When students are new to high school, they may not know what to do with midterm grades. Some students may find them intimidating or even wish they didn’t have midterms at all. What they don’t know is that these scores are extremely useful and that you can even use midterm grades to improve your GPA and end-of-year grades.
What do I do after receiving my midterm grades?
Satisfactory Midterm Grades
If you have midterm grades that you like, great—keep doing what you’re doing. Remember, you have to keep putting in the effort to receive that grade by the end of the semester. Don’t give up just because you receive a midterm grade you like!
After all, midterm grades don’t count as a final grade, so even if you receive an A at midterms, you could still receive a C as your final grade if you stop turning in assignments or studying for tests.
Unsatisfactory Midterm Grades
If you have midterm grades that you don’t like, that’s okay. Try not to feel too discouraged and keep trying! Follow these steps to help improve your GPA.
Ask for Help
The first step is to try not to be discouraged. Ask for help. Is there any extra credit you can do? Could you review your midterm exams or projects with your teacher to make sure you understand the topics previously taught (because chances are, the topics in the next half of the semester will build off of the topics you missed in the first half). If you reach out to your teacher, he or she will probably be more than happy to help you.
Seeking a tutor could also be helpful. You may need some one-on-one time to simply review concepts, or you may need a tutor to re-learn topics that you didn’t understand the first time. Either way, a tutor should be able to identify where you need to improve and help you from there.
Plan Ahead
How can you improve your grades? Is there a big test or assignment coming up? Is there any extra credit coming up? Stay on top of your homework and assignments so that you can figure out a way capture as many points as possible. Check your syllabus because teachers often assign homework, projects, and tests that are worth more points towards the end of the semester. If that’s the case, you have a huge opportunity to make up the points you missed if you do well on that one assignment worth a lot of points.
Don’t Miss Any Points
If you’re thinking about skipping any assignments because they’re worth only a few points, don’t. Every point counts, especially when you’re trying to improve your grades.
Keep going
Most importantly, keep trying. Your midterm grades are important, but you will have many points throughout the semester. As I said before, midterms are halfway through the semester, but, oftentimes, the most points are offered towards the end of the semester. Focus on those assignments that are worth a lot of points, but don’t forget about the smaller assignments along the way.
Following these steps should help you improve your final semester grades. Use midterms as an indicator of progress and keep trying – no matter the grade you see on your midterm report!
Have any other questions about midterm grades that I missed? Leave them in the comments below.
Becky Adams, Curriculum Manager, A Grade Ahead
