Checking grades scares some students and is a reminder of academic success for others. Students who may have straight A’s, maybe a couple B’s, or the odd C here and there have likely put in time and effort in maintaining high grades. For others however, it can be a different story.
These students scraping by with lower grades and possibly unappealing GPAs usually dread their quarterly grade checks. Students must face their consequences of missing work, low scores on past assessments, and sometimes are forced to account for overall laziness.
But when confronted about their academic situations, they almost always will say the same thing: They will make an academic comeback.
Just what is an academic comeback? Referring to the Urban Dictionary, this phrase means, “When a student freeloads for the majority of the semester until they suddenly make amazing grades that save their GPA just before the semester ends.”
It’s not the most ideal strategy, but it’s a reality for many students at Wilsonville High School.
“I’ve had to make some academic comebacks before,” says Junior David Sadera, “It’s not the most efficient strategy, but it always gets the job done.”
Students who plan on making an academic comeback could follow these steps in their progress.
Number one: Keep track of work. While schoolwork due in weeks ahead won’t be graded until further down the road, it’s important to keep track of deadlines and be aware of what “late penalties” some teachers may attach to certain projects.
Organization is key when planning when to work on subject-specific work and keeping up with the pace of learning in each class.
It can be encouraging to start with small, doable assignments. This allows learners to feel a sense of accomplishment when they can finally submit an assignment and a grade begins to slowly level out. This is also very effective in eliminating stress with the connotations of ‘homework.’ Eventually, the mountains of unfinished work will begin to shrink.
Understanding one’s personal work rate can be a final step in a successful academic comeback. Slower-working students should plan buffer time between when they get an assignment, and the due date. This allows the pressure of time to be relieved, and better work is often done when in a calm mindset.
Sophomore Alyssa Hurley shares, “It worked for my freshman year, but I quickly realized that it’s not the best method. It just supports a bad habit and puts me behind.” She continues by adding, “Now I just do all the work on time and keep up with class and it’s worked better for me.”
While academic comebacks aren’t seen as the best method to maintaining consistent good grades, they can be lifelines for students when necessary.