What to do if you are worried about grades. Five main school problems and how to help your child cope with them

Do you know why grades should exist? They must, must (2x) show the result of your work over a certain period of time. Semester credit - the result of work for the semester. Wed per topic - per month, etc.

But grades are not always given fairly. If you know 90% of all the material that goes according to the school curriculum, then you have nothing to worry about. If not, and the grade is fair (even if it’s “bad” for you), then pull it up, this is what life teaches: to learn from mistakes, yours and others’.

If you ask “adult guys” who really think like adults, they will say that from school you will need a maximum of 20% of the material, but school teaches not only knowledge (Pythagorean theorems, Mendeleev’s chemical elements), it teaches life.

One day, mathematics teacher Jeremy Kuhn was asked a question that each of us puzzled over: “where will all these sines, cosines, integrals, and all other algebra and geometry be useful to me?” Unlike most of his colleagues, Jeremy was not at a loss and named 5 reasons why mathematics is important.

1. Mathematics teaches you to admit your mistakes. And not just recognize them, but also move forward in order to finally win the long-awaited victory over an insoluble task. Let's say Carl and Clara are standing over an equation written on the blackboard. Clara is sure that the equation is solved correctly, but Karl knows for sure that it is not. An hour passes, during which the two switch roles: Clara believes that the equation is wrong, and Karl stomps his feet and calls Clara an incredible dumbass. Fantastic situation? But mathematicians encounter this almost every day. Ask any teacher what to do if the problem cannot be solved. The answer will be very simple: “Start over and try to take a different path. And most importantly, don’t worry about the mistake you made, because it was the one that ultimately set you on the right track.”

2. Mathematics helps to select accurate and the right words. Precision is a courtesy of all mathematicians. It is quite difficult to argue with this, because each term and each phenomenon has its own very clear definition. Remember how teachers made us memorize definitions geometric shapes or, for example, the conditions of the Pythagorean theorem? At school we had no idea where this knowledge could be useful to us, but let's think: do we always pronounce words without doubting their meaning for a second? Can you, without hesitation, answer what peace is, what happiness is or what love is? Will your answers to these questions coincide with the answers of your family and friends? And most importantly, can you name something that does not have an exact definition?

3. Mathematics teaches you to think several steps ahead. Solving a math problem is like playing chess. Any wrong, careless step can lead to catastrophic consequences. How often have you been stymied while doing algebra homework because you put a minus instead of a plus? Even the tiniest mistake can disrupt all plans and become a huge obstacle on the way to your cherished dream. And mathematics teaches us to be attentive and responsible for our own actions. Not a little, right?

4. Mathematics teaches you to never give up. After all, if you don’t solve a problem, someone else will definitely solve it. So why not be the first?

5. “What I am saying now is false” - This is exactly what the famous “liar paradox” sounds like, which describes exactly what is happening in modern science. Many theorems, rules and axioms that were previously considered true, but now no longer work. This means that you shouldn’t blindly trust even the most authoritative opinion until you figure it out yourself. Scientists call this “reasonable skepticism,” which mathematics teaches us so well.

PySy. Sorry for the mistakes, I'm just a crest.

Hello, my name is Lena, I am 15 years old. I have a problem - I worry too much about grades. I have always studied and now I study with straight A's, my classmates respect me and are confident that I always know everything. Lately, getting any other grade, even a four, is like a disaster for me - I get very upset, cry and think for a long time that I could have gotten a 5, but got a different grade. At the beginning of February, I was sick for a long time and, naturally, when I came to school, it was a little difficult for me to get back on track, since a lot of material was missed, because of this I received several Bs. And even though I’ve now caught up with the program, I practically don’t raise my hand in class, even if I know the correct answer to a question, because it still seems to me that it’s wrong, I’ll embarrass myself, and everyone will laugh at me. I get very nervous during tests and tests or when I answer at the board, because of this I start to stammer and get even more nervous, because... I’m starting to feel like I’m making mistakes with my answers and answering uncertainly. Tell me, what should I do to not worry so much?

I'm too worried

Elena, it is advisable to deal with the fears that are hidden behind this - http://psiholog-dnepr.com.ua/terapiya-strakha

When fears cease to occupy the first place in your life, confidence and belief in your strength will appear - http://psiholog-dnepr.com.ua/be-your-own-therapist/diary-confidence

With respect, Svetlana Kiselevskaya, master’s degree, psychologist - face-to-face, Skype, telephone

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Elena! Your difficulties are understandable; it would be nice to work through your negative state. I invite you to my website, let me send you one of my articles. Good luck*

Fear of Public Speaking Posted in Articles | February 2, 2014

In this article I want to tell you what may be hiding behind this problem. And to show how easily you can solve something that a person has been living with for many years.

This problem also affected my client from Moscow, a successful girl who was fulfilled in her work and held a good position. Due to the nature of her work, she had to speak in public, and this is where problems began.

So, the first problem was called “I’m afraid of being ridiculed.” And the main memory came from the client’s age of 11, when she, as a schoolgirl, along with other children had to perform at school event and dance. But the dance was poorly prepared, and there was an embarrassment.

This situation has not let the girl go until now. Now we have pulled out the clamp that has lived in it all these years.

Next, I, as an experienced psychologist, modeled her state during a public speech, and it turned out that there was a reaction throughout the body. She said the following: “I’m clenching, my stomach is twisting, and there’s grumbling.” I asked her what she wanted instead, and she answered: “openness, and an interest in public speaking.”

Having received this, we reconnected to the body, and the client felt the following problem: something pinched in her chest, she pulled out a virtual paper clip. When I asked: who owns this? She answered - *to mom*, everything was clear here, we didn’t even bother to analyze this situation, since it was a piece of some kind of parental order, and it went away easily, because instead the client filled herself up, saying the following: “more love towards yourself and admiration for yourself."

And the last state that I had to figure out was how to a good psychologist was as follows: dry mouth: “I can’t speak, I have a lisp. I remember a situation when I had to speak in front of a jury, there were 12 of them, and I was so excited that everyone noticed it and offered me a glass of water to calm me down.”

Here everything was already easy and simple, we removed this state, making positive changes, filling the girl with faith in success.

And with further testing - rehearsing her new behavior, it became clear that the problem had completely exhausted itself.

Afanasyeva Liliya Veniaminovna, psychologist Moscow

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Question for a psychologist:

Hello! I'm worried about a problem related to my nervous system, my mental state. I’m in 11th grade, I’m about to take the Unified State Exam, but I don’t know what state I’ll be in, whether I’ll be able to cope with my anxiety during the exam itself. I'll tell you everything from the very beginning. It all started after passing the GIA. During the 9th grade, I didn’t really strain myself, I wrote all the tests normally, at the end of the year it was 4, I solved a lot of tests, studied, I got a good certificate, compared to previous years, when I studied very poorly. Over the course of a year and a half, starting in the middle of 8th grade, I improved my authority. If before no one asked me anything, everyone was used to the fact that I didn’t answer in class, that I was, let’s say, stupid, but now everything has changed, they ask me how I did some task, can I show how did and the like. They already treat me with more respect and this is very important to me. I wouldn’t say that studying in grades 8 and 9 was so difficult for me, it’s just that later I had to do Gia, which is what I did. I studied at school and at home.

First we took mathematics, then Russian, I don’t remember that I was very worried, I just thought that I was already taking the exam and it was very important to get good grades. First they announced the math results, I was very upset, I got a 3, I had very few points. It became a shame that I studied, solved practice tests well, but it didn’t turn out very well. All my hope was in Russian, but I was confident in it, I was sure that I would do well. But, as it turned out later, I overestimated my strength. On the day when the results in Russian became known, my mother came up to me, she was standing next to me, and I was sitting at the computer table, my mother decided to call the teacher to find out my results. I was all attention, I was waiting for an answer. To be honest, it’s very unpleasant for me to remember this moment, because that’s when I felt how everything collapsed. I also got a 3 in Russian. That is, I strived for good grades, to be a level higher than those people who did nothing, didn’t study, but it turned out that as stupid as I was, I still am. It's just terribly offensive and unpleasant. My classmate, who chatted during all lessons, did not write essays or summaries, she had very few of them throughout the year, she was constantly scolded, but she didn’t care. As a result, she passed math with a 3 and was happy about it, but she passed Russian with a 5. Without studying, without doing anything, she got a 5. Now I don’t know how I just looked into her eyes when she was bragging about her results. Well, the reason that I wrote Russian poorly was that I couldn’t cope with the essay that I constantly wrote throughout the 9th grade. I incorrectly specified the problem that was indicated in the quote. And because of this, I lost a lot of points, the test part was good, the presentation was also good, but the essay ruined everything for me.

After all the results were announced, I cried very often, I blamed myself, I scolded myself, and so on.

In addition, I also had a little brother in 2013, my mother constantly asked for help, it was unusual for me that I had to spend my free time sitting for an hour with him. I used to come home, and my concern was to rest, prepare lunch, even clean up a little, because I was alone at home until five o’clock, I felt freedom, and then, when I was still in the 8th grade, my mother went on maternity leave, then towards the end My mother gave birth in 8th grade, and it was very difficult. At night, my brother woke up, cried, I went over to rock him, when she made him milk, sometimes I myself went and made this mixture. During the day, when he was sleeping, it was impossible to go to the bathroom, because the water was noisy and my brother could wake up, listen to music and watch movies, I only wore headphones, to go to the bathroom, I had to wait for him to get up. You can’t really go out in the evening either, he went to bed at about 9 o’clock, and then you can’t make noise again. I don’t really know how to communicate with children, much less with such small ones. When I finished 9th grade and I was very upset by the results, I simply stopped believing in myself, I was constantly on edge, I could cry at any moment. And then my mother still needed help with her brother, we even quarreled about this, I didn’t want to go into the living room and the kitchen, because she and her brother were there all the time, which is still happening. The only thing that has changed now is that you don’t have to sit with him like before. He can watch cartoons, play on his own, you just need to make sure that everything is okay with him. And there are no more quarrels about this, since he is already big, I can go to the bathroom, make a little noise, now he doesn’t wake up from it. But the summer after 9th and before 10th grade was quite depressing for me, a constant feeling of anxiety bothered me. I was also worried that my metabolism had slowed down, I began to gain weight, I had problems with the fact that menstruation lasted 10-15 days, which was not the norm for me.

Now I'm about to take the Unified State Exam, and the trial exams are also going well, but only in Russian and social studies. When I decided entirely on my own, I got about 60-70 points in both subjects, which is quite enough for me to enter the correspondence department. I only have problems with mathematics, I can’t pass it at all, I’m very afraid that I won’t pass, I don’t even know what I’ll do to myself and these thoughts scare me. Unlike the 9th grade and previous years, the 10th and the beginning of the 11th grade are terrible in our school, it turns out that most of the students are exhausted, tired, a lot of stress, lack of sleep. They give us a lot of material. Our class is divided into socio-economic and physical and mathematical groups. I’m in socio-economics and we, unlike physics and mathematics students, have a lot of material, we have law, economics, social studies, in these subjects the teacher is very strict, she is very demanding, we have a lot of tests and simply don’t have time to rest. Also in Russian they require us to review large essays. There is also a lot of information on history, but I don’t take history, although I still need to study it in order to get a grade on the certificate. And there is even more material in history. It is useless to talk to teachers that we are all already tired; they give us even more. I finished 10th grade armed with glycine and paracetamol. I fell asleep and woke up with notebooks, I’m serious, I studied in the evening and in the morning. During the day, I can’t study at all, the information just doesn’t fit into my head. I have never experienced such a load as we have now at 10 and 11, and then there are exams, I am terribly afraid of doing poorly. The memory refuses to work, since the beginning of the year we have already completed tests on all topics, somehow I repeat, there is almost no time left for mathematics. Mathematics is a completely different story, our teacher believes that we should prepare on our own, she will only guide us through the 11th grade course, which will include topics that are in the Unified State Exam. I am under constant stress, they demand good grades and knowledge from me, but I cannot give them. I already start to get nervous as soon as the topic of school comes up at all. I don't get enough sleep in the morning and can't fall asleep before 11 o'clock. I constantly twitch, feel anxious, cry. In May, when there was already a month left until the end of 10th grade, I was sitting in class and we were supposed to have a test in social studies, I was just crumpling my pencil case, thinking about the exams, about my result, that again I had to talk a lot. I then shed a few tears, which, fortunately, no one noticed. Now I can’t remember anything, as soon as I sit down to study, I get nervous and start getting hysterical. There is a health problem, about this I will go to the doctor soon. I had pain in my uterus and problems with my kidneys.

My boyfriend and my friend support me, I’ve known my friend for 5 years, he says that I will survive, that I will endure, that I need to be patient and he believes in me. I just don't believe in myself. The guy also tries to support, says that he will be there and there is not much left. But all this is not enough for me. I don’t know how much I need to rest so that my condition is more or less normal. Thoughts about suicide scare me most of all; if they could have happened before, they were not serious and very rare. Now these thoughts really scare me, but they appear often and I am more serious.

Mom doesn’t demand the impossible from me, dad doesn’t care, grandma wants me to graduate well, get a good certificate and pass well. He says that I have to try, that I have to be patient, but I don’t know how I should try anymore, I can’t do it anymore. I don't know what else I can tell you. I tried to distract myself throughout the summer, but it doesn’t work, my thoughts keep spinning me around again and I break down, I think about it, I get nervous. The last thing I can say is that when I was studying at primary school, my teacher yelled at me because I was studying more at home and completing more assignments than needed, than she assigned. After this incident, I stopped studying to spite her, I basically did not answer, I was very offended. Then I got to 5th grade and I just didn’t care about studying. Help me please, what should I do?

Psychologist Ekaterina Vadimovna Praskanova answers the question.

Hello, Christina!

I would like to start by saying that you are great! Really well done! You take your studies seriously, prepare for exams on your own, and get ready for admission. This whole thing is accompanied by the appearance in the family little man, which of course requires attention. And, of course, his regime makes its own adjustments to the life of the whole family. But we must not forget that it is growing and, as you yourself noticed, this question is gradually disappearing by itself.

This is the situation now in many schools. Children are not just taught some subjects, but trained to pass the State Exam and the Unified State Exam. Many end up in hospitals with one diagnosis or another (not necessarily nerves), because... psychosomatics works in such a way that everything that does not find a way out through emotions will find a way out through the body (for example, the kidneys can say that a person often strives for what he “needs”, and not what he wants, or to his liking). Of course, you need to go to the hospital and monitor all processes very carefully.

“Memory refuses to work” - don’t worry, memory works for you. At the right moment, she will give out everything you need (of course, everything that you have laid down)).

Your loved ones (boyfriend, friend, grandmother) are absolutely right. There is little left and you need to be patient, see it through to the end - finish school and go to college, and then everything will turn around, turn around and become easier. If you look at this whole situation through the prism of important and global problems, ask yourself - is it really that scary?? Everyone goes through this. I agree that there is something terrible going on in schools now, but what can you do? side effect from reforms, progress, etc.

At home you are not forced to be an excellent student. At school too. So, you demand this from yourself. For what? You will definitely have enough points for admission to the correspondence course. Is pushing yourself for excellent grades really important to you?

teacher primary classes, probably, she wanted the best, but there was a misunderstanding and the position “...I stopped studying to spite her, I didn’t answer on principle...” from the opera “to spite the conductor I’ll walk.”

Now to the main question: we have a goal - to finish school and go to college. We are confidently moving towards it. We have enough strength. We act the same way as before - go to classes, do homework, take things seriously. BUT

We help our body achieve its goal. How?

We eat correctly, well, healthy (no fasting or strict diets);

we do small exercises during breaks;

we arrange meditations for ourselves (we find a suitable audio recording);

We listen to relaxation music more often (you can even while preparing homework);

When taking a bath, we add aromatic oils/essential oils that promote relaxation and increase energy and strength;

We also begin to love oranges (at least their aroma) - it lifts our spirits;

before going to bed, we go out to get some air for an hour with a friend/boyfriend/grandmother and unload our head;

we take vitamins that increase immunity (prescribed by a doctor);

We go to bed on time.

Nothing new or supernatural! These at first glance simple ways will help your body survive stressful times and successfully cope with the task!

But if disturbing dark thoughts do not leave you or intensify, then it makes sense to contact a psychologist for a face-to-face meeting (your school psychologist is perfect for this).

Good luck to you, Christina!

Sincerely, Ekaterina Praskanova.

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A small child perceives “5” or “4” not just as a mark, but as an assessment of his personality - whether I am good or bad. It’s not for nothing that some pedagogical systems abandon grades altogether, so as not to create unnecessary reasons For . How adequately a child can perceive assessments depends, for the most part, on the family. After all, sometimes parents forget that not only the result is important, but also participation, and studying is a process of obtaining not so much grades as knowledge.

In addition, grades are always subjective: the result may be affected by the teacher’s anxiety or attitude. But often the child’s perception of grades is influenced by the parents’ attitude towards them, and the latter, in turn, can be divided into several types.

Anxious parents. Most often, anxious parents worry about grades: for them, it is an indicator of their child’s success, and, therefore, it is their assessment as an effective or ineffective parent: in other words, how their contribution to the child was assessed by society. “For such mothers and fathers, a bad grade is catastrophic - if he gets a “2”, it means I’m a bad parent,” explains Anna Fateeva, child psychologist Crisis Center for Women and Children.

Authoritarian parents. The situation with grades is no less difficult for children of demanding, controlling, critical parents. Often such people are forced to rewrite the assignment until it is perfect; they meet a grade of four, and even more so a grade of three in the diary, with stern silence, lectures, or punishments. The child begins to fear evaluations, especially if he has already encountered punishment - physical or emotional.

Narcissistic parents. It also happens that it is important for parents to present the child’s results to the public: to be proud, to brag, to show off, and then the parents - obviously or not - convey to the child: “If you are not successful, you do not live up to our expectations, we don’t need you like that.” Here we are dealing with a situation of rejection, which, accordingly, will lead to excessive and panic before showing the diary to the parents.

Compassionate parents. Some overprotective mothers are inclined and ready to alleviate his suffering at any moment. With them, children quickly understand: if you cry after you get a bad grade, not only will they not scold you, but they will even pat you on the head, feel sorry for you and buy you a chocolate bar. Now the baby uses this method every time just to be on the safe side.

The source of the problem may not only be the family, but also the environment at school: an overly strict teacher or a competitive classroom environment can also provoke an exaggerated reaction to grades. In this case, the child begins to fear that his classmates will not accept him because of his poor performance.

Daria Dmitrieva

psychologist at the Crisis Center for Women and Children

What to do if your child worries too much about grades?

When a child is just starting out, his fear of grades is almost certainly due to the fact that he does not know what reaction to expect from his parents, and therefore experiences anxiety. If it's not already small child and the negative reaction to assessments has become systematic, which means the situation requires attention.

“Try to understand why the child is so worried about grades,” advises psychologist Daria Dmitrieva. – Afraid that mom will swear? Is he ashamed? Does he think he's stupid? Did the guys laugh at him? Did the teacher insult him? In each individual case, the approach to the problem will be different.”

However, we can try to give some general recommendations.

1. From the first grade, teach your child to have the right attitude towards learning.“I’m pleased when you get an A, but other grades aren’t the end of the world.” You shouldn’t say: “Oh, you got a B? Are you stupid? Here I am at your age...” The child should be told that “4” does not convey anything bad about his personality, character, etc. This is just one of the tools for measuring knowledge.

2. Explain to your child that he has the right to make mistakes. Perhaps the child is embarrassed to say that he did not understand the topic, or cannot, or it is due to absences due to illness. It is important to support kids so that they are not afraid to say: “I don’t understand, please explain.”

3. Don't compare your child with other children who do better. This is at least unconstructive. If you want, compare today’s results with your child’s successes yesterday: “Look, you’ve learned to write this word without mistakes,” “Look, you’re already writing essays better.”

As a rule, at school we take bad grades or unexpected troubles quite easily, but bad grades in college or university may affect our future professional activities. Perhaps you didn’t get the highest grade or completely failed your last test or test - don’t worry. Better pay attention to your spiritual state, come to terms with this incident, find harmony and get ready to move on. Zen is not just a teaching about tranquility. This teaching is more about gaining that sense of purpose and determination that will help improve your future. You need to understand why you get bad grades, what you can do to fix it, and how to behave to get good grades in the future.

Steps

Come to terms with your grades

Take responsibility for your grades. Even if it's a blow to your ego, you need to understand that you alone are responsible for the grades you receive. Of course, you may have conflicts with teachers, and other extraneous factors may also affect your grades, but in most cases you need to understand that if you want to improve something, you need to act.

Put this situation into perspective. Understand that, unfortunately, troubles happen in life. Bad grades can make you panic, but you need to look at the situation rationally to come to terms with it. Are you healthy? Do you have close people who love you, friends who are always there? Think about how lucky you are. Remember that grades are important, of course, but they are not the only important thing in your life.

Talk to someone you trust. When you're upset, it's okay to discuss the situation with a friend or loved one. Don't feel like you have to deal with this situation on your own. It's understandable that you're worried about upsetting your parents, ruining your grades, and ruining your teachers' impression of you. Remember that you can cope with this and find the support you need.

• You could even try seeing a psychologist (schools, colleges and universities usually have psychologists on staff). They good specialists, who are trained to help upset and anxious students.
• You should not visit forums and social networks to complain about your “troubles” there. After all, your comments can be seen by other students, institute employees and teachers. This could have consequences. Therefore, it is better to talk to a friend or psychologist face to face.

1. Take a break. You may be extremely tired, so now is not the time to forget about your well-being. Eat ice cream with a friend, watch a movie, or take a bubble bath. Do something that helps you relax. The point is not to “run away” from bad grades, but to find the harmony and calm that is necessary in order to correct this situation. Once you are rested and relaxed, return to your grades.

   Remind yourself that grades do not define your self-worth or your worth. You are so much more than your grades. Good grades can help boost your self-esteem, but don't let bad grades diminish your worth. In addition, bad grades do not mean that you are stupid or unable to graduate from university. Everyone has their own talents, their own strengths and good qualities that cannot be measured by curriculum alone.

   Meditate. When you can retreat to your room, try closing your eyes for a few minutes. Take a few deep breaths in and out and concentrate on your breathing. Quiet your thoughts and allow yourself to move away from them. Try not to think about anything, and if you start to have anxious thoughts about your grades, try to push them away. You can turn on pleasant, calm music - it will help you relax. Try to spend 15–30 minutes meditating.

   • If it’s difficult for you to devote a lot of time to meditation, try downloading a special meditation application (for example, “PureMind: Meditation and Sounds” or “Headspace” (the application is in English, but 95% of the words are repeated from exercise to exercise, so even with poor knowledge of the language it’s worth try to use it)). These apps offer specific tips and guides to help you stay focused.
   • Yoga is another way to relax and achieve harmony. Some educational institutions (colleges and universities) have sports clubs, including a yoga club. Find out if there is such a circle in your educational institution Is it possible to register there?

2. If you have panic attacks, try one of the relaxation techniques. Sometimes we feel anxious or panicky, but we don't have enough time to meditate. In this case, you can try using a quick relaxation technique that will help you come to your senses a little. So, leave everything you are doing. Close your eyes and count to 10. Imagine a calm place where you are happy, such as near the ocean or a babbling stream. These techniques will help you relax and get rid of the worries that are overwhelming you.

   Avoid drugs and alcohol. Some people worry so much about their grades that they indulge even more in fun and partying to forget about this problem - this is how a vicious circle begins. If you are very worried about bad grades, try not to drink alcohol until you feel relaxed and calm.

Think about what went wrong

Calculate how much time you spend studying. Before you panic, try to guess why you started getting bad grades. Are you studying to your full potential? Are you playing truant and missing tests? Think about your study habits - this will help you understand what needs to be worked on.

• Perhaps you are completely dedicated to your studies. Studying as hard as you can and getting bad grades is really very disappointing. But you must remember that you did everything you could to succeed. Perhaps next time you should change your study habits or ask your teacher for help.
• Perhaps you just gave up right away and didn’t try everything. What you need to understand is that the days of relying on your talent and luck alone are over. Learn from this and try to be better prepared next time.

1. Think about what materials you are preparing with. Take another look at your notes, recordings, and exercises. What part (or what tasks) did you not understand? What does the curriculum say about these tests? Consider whether you may not have understood something you were supposed to learn (or learn to do).

   • You may have only learned what interests you. If some points seemed too difficult or uninteresting to you, most likely you returned to the more interesting parts of the material or task, and simply ignored the difficult or boring parts of the task. Next time, try to fight this urge.
   • You may have only read the minimum required for the lesson. In this case, try reading additional material in addition to the main homework. If you don't understand the material, go to the library, ask your teacher for help, or find an explanation on the Internet.

2. Pay attention to your attendance. Some teachers will deduct points if a student misses too many classes. Sometimes, when you skip class, you miss key information. Think about the level of attendance. Add to this the number of missed classes.

   • Do you have a valid reason for being absent from class? Do you have a medical certificate confirming that you were sick? If someone died, do you have a copy of the death certificate? If the answer to these questions is no, it is likely that your absences were not considered excused absences.

3. Take into account other factors that could influence this. If you're not feeling well and can't afford even basic things, you'll likely have a hard time studying. If this is the case, talk to your doctor or psychologist to see what you can do to resolve the situation (you may need to take some time off to understand your condition). If it's not the end of the semester, it might be a good idea to skip a couple of classes to handle the situation. So, the main external factors are listed below:

   • death of a loved one;
   • work (full or part time);
   • raising young children;
   • mental health problems.
   • Please note that you are unlikely to be able to re-take a course in a particular subject. This is only possible if you re-enroll in the same course (that is, you will have to study again for a whole year what you have already studied). However, you can talk to the teacher. Surely he teaches students of other specialties in the same program (especially if it is a general discipline). If you can find time to study in the subject in which you are behind, and the teacher agrees to it, then you have a chance to improve your grades.

4. Think about how much you communicate. When you are completely absorbed by some life events, you do not have time to cope with the rest of your affairs. Perhaps you have new friend or new girl, which takes up all your time. Maybe you have joined some kind of community or club of interests that often hosts parties. Social life is very important, but if you spend too much time partying and don't have enough time to study, you can ruin your grades.

   Meet with your teachers. Being attentive and responsible can help you even when studying in college or university. Teachers will understand that you are having some difficulties right now, and they will appreciate your desire to learn. Talking with your teachers will help you learn the lesson better, understand the material, and improve your work in the future.

   • Talk to teachers during their office hours or email to arrange an in-person meeting. It is always better to discuss such matters in person.
   • Although it may be difficult, you can approach this topic calmly and sincerely. Simply say, "I'm really disappointed in my knowledge on the last assignments. I'm wondering how I could improve my performance. Can you give me some advice on how I can better approach this assignment?"
   • If you wait until the end of the semester to have this conversation, it may be too late to change anything.

Consider a new approach to studying

1. Assess the overall impact of poor grades on your future. To avoid worrying about your grades, think about how much they will affect your future studies and career. Most often, bad grades do not greatly affect our overall education. If you receive a failing grade in one or more classes, your performance may decline. But don't get discouraged—take a few deep breaths and look at the big picture. Make a concrete plan to improve.

   Decide in which areas you want to develop. You may have realized that the problem is in your approach to studying. Maybe you realized that you don’t know how to organize material, that you forget about deadlines. Once you have determined what the main problem is, you need to take steps to fix it. Make a decision to change something.

   • If you are very forgetful, you can buy a calendar or organizer, mark important dates and set reminders on your phone.
   • If you have problems with the distribution and organization of your time, you can make a schedule in advance and, having completed the planned tasks, reward yourself with something pleasant.

2. Set yourself new goals. Think about what you ultimately want to achieve? What kind of career do you want to build? Do you want to earn a certain amount? Do you want to enroll in a master's program? Make a list of goals. Once you have decided on your goals, list the necessary steps to achieve those goals.

   • For example, if you want to study medicine in the future, look at the list of subjects you will study, decide what your grade level should be at graduation, and how various extracurricular activities can contribute to achieving your goal. So, your list of practical steps might be: “Find admissions information” or “Find good medical universities.”

3. Think about what you could improve. It is very important to understand that you cannot change the past, but you can change the future. Convince yourself that you can solve your problems. Once you realize what you did wrong, you can take steps to improve your situation.

Move on

Sign up for a consultation with a teacher. If you are concerned that your grades will affect your future studies, talk to your academic advisor and come up with a plan of action. Perhaps the subject is difficult for you, and you should contact a tutor or ask the teacher to work with you additionally. Unfortunately, in Russia and other CIS countries there is no opportunity to freely choose subjects. Work with your teacher (and perhaps your parents or guardians) to create a plan of action to help you get back on track.

Make a plan on how you can improve your results. This plan should be formulated as specifically and step by step as possible, it should help you succeed next time. Feeling like you're in control of the situation will help you relax and set yourself goals to focus on next time.

• This plan must include the number of hours per week that you will spend on studying, the grades that you want to receive in each of the subjects. Describe how you are going to cope with various medical problems, how many hours a week you will spend working, socializing, and so on.

1. Study your schedule. If you had really tough classes last semester, you may already have an answer to why your grades have dropped so much. Even the smartest and most capable people need to take breaks from time to time. It is possible that the schedule is not balanced in the current semester, in which case you as a whole group need to contact the dean’s office with a request to distribute the subjects differently. But, most likely, a visit to the dean will be successful only if the semester has just begun.

• If possible, politely ask your teacher if you can view your test (to make sure you were graded correctly). In some cases (but quite rarely) teachers make mistakes when checking work.
• If things aren't going well from the start of the semester, consider skipping one or more classes to lighten the load and get the situation under control.
• Understand that dropping out is the last option and has many consequences. Best option- try to put in more effort and perseverance to succeed. By skipping classes and dropping out of school, you develop escapism (the desire to escape from difficult situations), rather than grit and perseverance.

Warnings

• Never harm yourself or anyone else in response to poor grades. Remember, this too shall pass.
• If you don't sleep enough or eat poorly (or both), remember that this will affect you in unpleasant ways. But over time. Contact for help social worker, if it's a financial situation.
• If you suffer from mental health problems or any physical limitations that affect your educational process, don’t hide in a corner and suffer in silence. Many colleges and universities are modernizing their curricula and creating special accommodations for people with disabilities. Certain adjustments are made to the course structure and schedule to help the student complete the course successfully. Trying to succeed against all odds is admirable, but it may set you up for failure in the long run, so try to figure out what kind of learning environment will help you cope.
• Get rid of bad habits(for example, overcommunication and the habit of underlearning material), because these habits cause your mistakes and failures. Instead of following the all-or-nothing approach and giving up when things don't go well, try to achieve your goals gradually.

What you will need

• Planner or organizer
• Meetings with teachers, psychologist (to assess progress)
• Open access to notebooks, textbooks, online materials and so on (if you do not have access to educational materials, ask the teacher to provide you with everything you need)
• Find a regular notebook or ring pad to take notes in. Find a small notebook if you can write down material using abbreviations and acronyms