Could your report card look better? If you are trying to raise your grades – fear not! We’ve got some simple and effective strategies to help. Here are ten awesome Tutor Doctor tips for improvements before your next report card!
1) Identify the classes that could use a boost. This can be as simple as glancing at your report card. Determine which classes you’d like to improve or what grades you’d like to raise so you know where to add extra focus.
2) Add a tutor to your academic routine. A tutor is an academic coach – they help identify your strengths and weaknesses and plan out an educational path to fill in any gaps in your learning. Tutors have the advantage in that they can focus on specific areas that were already covered in class, as well as topics that may have been unclear to you.
3) Talk to your teacher and let them know your goal. Students often don’t realize that teachers grade heavily on participation and effort. If a student is not a strong writer but participates every day in class and turns in all his assignments, the teacher is likely to take this into consideration. By letting your teacher know you’re working towards improvement, they are more likely to keep this in mind when it comes time for grading.
4) Make an appointment with a school counselor. School counselors can help make sure the problem isn’t class placement. For example, it’s common for a 9th grade student to be placed in a geometry class, when ideally they should be reviewing algebra. There’s nothing wrong with this – class placement is often based on test scores and class size, so tell your counselor if you think you need a switch.
5) Seek out extra resources at school. You can meet with your teachers during lunch periods, attend before-school homework clubs (sometimes known as “zero period”), and you can participate in after-school groups. There’s plenty of free help available at school, so take advantage of it!
6) Make sure you’re covering non-academic requirements. Believe it or not, many students’ grades get hurt by other factors besides academics – specifically, class participation and class cooperation. Make sure you’re not losing points for avoidable issues like tardiness and inappropriate classroom behavior.
7) Make a plan to improve your skills. Think about what you’d like to do to start improving. Perhaps you’d like to devote an extra 30 minutes twice a week for reviewing math concepts. Or, maybe you’d like to attend your math teacher’s support period during lunch on Wednesdays. Figure out what steps fit into your schedule and plan it out!
8) Crunch the numbers. Find out what you actually need to accomplish to reach your goal. If your teacher provides you with a breakdown of points, you can estimate what kinds of scores you need to reach your target grade point.
9) Use online resources. As we always say, take advantage of modern technology! You have study websites, encyclopedias, historical documents, learning apps – pretty much an endless amount of resources – available to you online. Sometimes, a quick search on tricky concepts can really help make sense of things!
10) Talk to your parents. Students often hide the fact that their grades need improvement from their parents, but this actually works against them. Your parents are there to support you, and if necessary, reach out to your school for additional resources. Don’t do this alone – too many students insist on keeping their grades a closely guarded secret until report cards come around. It’s always better to be honest and transparent when having academic difficulties.
