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It’s that time of year again: final grades will be posted next week. The coming days are crucial to securing a healthy GPA.
There are a variety of strategies to help push a borderline grade, such as a 79.8% to an 80.0%. Utilizing these tips can transform a report card with two B’s and a C, to a more impressive two A’s and a B; this extra effort means the difference from a GPA of 2.67 to a solid 3.67. The GPA boost from those few percentage points can open the doors to achieving honor roll, college admissions, scholarships, etc. Depending on your course and teacher, three simple strategies are all it takes to push yourself to the next letter grade.
Communicate with Your Teacher
It never hurts to ask for help, and your teacher wants to see you succeed! If you are missing any work, ask her if you can at least get partial credit for those assignments. Additionally, if you have no missing assignments, but you are still extremely close to achieving the next highest letter grade, you can always kindly ask if there is anything else you can do to fix your grade, such as her suggestions for how to better prepare for the exam.
Seriously Re-evaluate Your Study Habits
Just because you spend time with your course materials does not mean you are effectively studying. Given how serious final exams are, it’s imperative to honestly assess the study habits you have utilized over the past semester. If you have a borderline grade, it is time to intensify your study regimen. For example, if you only ever completed your test study guide digitally, you ought to fill it out manually in preparation for finals: this extra step will dramatically increase retention of the material. If you have historically waited until the night before to review your notes, begin your review process days in advance instead. These little adjustments can make all of the difference on your final course grade.
Allocate Your Resources Accordingly
If you are struggling to achieve your desired grade in one class, but have secured your grades in others, you ought to pour the majority of your study time into the borderline course. For example, if you have an 85% in math but a 79% in science, most of your time should be focused on studying science. Unless the final exam is heavily weighted, the extra hour lost to math will not adversely affect your final grade. Review your syllabus to understand how the final exam is weighted and if it is cumulative or not.
If you need more help boosting your borderline grades, contact Andover Tutoring Scene!