Surviving Low Final Exam Grades

Students who earn a low final exam grade can be deeply disappointed, but you can help them gain perspective by remembering some of these tips:

• If your child calls about failing a final exam, listen and let him or her express their disappointment. Unless they specifically ask your advice, just be their “shoulder to cry on” and let them know you’re still proud of them for trying hard and you are willing to help them work out a plan to salvage a low GPA after final exams week.
• Remind them at the they will take between 40 to 50 classes just to earn an undergraduate degree, so one low final exam grade, in one class, will not damage their entire academic career as much as they think.
• Ask if the class can be repeated during the summer. If so, the student may consider repeating the class to raise the grade. Some colleges and universities allow students’ grades in repeated classes to replace the original grade in the GPA calculation. A review of the institution’s grading or “academic forgiveness” policies can shed light on whether or not your child’s college has such a policy.
• Offer a reality check. Students on a semester term have 16 weeks to earn the grade they want in the class, so trying to make an A on a final exam for a class in which the student has a D average simply isn’t realistic. This is not to imply that the student should not bother to study, but sometimes students need a reality check that only a parent can give.
• Ask if they need a certain grade in the class to graduate? If not, it is wise to simply accept the grade and not worry about repeating the class. Students are often worried about not having a 3.0 or higher GPA to post on their resume, but many students post their “major GPA”, or the GPA in the classes taken only for the major requirements, on their resume too. This allows them to essentially explain an F or D in a non-major related class that may have no bearing on their future employability or graduate school admission.
• Stay positive even when your child is not. During final exams it is important for your child to focus on the exams as they come and not worry about disappointment or criticism from parents. I firmly believe that constructive criticism is necessary, but expressing your disappointment or critiquing your child during final exams is counter-productive. Be positive and supportive now, and worry about expressing your concerns or disappointment later. After final grades for all their classes are posted, your child can evaluate what worked and what did not in terms of studying, prioritizing projects, and time management, and can develop a plan to improve their grades in the future. 

The First Semester Grade Drop

Unfortunately, holiday cheer can be dampened when first semester grades arrive. If you are unpleasantly surprised by what you see on your student’s first grade report from college, you’re not alone. Many students see a drop of a letter grade or more between the grades they saw in high school and what they earned in their first semester of college. There are a few common reasons for this:

A 4.0, or “perfect”, GPA in high school is fairly common these days.  When our generation attended high school there may have been one or two students who were able to maintain a perfect GPA and each high school probably only had one valedictorian.  This is no longer the case, and many students from a variety of high schools have never made anything below an A in any class.  This is simply a result of grade inflation* in high school and unfortunately it can do a lot of harm to a student’s psyche when they arrive at college and realize they are one of many “perfect” students vying for top grades.

There’s more to the first semester of college than a GPA. In addition to attending 15-18 credit hours worth of class each week, your child has also had to learn how to navigate an entirely new world.  Everything from how and where they live, shower, eat, and socialize is completely new and learning the ins and outs of college life is emotionally and intellectually draining. Even students who earned a 2.0 GPA have actually learned a great deal from college in their first semester.

College is harder than high school. When I relay this fact to students most of them give me the “Duh, no kidding” look, but some are surprised. They think that they can employ the same strategies they used in high school and earn the same grades, but that usually doesn’t work. Students are in college classrooms less than half of the time they were in high school classrooms and they have to do much of their reading, writing, and learning on their own or in student groups. In addition, college classes require that students think through problems critically and develop their own solutions based on research, their own or someone else’s. In other words, in addition to simply answering questions, they have to explain why they answered in that way and how they came to their conclusions. This is the mental equivalent of heavy lifting and it takes time for students to get used to flexing their intellectual muscles.

If your child is disappointed by his grades in the first semester, don’t worry. Most students’ grades rebound during the next semester after they adjust their study and time management habits. If your child needs help with these issues, a visit to a study skills center, academic counselor, or attending a workshop on these topics can give him the information, skills, and motivation he needs to improve his grades in future semesters.

* http://www.act.org/research/policymakers/pdf/issues.pdf

http://research.collegeboard.org/sites/default/files/publications/2012/7/researchreport-2011-2-investigating-grade-inflation-non-equivalence.pdf

 

How Much Time Should My Child Spend Studying?

The general rule espoused by most colleges is that students should expect to spend two to three hours outside of class to prepare for each hour spent in class. Therefore, a student enrolled in 15 credit hours should expect to spend 30 to 45 additional hours completing assignments, reading, studying and working on papers outside of class. Of course this isn’t always the case for every class and students may spend only one or two hours outside of class for one course and four hours for another. In fact, the most recent report published by the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) found that most students actually spent much less time preparing for class.

“Results from 2013 show that in a typical week, first-year students averaged 14 hours and seniors averaged 15 hours preparing for class (studying, reading, writing, doing homework or lab work, etc.).”

http://nsse.iub.edu/NSSE_2013_Results/index.cfm

Any way they slice it though, students should consider college to be their full time job and expect to spend between 45-60 hours each week in class, and preparing for class. My experience with students indicates that those who spend this amount of time and effort will thrive instead of struggle.

Why Your Child Should Continue to Apply for Scholarships

Many times students and parents will ask the best ways to win scholarships. While there are obvious ways to improve your chances of winning scholarships like earning high grades, being involved on campus, and submitting excellent applications (see the post about scholarship application advice) there are several things your child needs to remember while applying.

1. No scholarship is too small. Some students simply don’t apply for small scholarships of $100.00 to $500.00 because they only see the difference between $100.00 and their $9,000.00 tuition and fees bill. But, instead of just looking at the difference, look at what $100.00 is worth. When I see $100.00, I see some books, a couple of tanks of gas, a few weeks of groceries, and some extra cash for an emergency.
2. Always do the math. If your child is working part time to finance college, how many hours would it take him to earn $500.00 after taxes? Most college students earn minimum wage or pretty close to it. After taxes they clear about $6.10 per hour, so it would take the average student almost 82 hours to bring home $500.00. That’s a month of working 20 hours per week. Even if your child spends only two hours per week during the academic year completing and submitting scholarship applications and only wins $500.00, he still comes out ahead.
3. Scholarships are free money, but don’t treat them that way. Some students win big scholarships and think they can promptly quit their part time job, or spend the money on non-educational expenses. These are bad ideas.

• Scholarships are intended to help students afford college so the funds should always go either directly to the college or to pay for college related expenses.

• Unless the student is in his senior year and expects to graduate on time and not pursue graduate education, the money should be saved in a separate account for college related expenses. Otherwise, the student may run out of money before he finishes college.
• Scholarships are extra, unexpected funds and therefore should not be relied upon as a steady stream of financial support. Many students have lost scholarships in their junior or senior year due to low grades, missed deadlines, or changing their major to one not supported by the scholarship fund.

Scholarship Application Advice: From someone who’s seen a lot of scholarship applications!

Honestly, nothing bugs me more than sloppy scholarship or award applications. Considering that the organization or donor is willing to hand you hundreds or thousands of dollars in free money you need to have enough regard for yourself and the committee to put forth your best effort, so here’s my super honest advice for students about submitting scholarship applications.

1.     Make sure your application is typed and in a legible font. Applications that are handwritten or in illegible fonts WILL stand out, and then they are usually shredded without any further consideration. If you are turning the application in on paper and not electronically, make sure that the application is neat and not creased or wrinkled. If the application must be submitted electronically, follow the submission instructions, or if there are no specific instructions, submit it as a PDF, with your name and the scholarship’s name included as part of the PDF’s name.

 2.     Make sure your application is complete, and follow the instructions to the letter. If it specifies that an official transcript be attached, then attach an official transcript. Not a copy, not an unofficial transcript, not a screen shot of one from your phone, but an official transcript.

 3.     Submit the application on time. I’m sure that everyone has legitimate excuses for why they miss deadlines, but as a scholarship administrator I’m more concerned with scoring the already huge stack of applications that were submitted on time.

 4.     Proofread your application, then have a professor, tutor, or a trusted friend proofread it, then proofread it again. Remember, we want to give you free money; the least you can do is proof your work.

 5.     Tell your story. Usually, the selection committee only has about 3-10 application pages to figure out who you are and why we should give you the award. Tell your story honestly and as thoroughly as possible. Don’t dismiss activities as unimportant because you think they’re not grand enough to impress us. We are just as impressed by students who volunteer to read to preschoolers as we are by those who write research grants.

I have scored numerous scholarships over the past two decades and I can tell you that the students who get scholarships are the ones who submit clean, completed applications, before the deadline, and who take the time to have their applications reviewed for errors. Students who put forth the extra 10% of effort to submit well-prepared applications are usually the ones who win the awards, and the best thing is, once you’ve completed a few scholarship applications, they get easier and easier to submit.

Students need to look at scholarship applications from the selection committee’s perspective. The committee is usually comprised of volunteers who are already extremely busy and each person on it only has a few sheets of paper in your application to decide whether or not to give you a $1,000.00 or more, so make a good impression!

 After you receive the scholarship send at brief thank you note or letter thanking the committee and giving us an update on how the scholarship will help you attain your educational goals. We do remember these letters and we may even score another one of your applications or remember you when we serve on another committee.

Saving Money on Textbooks

Required textbooks and lab supplies can cost anywhere from a couple hundred dollars to thousands per semester depending on the books and where they are purchased. Campus bookstores usually offer the best selection, easy returns and exchanges, and the convenience of buying books that were ordered directly by the professors who are teaching the classes, but it’s true that students pay a premium for this convenience and service. A number of online options are available and although students can save anywhere from 25-85 percent on the cost of textbooks from these sites, they need to be aware of common problems students encounter when buying online.

Sites like Textbooks.com, Bigwords.com, and of course Amazon.com do a good job of providing the most commonly used college textbooks, but most students will not be able to buy all of their books from only one site. Students who want to save money by buying online need to shop around a lot and make absolutely sure they are buying the correct books and editions for their classes. To avoid common snags students should:

 Make sure they are ordering the correct book by the correct author(s)

Confirm the edition numberConfirm the ISBN, or International Standard Book Number. This is a unique 10 to 13 digit number usually found on the barcode on the back of the book.

Confirm that the book is in the correct language. Many books have several editions in several languages.

Only buy from a reputable site and understand the return or exchange policy before buying.

Many campuses also have textbook swap meets or exchanges or may offer the book on reserve in the library. Although I’m a big fan of students getting whatever they can for low or no cost, freshmen especially need to start their first semester with all of the correct books for all of their classes in hand. After the first semester, they can decide if they prefer to buy on campus, online, or at an exchange. 

Remedial and Non-credit Classes

Some students have to take a non-credit, remedial, or basic skills class before enrolling in classes for college credit in the subject. For each non-credit class the student must take, the credits will have to be made up in summer school or by taking an extra semester.

A student placing into non-credit classes is not uncommon and is the result of a few issues:

1.              The student has taken a placement exam (often part of the orientation process) and from the scores earned on the test has been placed in the remedial class. Let’s face it, sometimes students coast through their senior year of high school and don’t put forth the effort required to maintain their skills in a specific subject, especially one they don’t like in the first place. Once June, July, or August rolls around and they take the placement test as part of college orientation or enrollment they haven’t even thought about the subject for six to twelve months. If this is the case, there is virtually no way they can improve their skills on the subject in time to jump right into a college level class. Basically, they need a refresher to be successful in a regular college class.

2.              The student’s grades and SAT or ACT scores are low enough in the subject to warrant remediation. If your child has always detested reading and writing and has the grades and standardized tests scores to prove it, he will probably not be able to succeed in college level composition classes without strengthening his skills in the subject. You probably already know what subjects your child has always struggled in so remedial placement is rarely a surprise. Even if your child earned grades high enough to pass these classes in high school, you can guarantee that the college level classes will be much more challenging.

3.              It is far better in the long run that your child enroll in the remedial class, even if it does not offer credit, because the alternative is to enroll in the higher level class and struggle all semester just to fail or perform poorly in the class.

Having to pay for and take non-credit classes is not fun and can be disheartening to a student who feels ready for college, but it is important for students to accept their academic challenges and work to overcome them before making the leap into a high stakes college level class. In addition, most non-credit classes are graded as pass/fail and grades in these classes are not calculated in the student’s GPA. Whereas, a student who enrolls in a regular college level class and fails it will have the grade permanently etched on his transcript. 

College Credit by Exam

While saving money is easy in some aspects of college life such as housing, travel, and meal plans, you have to get creative when it comes to saving money on the academic side of things. In general, tuition and fees stay at the same rate year after year, with periodic increases. One very good way to save money, however, is something your student may already be doing right now. 

Credit by exam is a way to for students to earn credit through AP, IB, or CLEP exams. AP, Advanced Placement, and IB, International Baccalaureate, exams are taken in high school and some colleges will offer credit for an equivalent class at their institution. Of course, not all students take AP or IB classes in high school, but if your child missed the opportunity to take these classes or exams he or she can still take a College Level Exam Program (CLEP) exam.

Conveniently enough, the College Board, the same educational testing giant that brings you the SAT and AP exams also writes the CLEP exams. Any way you slice it the concept is the same. Students prepare for the tests by studying a subject specific study guide, available online, and once they feel comfortable with the material, they take the exam for a fee and depending on their score, earn credit.  Some students can earn credit for knowledge gained through personal study or perhaps they already speak a foreign language and need to show proficiency in the language by earning credit through CLEP.

Not all colleges accept credit earned through AP, IB or CLEP, but if your child’s college does, it is worth looking into.  You can learn more than you ever wanted to know about college level exams at: http://collegeboard.org 

While it may make sense for students to earn credit in this way for introductory, general education or core classes, I don’t recommend this method of earning credit for classes that are integral to the student’s major. If your child is majoring in engineering, and took an AP psychology class in high school, then he may wish to go ahead and study for and take that exam to earn a social science or elective credit. But, an engineering student taking the AP exam for calculus, even if he could pass with flying colors, will usually have problems in higher-level major classes.