Unfiltered

Dear Unfiltered,

I feel like my grades are good, although I’m always worrying about assignments being done on time or getting a good grade on it. One thing I don’t do very often is studying.

~Graded

Dear Graded, 

What makes a good grade? What makes a bad grade? For you, maybe a good grade is a 85-90. For me, the best grade I’ve gotten this year is probably a 79, but, as Pink Floyd once said, “We don’t need no education.” (Check out ‘The Wall.’ The album, not the movie. It’s pretty good.) 

Good grades are often seen as the higher, the better. Did you get an 85 on a test? Cool, but not as cool as that kid’s 87. In reality, that’s far from what you should be focusing on. My high school career started on the wrong track. I was a 100% average student all throughout elementary school, and then that leveled out to about a 90-95 average student as middle school hit. Once I got to my freshman year, though, I was determined to be that one kid who never did their homework, always watched Netflix in class, and only participated in group discussions when it was for points. Why? To this day I couldn’t tell you. Chalk it up to adolescent defiance.  

I know what you’re thinking. “Yep. That right there is an Ivy-league-bound freshman. No doubt about it.” I was not in fact Ivy-league bound, but I was destined to fail that school year. In my opinion, I had what can be most closely related to “gifted kid burnout.” A lot of students have it, it’s just most commonly related to students with a “gifted education,” or a GIEP. After that year, I started to develop a little more of a sense of when things needed to be done on time and when they could be stretched out a little longer. 

Studying is always something that I found to be useless. No matter how hard I studied, I never got better than the grade I’d gotten before. Then, I tested a theory. I tried not studying, and lo and behold, I got the same grade. Now, don’t take this back to Mrs. Kennedy or Mrs. Ruiz and say “Well this story says I don’t have to study”; I fully support and believe in studying. I believe that everyone has their own way of studying which works for them. For some people, it’s taking notes, for some people it’s looking at flashcards, and for some people, it’s listening to a song about it. I have just never taken the time to find out how I study best, nor do I plan on it. Studying is a good habit to get into. It will help you later in life when you have to give a presentation at your job or go into an interview to advance your career. 

If you notice that you’re living up to your personal standards in your grades, then you can do one of two things. You can a) keep up the good work and continue to keep your personal trend, or you can b) create a new personal standard and push yourself to that goal. Both of these are okay. You don’t have to have the best grades on a scale of students to feel proud and accomplished. The only thing you have to do is remind yourself that you did the best you could and that you accomplished your goal. If you know you didn’t do your best, then the next go-around, remind yourself that you can do even better, so long as you do your best. It can be difficult to look down at a test and see that your best friend got a better grade, but you have to remember: they learn differently. Maybe Mr. Barna’s classroom style is the best for them, but you prefer Mr. Wetherhold. Everyone has their own strong suits. You just have to find yours. 

Good luck, and remember, without your meat, you can’t have any pudding! 😉

-Unfiltered 

If you wish to get more information on studying habits, check out this website! https://www.usa.edu/blog/study-techniques/

Disclaimer: This is not therapeutic advice. This is peer-to-peer advice. If you are experiencing something serious, please reach out to your guidance counselor:

manderson@salisburysd.org   or   amoyer@salisburysd.org 

or call these numbers if you would like to speak with someone: 

Suicide Hotline: 988

Abuse Hotline: 1.800.799.SAFE(7233) 

LGBTQ+ Hotline: 877.360.LGBT(5428)