How to finish the semester strong

With the end of the semester approaching, how can students make sure they’re doing their best to finish strong so they can head into the holidays feeling proud of what they’ve accomplished?

With only a few weeks of classes left, there are really only two main areas they can focus on…

• Maximizing their current grades before exams start, and 
• Improving the grades they get on their exams

Even with the best study plans, exams can be difficult…especially if they are testing students on everything they’ve learned since the beginning of the year. So, it’s a good idea to bring up current grades as much as possible first so students are less dependent on their exams going perfectly.

Here are the 5 most important steps students can take to improve their grades before the end of the semester

Step 1: Check current grades

The first step in improving grades is to find out exactly what they are right now. Depending on your student’s school, it could take just a few minutes to check their grades online, or this might require more time to email their teachers or to check the syllabus and add up the grades they’ve received so far to see exactly where they stand. 

Either way, checking grades can often be a stressful process, especially if your teen has been avoiding looking at them lately. So, it’s important to take a non-judgemental approach to this process and emphasize that the specific grade a student has right now isn’t nearly as important as the fact that they’re taking an honest look at their grades and accepting where they are right now…not ignoring them, or hiding from reality.

If these grades aren’t where they want them to be yet, that’s ok…that’s why it’s great they’re checking them NOW, while they still have time to change them!

Step 2: Make up missing work

Since there is not a lot of time left before the end of the semester, it’s important for students to find ways to raise their grades as quickly as possible. One of the fastest ways to do this is by turning in any missing assignments they are still allowed to submit.

If grades are posted online, these are relatively easy to find by pulling up their online grade reports, and making a list of all the assignments that are marked as 0, missing, incomplete, or NHI (not handed in). Email is also a great place to look for notes from teachers about missing incomplete assignments. (If you haven’t checked out our blog post on inbox zero for students yet, it has some great tips for managing email.) 

Students who just have a few missing assignments may be able to easily find and make them up in a single day. If there is a lot of missing work, it could take a few weeks to complete it, since they may also need to follow up with teachers to find out what they are still allowed to submit and get access to any links or resources they need in order to complete the work.  So, it’s a good idea to get started with this step as soon as possible.

Step 3: Address any low scores on tests & quizzes

In some classes, students are able to make up quizzes and tests with especially low scores. So, if they have had any low test or quiz grades they can check with their teachers to find out if there is an opportunity available to make up, retake, recover, or do test corrections for any of them.  This may not be an option, but it is always worthwhile to ask! 

Even if past tests or quizzes can’t be made up for a grade, this is a great time for students to go over any mistakes from those assessments to make sure they know which questions they got wrong (and why!) before their end-of-semester exams.

Step 4: Pursue any extra credit opportunities

Especially if there are several students in the class with low grades, teachers will sometimes give out extra credit assignments towards the end of the semester that students can complete to improve their final grade in the class. 

Students sometimes feel guilty asking if there is any opportunity to work on additional assignments for extra credit, but making this effort can demonstrate that students are trying their best to do well and are willing to go above and beyond to succeed in the class. Even if teachers don’t have any extra credit to offer, they may be willing to help out in other ways if they know a student really cares about their class.

Step 5: Maximize any remaining grades

Even if there is no way to make up past assignments or tests & quizzes and no extra credit available, students can still look for ways to maximize their current grades by making an effort to do as well as possible on any remaining work they have assigned before the end of the semester. Teachers often give students major projects, presentations, and papers at the end of the semester that are worth a lot of points, so earning good grades on these last few tasks can still have a major positive impact on students’ overall grades.  

Scheduling a meeting with any teachers who offer office hours is a great way to get inside advice about how to approach any remaining coursework as effectively as possible, but if this is not an option then emailing the teachers can be a good approach as well. Either way, it is a good idea to be proactive with reaching out to the teachers for guidance about these final assignments since there won’t be time left after they’re submitted to correct any mistakes after the fact.

Putting it into action

No matter what their school or teachers are doing between now and winter break, students can still take action to improve their grades by following these 5 steps and doing their best to finish the semester strong.

Do you have any other questions about how to help YOUR student improve their grades before the end of the semester? Click here to set up a complementary parent strategy session where we can discuss how to help set your student up for success.

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About The Author

Dr. Maggie Wray is a certified ADHD Coach & Academic Life Coach with a Ph.D. in Neurobiology and Behavior from Cornell and a Bachelor’s degree in Astrophysics from Princeton. She founded Creating Positive Futures in 2012 to help high school and college students learn how to earn better grades with less stress. Her team of dedicated coaches is on a mission to empower students to develop the mindset, organization, time management, and study skills they need to achieve their goals.