By now, the news has sunk in and six weeks of hard work, tears, countless ramen bowls, and late nights studying have culminated into the grade report in front of your eyes. The wave of adrenaline has dissipated to leave a sweltering sea of emotions--everything from satisfaction to doom, uncertainty to depression--so many emotions that it seems almost ludicrous to have to experience all them all at the same time.
Nonetheless, you're here because we all need a little reckoning with ourselves. The perennial "grades do not define you," is sometimes just reassuring enough. Here are some reflections and tips from the Echo Team for your consideration.
Maggie
1. Calm down and take on a more realistic mindset.
Realize that you have only experienced your first month and a half at OSSM--which means both accepting that you have much more time to improve and feeling confident about what you have done at this time. Seeing these grades for the first time should be a way of pinpointing your places that you are confident in, as well as places in which you might need to ask for help.
2. The early bird gets the worm!
If you are in fact on early, it is an opportunity and place to catch up with work that you need. Early is probably the quietest environment you will ever experience at OSSM. Early is only one hour, three days a week (there is no early on nights you have fine arts or Fridays). Early, from many students' experiences, helps you get ahead on your workload and appreciate the value in just one hour of your time.
3. Grades are (not) everything
A lot of us are raised with the high-achieving mindset that grades are everything, but OSSM is structured to help you develop a passion for learning rather than focusing solely on grades. In the moment, you may be so discouraged that you believe there is no way for you to develop such a "passion for learning," but over the course of OSSM, you will realize that grades are only the arbitrary outer reflection of the drive, perseverance, and sense of purpose that is a key part of being a lifelong student. You will soon understand that to naturally excel at something is not necessarily the same thing as learning something.
Akansha
When I got my grade report back my 1st 6 weeks I wasn’t really shocked to see a C. Still, it was jarring; it was my first experience getting anything below an A. I knew I was struggling in the class but I didn’t really try to seek help, convinced that I could simply self-learn the material. However, seeing the reflection of my poor efforts on the report propelled me into changing my methods of study. Here are the tips that helped me (and will hopefully help you too!):
1. Read the book.
I know that it’s really hard to make time to read a boring textbook in the midst of all your other work but it’s something that has definitely aided me in better understanding the subject material. But if you’re not much of a visual learner, I suggest step 2.
2. Ask for help from a professor (that isn’t your own) that teaches that subject.
If you’re having trouble with your current professor’s teaching style or you simply can’t learn from the book, then this is your best option. This professor might teach you the same concepts in a new way, thus furthering your comprehension of the subject matter.
3. Make use of the seniors available for tutoring in the Great Hall.
Now you might be confused because you haven’t seen these seniors around. Fret not! They’ll be there from now until the end of the school year. These seniors have been recommended by professors to provide help with physics, math, and more. Make sure to go to them with a few specific questions so they can focus on teaching you one topic at a time.
4. Get help from friends who understand the material.
Don’t be afraid to make use of your best resource: your friends! There’s generally at least one person in your friend circle that is doing well in the class and understands the bulk of the material. Ask them politely and they won’t hesitate to lend a helping hand. In return you might be able to help them in a subject they’re not confident in.
With these tips, I brought my grade up way higher than what it used to be. If I could do it, you can too!
Grant
The day of reckoning has come. All the hard work of the last six weeks had cumulated to a single day, when I would see if the work I had done was deemed to be good enough. I remember sitting through that morning’s rather boring Introduction to Computer Science lecture, kept awake only by my anxious, fleeting thoughts. Leaving the auditorium, I made my way to my advisor’s office to wait for grade reports.
People around me were buzzing with mixed feelings of excitement, despair, and relief as their advisors passed out the reports. Talking to several of my friends as they flittered around sharing the results of their six weeks, I awaited the late arrival of my advisor, the former public relations director Mrs. Webster.
“Here I am!” she exclaimed as she waded through the throng of students, carrying a brown Braums sack full of little trinkets. With a small orange bell decorated like a pumpkin and my progress report, I made my way out of the admin area. Away from the crowd, I looked down to see my grades, and was ok.
Ok. Everything was fine. Of course, a few grades weren’t what I had hoped for but it was all A’s and B’s. As I trekked through the MAC and to the Sampson later, I quickly regretted choosing that cute pumpkin-shaped bell as it quite obnoxiously rang along to the pattering of my footsteps.
Looking back, the worst part of that day was that little bell. It seemed to be a church bell, calling its people to mass; or rather, the calling of OSSM students to their advisors for grades. Either way, you always end up either apathetic or inspired afterwards. Now that I’ve been through a few grade report days I realized that they aren’t that important. More often than not you know which classes need work. Having a grade report only confirms whether what you’ve been doing has been working.
So why be stressed about six weeks’ grades? Focus on the long term effects your efforts have in your classes, as ultimately the final grade is what matters. If your grades aren’t what you wanted, don’t get too frustrated.
Yeah, you’re going to feel bad for a while, but take a step back before you do anything. Think about what you’ve been doing, and how you could possibly change your habits to help you. Keep your own log of all the time you spend during the day, and see if there are times where you can be doing something more productive. Start thinking of ways you can study more effectively, don’t just dig into the books without thinking critically about your approach to studying.
If you find that you really are lost, don’t feel discouraged. Talk to your seniors, we experienced the same feelings you’re having and have had our own experiences in learning to do better. Talk to Mrs. Berryman, whom hopefully you’ve already had a meeting with. She’s truly here for you, both as a helpful input critic on your study habits and a personal counselor.
And, if you’re ever offered trinkets from a brown Braums bag by your advisor, do yourself a favor. Don’t pick the bell.