Up to this point, I have written this year’s posts about knowing your grading periods sooner than last year’s. I wanted to provide you with various times during the year to check your progress with your study skills as well as your grades, as well as to highlight more examples of times when checking your progress might be a good idea. While I am writing this year’s third grading period post exactly a year after I wrote last year’s, which will keep the approach of the end of the year the focus, I will also include the influence of spring break on both your own and your teachers’ plans and goals for the remainder of the year, since just like the breaks earlier in the year, it, too, serves as a good time to mark where you are and decide where to place your focus through whatever remains of your year after you return from your break.
As always, knowing your school’s schedule of grading periods is important, since it allows you to keep better track of where you stand in each of your classes, and how much time you will have to make improvements to your grades before they close. As the end of the year approaches, knowing not just your grading period schedule, but also where your spring break falls in relation to it, will help you take the best possible advantage of every remaining opportunity you have to end the year as well as you possibly can. Most of you have already started the last grading period of your school year, and those of you who haven’t will be doing so soon. Since there are countless different school schedules, as well as different times for Spring Break, I will not write about each of the possibilities. Instead, I will give you general guidelines about how to look back at the grading periods you’ve already completed, so you can figure out what you need to do to end not just your final grading period, but the year as a whole, on the best possible note.
Once you’ve made sure you know when your final grading period closes, as well as how much time remains both before and after your spring break, make sure you’re aware that just as your winter break affects what teachers assign when and how they determine due dates, so your spring break does, too. Most teachers will try not to assign much, if any, new work over the break itself, but they most likely will have important test and project due dates just before the break. Since they know, just as you should, how little time remains to them after the break, they may well have important test and due dates not long after the break as well. Just as with your winter break, spring break, too, should be a time when work is not your main focus, but if you see that there are things you can do ahead so that the time after break is less stressful, it is well worth considering. Though you might think it is, spring break is not too soon to begin to prepare for final exams, especially if they are cumulative. Though it is too soon to study everything you will need to know when the time comes, choosing to review certain concepts or vocabulary ahead of time will help you feel more confident that you will be able to do everything you need to do to feel prepared when your exams occur. This will be particularly important in the classes you have found most challenging throughout the year, but in all your classes, you will want to do your best not to let your year’s average be pulled down too much by one low grade.
As with previous new grading periods, take the time at the beginning of the final one to think about what you did well and what you can do better. If you have been doing this since I first suggested it, you may realize by now that certain improvements have been harder to make than others, as well as that certain improvements were harder to sustain than you expected them to be. If you are still struggling to get the grades you were hoping for, look at each of them more closely and ask yourself what could have caused this. Be sure to recognize that there may be more reasons for it than there were earlier in the year, such as increased difficulty of content and/or expectations on assignments or projects. Try to figure out if you did poorly because you need to do more to improve your study skills, you need more help to deal with increased expectations, or a combination of the two. No matter how late in the year it is, it is never too late to continue to make improvements to your study skills or get the help you need. This may mean that you need to find more time to devote to your studies, right at the time of year when it is most tempting to want to do less, but in order to make your final grade in each course the best it can possibly be, every little bit counts! No matter how much or how little you are willing or able to do over your spring break, bear in mind that after it, it will most likely be harder for you to focus on your studies than it was before. Finding at least a little time to work over your break is a great way to give yourself time to enjoy both the warmer weather and activities and events that will understandably distract you as the year winds down, without losing sight of your study skills goals.
Whether you need to build on grades you’re happy with, improve grades you wish were better, or a combination of both, it is important to remember that new grading periods provide a fresh start, even the final one, and that you should take the best possible advantage of it that you can. Approach each class period ready to give your very best effort, no matter what is taking place, and continue to do so, no matter how much or how little time remains in your school year. Whether before, during, or after Spring Break, keep in mind that as difficult as it might be to maintain your focus as the end of the year approaches, the more able you are to find ways to do it, the better off you’ll be. Continue to make whatever improvements you can make, even if it is too late to see much of a difference in this year’s grades. Even small improvements in this year’s grades will give you something to build on for next year, so as I have said many times before, don’t give up! Since improving your study skills is a journey, keep in mind that you are playing the long game. If you weren’t able to change everything you wanted to this school year, that’s okay. Just as with what you did well this year, so too with what you found more challenging – the most important thing to remember is that you want to build on what you’ve done, so you can make it better, not only through what remains of this school year, but also in the year to come.