Passing Semester Tests

This is the schedule for semester testing.

This is the schedule for semester testing.

Monica Brewer

by Monica Brewer

It’s coming down to the wire.  With less than 30 school days left before the end of first semester, grades are becoming really important for everybody, especially seniors.  For those of you struggling to pass some class(es), here’s some tips.

A good tip to remember is re-ordering your priorities.  It changes how important you view doing certain activities.  When you’re in school, grades are the most important thing you have, as they’re your gateway to doing other activities like NHS, band, choir, sports, etc.  If your grades start to slip, you risk not participating in extracurricular activities if you miss/skip study table.  Take some time out of your schedule to study and work on subjects that you’re not so good at.

Go the extra mile outside of class and either do extra credit offered or actually ask your teachers for help.  If you struggle towards a specific section of work that’s done in class, ask a teacher to help you.  It’s cool to be in the know rather than to be known.  Some teachers in school districts put students on a pass/fail basis, meaning that if a certain student passes, the grade won’t get treated as an A, but they can still use that credit.

Be realistic about your grades/efforts.  If in second semester you have a class that you’re starting to fail, consider dropping that class before the first quarter of that semester ends.  If you don’t drop during that period, you automatically fail that course and risk taking it again.  If you can’t drop it, then take the tip from the paragraph above and get some help.

Another reason for students to be serious about their grades towards these semester tests is that you don’t want to be known as a person that can’t graduate on time.  The term that’s used for a student that’s been in high school more than four years is called a super senior.

If you’re a super senior, you don’t have the freedom of school-life like everyone else.  Super seniors can’t participate in any extracurriculars and receive a bad rep from other students for overstaying their welcome.  Not graduating on time looks bad on resumes, and may potentially stop you from getting hired for certain jobs in the future.

The last, but most important piece of information when wanting incentive to pass your classes, is that you don’t want to sit in the same classes second semester (or next year for freshmen-juniors) and hear the same lectures over again.  It’s better to get over a required class the first time instead of retaking it.  If you pass your classes the first time, it leaves room in your schedule for the classes you want to take.

Pass your semester tests with confidence and have faith in yourself that you can pass.  Confidence is a little piece of effort in order to graduate.  Working hard and studying are the big pieces needed to finish the big puzzle that is high school.