Welcome back!
Like all students I know you’re excited to be back in school (yay!) and can’t wait to sink your teeth into all this awesome learning ahead of you.
But what’s happening, the advanced topics are getting ahead of you? School work is piling up? A couple of bad assignments and now your overall grade is looking bad?
Fret not, at least you did the smart thing and caught it early. Here are a couple things you can implement to get yourself back on track to that grade A transcript you deserve!
GET YOUR MIND RIGHT
When those underwhelming grades get back in your hands its quite a hard pill to swallow. Especially when they start coming in quick succession, its easy to internalize it. Don’t allow that to happen. Things rarely go as planned, it’s a part of life. But you need to catch yourself in that moment, and ask yourself “What can I do to improve this next time?”
FIND THE PROBLEM
Once you establish that you have what it takes to turn this grade train around (which you do!), you need to pinpoint the areas that are challenging you and what you can do to improve on them. This needs to be a thorough self examination with a detailed plan of improvement.
CONSULT THE TEACHERS
Part of this self examination will involve serious conversations with your teachers. You get as much feedback and assistance from the teachers you can in the subjects you are having a hard time with. It helps to discuss with the teachers of the classes you are passing as well, because there may somethings you can carry over to bolster your tougher courses.
GET YOUR LIFE RIGHT
It wouldn’t be too much of a leap to assume that some of the changes you plan on implementing will involve making adjustments to your lifestyle i.e. allocating more time to study prep and revision which will mean less time on some other things (probably fun things but let’s not dwell too much on it). To accommodate these adjustments you might have to sleep earlier, or wake up earlier. You may have to stay longer on campus or at the library, as well as other things like that.
REVISION
Taking notes during classes are a tried method of studying, but nowadays you can record your lectures. The notes are pretty much useless if you do not go over them though, and this is the more challenging part. A significant amount of effort needs to be placed on reviewing notes after each days work and an overall review of the week’s work at the end of the week. Building up this habit is vital for improved retention which will translate to better performance in tests and exams.
LEARN HOW YOU LEARN
Another important point to note will be determining what your learning style is and coordinating your work around that. This does require some additional work on your part and perhaps a bit of engagement from your teachers to structure your learning content in a form that complements your style. Ultimately getting a handle on this will be an asset to your academic achievement in the long run.
GET IT STARTED
When we are faced with a large task we tend to put it off until the moment we can no longer hold it off anymore. But by this time its really close to the deadline and it turns into a stressful situation all around. We have all gone through this cycle countless times so we know how it ends. Just start! Whether its putting this new plan in motion, or its your latest assignment. You need to make a plan and then put it in action. Start with small portions, or start with the project that requires the least amount of time. You can also organize your workload according to deadlines so that gives you a clear plan of action. However you decide to go about it, you have to get it started!
With these few suggestions I hope you have enough to put a plan in place that gets your grades back where you need them to be. Formulating a strategy and then following through on it is a discipline that will not only be vital to your academic journey but is transferrable to other endeavours you will find yourself involved in.
Wishing you all the best in your studies and beyond!
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