however, I still am annoyed at myself.</p>

<p>For the first mid term, I cut myself slack, because I'm new here, and obviously I needed time to settle down. I got a 81/100 in math, while the mean was an 86, and median a 91 (they only give numbers until the end, where we get a letter grade), and a B- in my soph level class, wayyy below the average (they give grades on a curve, I forgot what I got on this), and a B+ in required writing class.</p>

<p>By my second mid terms, I felt better settled in (I really felt lost during the first...still hadn't settled in yet) , and also better prepared. However, in my soph level class I only got a B+ with the curve with a 60.5/80 (missed A- by 2.5 marks, so annoying), and I haven't gotten the other two back yet. </p>

<p>I'm wondering, am I being too soft on myself? Is there something wrong I am doing? I don't think if I had studied more, it would have changed my result because I really feel like the mistakes I made this time were mostly silly mistakes and that the grading was harsh (I really expected a better score-- at least an A- ). </p>

<p>Is there a way to prepare for tests in america that I don't know about? Most people here seem to be so <em>not</em> stressed for tests, and seem to be able to study exactly what's coming on the test. I, otoh, find myself studying a lot of things from the book that are never even asked. :(
I feel like everything I do is futile, and I feel very depressed. I can't figure out what's wrong with me, should I be change the way I study/am i just not meant for american schooling..what? I can't figure out what's wrong. :(
any advice?</p>

2

<p>Just got my math mid term back, I got an 81, just like last time, although this time’s test was harder than last time’s so the average is lower.
Made silly mistakes such as forgetting to do a five marker even though I knew it, and multiplying incorrectly.</p>

<p>Is there anything I can do to improve my grade? Anything for extra credit? (how does extra credit work?)</p>

<p>Please help. Thank you!</p>

3

<p>You will get used to your school and sooner or later you will figure out what kind of questions are going to be asked on the exams. By going to lecture some people can pick up what kind of materials is going to be tested. Especially after the first exam, you will learn the style of the exams and how your professors grade. You should go to office hours and review your exams; it helps a lot. You can also ask how to improve on the next exam or the final.
You can also try asking for extra credit but you probably won’t get any. Usually when there is extra credit available it is announced to the class early in the semester.</p>

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<p>Thank you detailmore! I think I shall go to office hours to go over exams.
My problem I think is not that I need to study HARDER, but that I need to study SMARTER.</p>

<p>Another thing that worries me atm, is that when I think-- maybe I should not work that much in first semester and instead spend that extra time making friends, which I think is so important too, since I do want people I like to hang out with for all four years. In high school, I mostly focused on college stuff, and most of my good friends shifted house/schools after 10th grade. So for the past 2 years, I didn;t have any great friends, and I think that was because I didn’t put in the time and effort getting to know new people. I currently have three different groups I really get along well with, but I can’t decide which one I want to stick with. So, I also want to spend time getting to know them all so that I can decide. :frowning:
Am I giving this too much importance? It’s stressing me out (being in a new country + taking up a tougher than usual course load + trying to be more social than I am generally because it’s necessary to get to know more people). Should I just focus on studies instead? But then, I’m worried that even if I lessen my workload in spring, people would already have formed cliques/the groups I know would be tighter with themselves, and since they would;t know me as well as I want, exclude me from things they are doing.</p>

<p>Ah, it felt good to let that out finally. :slight_smile:
I think I should stop procrastinating. :slight_smile:
However, any more “study smart” tips are very welcome! Thank you!</p>