Not a good report card...

Post Reply New Topic

I have good news and bad news.

The good news is that I thought I was going to fail Calculus II at UW; as it turns out, I passed it thanks to my final exam.

The bad news is that out of my other three classes, I got D's in two of them so far.

According to UW, C is considered the lowest passing grade. Therefore I will have to retake my two D classes two semesters from now, since they are both required for my degree.

Also, my GPA is now at a 1.3, which means I am on academic probation. If I can't get above a 2.0 by the end of next semester I'm going to be kicked out.

The only thing going for me is the fact that my next semester's classes are all somewhat easy, and total only 13 hours (12 hours is the minimum for full-time students). It'll be a miracle if I can make it, but I have to.

I remember when I changed schools. It took me a year and a half to adjust to the new system. In my first school, I used to get 86 or 87 average, however, I had trouble with some subjects, which improved with my mother's help. However, when I changed schools, the average dropped to 65 to 69. After a year and a half, it finally went up back to 80. (I don't live in the US, so I'm not sure of what that would be considered, except that the grading scale on my country goes from 0 to 100).

Do you know why you got the low grades, so that you can fix it next time around? What could help you get better grades?

Don't worry my friend. You have my support and I believe you can do it.

Well, thanks.

As for Athenacapella's question, I probably could have done better turning in my work. Toward the end of the semester I started falling behind on the work for the class. I think it started when I started working for student media, that and the fact that I started dating my gf around that time may have taken my mind off schoolwork. So it is kind of my fault.

At the very least I will never have to take Calculus II again. That class was a complete clusterf***. We had a web applet where we did all of our homework, but it was not very user friendly. The class itself also really drained me.

Here's a good motivational video for you:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tjYoKCBYag[/youtube]

Grades are at least as much hard work and jumping through hoops as they are aptitude and intelligence.

About 10 years ago I failed out of college, with one D- and the rest straight F's. I've got excellent test scores, and could have gotten straight A's, if I had done the work. I didn't do the work.

I'm finishing up the first semester at a different college, now, and athough grades haven't been posted yet, I've done the math on what my grades should be, and I'm looking at 2 A's, an A-, and something in the A-C range. I probably should have done better, but I did alright, because I did the work.

This first semester for me was, coincidentally, 13 hours of all easy courses. The combination of a light schedule and easy classes was actually a little boring. So don't let boredom get the best of you. Given what you've said so far, I think if you do your best you can get straight A's or nearly straight A's with a 13 hour/easy class schedule.

Show up to every class. Do every assignment. Study for every test.

I'd say "Good Luck", but I don't think luck will end up having anything to do with it.

I only ask because I don't know your situation.

Does your school have a counseling service? Do you use it?

That was a mistake I made in college. I didn't utilize the college's free counseling services and when I hit a rough spot, I didn't turn to them for help. I should've been getting counseling from the beginning but that's beside the point.

If you can, even if you don't think you need it, it might be helpful to use your school's counseling services. They can "talk" with you and may be able to help you in any way possible.

I'm not really sure how the counseling services work with schools since I never used them so someone who has may be able to chime in but I'd assume I'd be really helpful so you don't get stressed out.

I wish you luck.

Andy...

In your case, what you should do is you need to ask yourself, what are you doing wrong? You need to figure out what can you do to pull up your grade to the ideal result which where you want it to be. Evalute the problems and then find the solutions to your problems. You can make mistakes, but make sure you learn from them immediately and fix them ASAP, before you get yourself into more trouble. Because for 1-2 years, I have been a low-mid 2.0 GPA student and right now I am looking at a 3.6-3.7 this semester if I can really get my act together for the first time ever.

I feel you man. Calculus is a tough, tough course. Even coming from someone like me who did really well in math, Calculus has kicked my ass in college. :/