The end of term is not that far away. Final grades are coming up and if you happen to be on the trimester system each grading period is relatively short. Many students find that they can maintain an A right up until the end and then they get a little too stressed out and their final grade becomes a B. This is not the end of the world because a B is still a good grade. However, if you want to get straight A’s there are a few things that you can do to stay on task that last week of the grading period (READ: “College Application Crunch Time“).
1. Talk with your Orange County private tutor ahead of time
Let your tutor know that the end of the grading period is coming up. It is likely that your tutor has several students who may be on different grading systems as some schools have a semester system and others have a trimester system. It is important to be upfront with your tutor about what grade you want to receive.
Ask him or her if you can schedule an extra session or two to stay on task. If you have a large research paper due for an AP class make sure that you have it written well in advance and keep in mind that most longer research papers require at least three drafts and a minimum of one proofread by a third-party (a tutor or someone in your study group). If you wait until the last minute it’s harder to arrange for proofreading or the writing of a final draft. The most important thing is to get your content down and take care of basic grammar errors later on (READ: “Ask a Nerd! ‘Taking the AP Exam‘”).
You can also ask your tutor to help you stay organized. For example, if you know you’re getting a little bit tired at the end of the term, see if your tutor can help you work more efficiently so that you’re not just adding more hours and becoming more fatigued.
2. Check in with your study group
Many students are very involved in their study groups at the beginning of the semester and then drop out as their grades stay high. It’s very important to meet with your study group at least once a week if not more. You can help your fellow students stay on task and they can do the same for you (READ: “The Student’s Guide to Study Breaks“).
3. Ask if you can temporarily cut back on your extracurricular activities
If you’re in a volunteer club it seems reasonable to cut back on your hours the week before the end of the grading period. Perhaps someone else in the group can take some of your hours and you can pay them back later on. If you have a part-time job, ask your boss if you can take that one week off, there might be another person that would love to pick up some extra shifts and earn some extra cash.
4. Create a timeline for success
If you know ahead of time what you need to do and when you need to do it, things will become a lot easier as you get towards the end. For instance, you can write something in a Google calendar or similar to ensure that you meet all of your deadlines. If you need a reminder, you can set an alarm on your phone or arrange to have an email sent to you from your calendar.
5. Talk to your teacher
Ask your teacher at school how close you are to maintaining an A (or whatever grade you want to receive) and ask him or her what you can do to stay on track. Some teachers offer extra credit, which might be a good idea to stay on the safe side. Alternatively, you may need to participate a little bit more in class discussions or if your teacher gives you an assignment with a minimum of three paragraphs, try writing four or five. Do extra proofing on all your papers to make sure that they’re high-quality and double check all of your Internet sources and citations (READ: “10 Study Tips from an Irvine History Tutor“).
Maintaining straight A’s or any GPA above 3.5 can be very difficult but if you worked really hard to do well for two or three months, don’t let it slip at the very end. However, if things don’t go as planned this semester just think about what didn’t work and you can use this information as a learning experience for the next term.
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