What is going on with my grades?

Achievement and how to study better 

By Asavari Bhadra.  

Did you open your grades for the Fall semester on Solus and immediately realize that you messed up and now your GPA is damaged beyond repair? If so, this post is for you, my unfortunate friend. Fear not though, as I’ve got a solution that’s going to make your grades the best they’ve ever been!  

Now, let’s talk about damage control. You’ve made a mistake. We all make those. What matters, however, is how we look at those mistakes and how we think of ourselves in consequence. To explain how this works, I’m going to bring in a little psychology.

Now, Carol Dweck’s social cognition perspective states that differences exist among people in terms of their achievement motivation. What does this mean? According to her, a child who, when they fail at doing something like solving a problem, looks at this failure as a challenge and then starts working persistently to get the answers, is thus motivated by learning goals. They have an incremental view of knowledge – believing that knowledge and intelligence can be honed and cultivated through effort. They are not impacted too much by that initial failure and are instead motivated to try harder. This will eventually increase their subsequent performance.

On the other hand, a child who fails to solve that same problem but gets nervous and anxious about it is working towards performance goals. They are embarrassed by that failure and see it as an indication of a personal flaw. This person has an entity view – the idea that intelligence is fixed and unchangeable. They want to succeed and all is well if they keep succeeding – however, any failure makes them immediately doubt their own abilities.  

This, however, does not just apply to children! It applies to us too. When you open Solus and see that your GPA is the lowest that it’s ever been, you can either have a breakdown and think that you should just stop trying, or you can rise up to meet that GPA as a challenge. Think of yourself, not as being unable to get good grades, but as someone who can become better if they just try a little harder. Results have shown that those who were taught the mastery orientation (how to look at intelligence and achievement in an incremental way), got better grades and overall improved their performance as compared to control groups who hadn't been given such training.  

This means that once you get back for the winter semester, take things in stride. Visit your professor’s office hours, read up on material beforehand, but most importantly, believe in yourself. Believe that you can do better. Learn from your mistakes, but do not let them define you! Now, go out there and get those shining A pluses!