Bouncing back from a bad grade (easier than you think)
About the author
Hi there. I am the prolific professor with 15 years of experience teaching online and in-person. I have a graduate degree. I have a passion for education. But I’ve also worked in the professional world (outside of education) too. Thanks for visiting.
A guide to recovering from a bad grade or bad semester
Over the years, as a former professor, I can remember hundreds of students flocking to me during office hours after they made a bad grade on an exam.
And I had plenty of students reaching out to me who were failing my class and were panicking.
Most of the time, students just wanted some guidance and they wanted to know that everything was going to be okay. You probably want to know what this failing grade means for you and your future. There can be a lot at stake, but with the right approach, you can overcome a bad grade.
I know you might be really worried about what this bad grade or bad semester means for you, but I will help you understand how to recover from a bad grade or bad semester.
I hate to admit it, but when I first started college, I wasn’t prepared. And I ended up failing all my classes that semester. I am serious. I can totally relate to you. Not only will I tell you how to recover from a bad grade as a professor, I can tell you what I did when I failed an entire college semester as a student.
Let’s get into it.
How bad grades can effect a college student?
When a college student makes a bad grade, it could effect their overall grade in the course. It will depend on how the grade is weighted in the course because some assignments will be counted more heavily towards the overall course grade while some assignments have little impact.
When a college student makes a failing grade, they risk failing the class. But before you panic, we need to understand how the course is structured. You should visit your syllabus first.
Check for your professor’s method of evaluation or grading scale. This will outline each assignment and its total points. You should look at the grading scale to see if some assignments or exams are weighted differently.
When I was a professor, I used to weight my grades but I stopped as I became more experienced. Here is what a weighted grade means.
Let’s say that you have 3 exams, 1 final exam, and 1 writing assignment. The writing assignment is 20% of your grade, and the three exams are 10% each. This leaves 50% of your grade for the final exam.
When you have an assignment or exam that is half of your grade, you could get into some real trouble if you fail that assignment. You can see that a failing grade on your final exam could mean trouble for you.
But if you failed one of the exams that is worth 10% of your overall grade, it wouldn’t be the end of the world.
Even if an assignment is worth a lot, you could still manage to pull through with a passing grade. But not always.
Another outcome of making a bad grade is trying to recover and bounce back. This can be difficult for students who feel overwhelmed or disappointed because of their failing grade. There can be a lot of emotions to deal with.
Finally, a disadvantage of making a bad grade is the possibility of losing scholarships, or being placed on academic probation. These things may not apply to you, but it is something to consider.
Some students need to maintain a certain G.P.A. to stay eligible for a scholarship or team sport. And others may end up with a G.P.A. below 2.0. Some universities may place the student on academic probation.
So, bad grades will effect each student differently because there are a lot of variables to consider.
What happens when you fail an exam?
When a college student fails an exam, they run the risk of failing the class too. However, this will depend on how the exam was weighted in the course. It will also depend on how well the student did on other class assignments. Sometimes students can afford to have one failing grade and still pass the class because they have great grades on other assignments.
If you have failed an exam, don’t get too concerned just yet. You need to do some investigation. Go find your course syllabus. Review it and see if you professor allows students to earn extra credit. Also see if your professor allows students to retake an exam. If they do, you could easily recover from the failing grade.
Professors don’t want students to fail so they’ll try and make sure they give you the resources to stay on track and bounce back from your failing exam grade. But sometimes students who fail an exam will fail the class too.
I would assume that most colleges want students to earn their grades and want students to earn a degree who have proficiency in that subject. If you fail classes and assignments, it could mean that you haven’t learned the subject well enough. It’s obvious that professors and colleges just don’t want to hand out good grades and diplomas to students. You will be in the workforce one day and it’s important that you understand that subject.
What happens when you fail a class?
When a college student fails a class, the student likely received a F in the course. It is not uncommon for college students to fail a class. You are not alone. The student could be placed on academic probation because of their low G.P.A. Or the student could lose some scholarships. Finally, a college student who fails a class would need to retake it if they needed it for their degree.
If you’ve failed a college class, it could seem rather scary right now. But you can definitely overcome it. You should review your transcript and your college’s student handbook to learn how the failing grade will effect your college education.
But most universities in the United States will allow you the opportunity to retake the class and replace the grade so that the failing grade doesn’t effect your G.P.A.
You could be placed on academic probation because the failing grade could lower your G.P.A. If you are placed on academic probation, you get to continue in college but you will have to meet some requirements along the way. You will need to get your G.P.A. up the next semester and meet with an advisor. Some colleges may have other requirements like progress reports or academic tutoring, but this depends on your university.
Failing a class as a graduate student may be a little different. Some graduate programs only allow students to fail a certain number of classes before they get dismissed from the program. And some graduate programs require students to pass their classes with a grade of C or better. So failing class as a graduate student carries a little more weight than it does for an undergraduate student.
There could be some highly selective colleges or programs for undergraduates that will have the same requirements that I mentioned for graduate students. So it’s important to know the college’s and program’s policies.
Not only are you dealing with the academic setbacks because of your failing course grade, you might be really hard on yourself because you failed. You may struggle with a lot of negative thoughts about your future. Some students also feel like they really disappointed their parents. This is usually pretty normal and if you feel this way, it might help you push forward and make better grades in the future.
Finally, some students may blame the professor and they feel like the deserved to pass the class rather than fail it. It can be hard to deal with these feelings because you often don’t get the answers you want. You could review your grades to see if they made a mistake somewhere. It isn’t common for grading mistakes to happen but they could.
And look, you may have had a bad professor, and if you did, you might want to retake the class with another professor. I have some tips to help you find the best professor here.
What happens when you fail an entire semester?
If a college students fails an entire semester in college, they will likely be placed on academic probation. If the student was already on academic probation, they could be placed on academic suspension. The student could get kicked out of college in some situations, but this is more uncommon.
When I was enrolled in my first semester at college, I failed every single one of my classes. I remember that feeling too. I knew that I failed because I didn’t try and barely attended the classes to begin with. But I didn’t know if I would ever recover from failing an entire semester.
I received a letter from the college about my G.P.A. and I was told that if I didn’t get my G.P.A. above 2.0, I would be placed on academic probation. I had to retake those classes the next semester to replace the failing grades. This helped boost my G.P.A. the next term and I never looked back.
When you fail an entire semester, you will likely have to retake ALL the classes. I would take them the next semester so that the failing grades are replaced right away.
Other than a low G.P.A. and being placed on academic probation, it is definitely possible to overcome a bad semester. You could use this as a learning opportunity to understand what your weaknesses were and how to do better the next term.
A positive outlook on this would include students thinking about how much their college cares about their success. Most universities will give you the resources to succeed because they want you to stay in college.
How do you bounce back after failing an exam?
When you fail an exam in college, the best way to bounce back is to sit down with your professor and figure out what went wrong. You should reflect on your exam preparation and figure out why you did bad to begin with. And then you would need to take the appropriate action to avoid making those same mistakes so that you don’t fail your next exam.
You should ask yourself these questions.
Did you study enough?
Were you overwhelmed with personal issues?
Was the material overly complicated?
Did you rush through the exam?
Were some of the questions tricky?
Either way, think about what went wrong and make an action plan to avoid it in the future.
As a former professor, I would highly encourage you to sit down with your professor and discuss your exam. You can’t even imagine how many times I have helped students improve their grades in my courses because they came and talked to me.
Professors may be able to help you understand what went wrong and they may have some amazing insight that will help you improve. I would tell students about the college’s resources that were FREE that could help them receive tutoring or other academic assistance. You may not know about those opportunities until a professor tells you about them.
So don’t underestimate the power of consulting with your professor after a failed exam. Don’t be afraid to approach them either. They want to help you.
When you want to bounce back from a failed exam, figure out what went wrong. Examine solutions and make a plan and stick with it. But take advantage of the FREE resources that your college may offer.
Can you recover from failing a midterm?
A college student can absolutely recover from failing a midterm if the midterm wasn’t weighted too heavily and the student’s grades on other assignments are pretty decent. But the student may have to work really hard to bounce back after failing a midterm and seek out tutoring to learn the material.
Look, failing such an important exam can be scary. But you should look at it as an opportunity to assess your progress. A mid-term is usually the exam in the middle of the semester to help students assess their progress in the course.
If you failed your mid-term, it means that you probably don’t understand the material as expected. You will need to look into tutoring and talk to your professor about failing.
But sometimes students fail for other reasons too. Maybe you failed because you just didn’t study enough. Or you missed too many lectures and there was no way you could have been prepared for the mid-term because you didn’t learn the material. Perhaps you had several other exams at the same time and things became overwhelming for you.
Go talk to your professor. When you reach out to them, they will hopefully give you some tips to succeed in their course. And they can sit down with you and go over your grades. It may be possible to pass the class still.
Otherwise, if the math just doesn’t work, you may have to drop the class. Before you do anything drastic, talk to your professor and your advisor. You can read my other article on withdrawing or failing a course to learn more. That is not a decision that should be taken lightly. But it might be your only choice.
The biggest question you should ask yourself is what would you need to make on the remaining assignments to pass the class. Ask your professor if they think it’s doable.
If you know there is no way that you could pull it off, then you could drop the class if the withdrawal hasn’t passed yet. But you have to make sure you understand all the repercussions of dropping a class before you make that decision.
How to bounce back from a bad semester?
If you had a bad semester, you can absolutely bounce back. Students who failed their entire college semester need to figure out why they failed. Sometimes students took too many courses, or didn’t study enough. Oftentimes, students have many other personal issues and weren’t able to focus on their coursework enough. In rare instances, college just may not be something that is for them.
Whatever the reason(s) may be, you need to really sit down and figure it out.
Are you majoring in the right subject? If you don’t enjoy your major, you may not dedicate enough time to studying. You may want to change your major. As a professor, this wouldn’t be my first choice. It is still something to consider though.
Maybe you are taking too many courses and you need to scale back some. Instead of taking a full load, can you take a few classes instead? I know there could be some financial concerns here, but you can’t necessarily afford to keep failing classes either.
If you are at a university, could you take some classes at a community college instead. Maybe you would enjoy smaller class sizes where your professor can really focus on giving you more undivided attention.
If you are working full-time, can you work part-time instead? I know students can’t always afford to not work during their college education, but it would be awesome to be able to have more time to focus on your coursework instead of having to work so many hours.
And finally, you could take a semester off to get some breathing room. Relax, assess your goals, and give yourself some time to focus on what’s important. When you are ready, jump back into college. I know this isn’t for everyone because sometimes you can’t just take a semester off, but if it’s a last resort, it might be necessary.
Remember, I am living proof that you can totally recover after failing an entire semester of college.
Secondly, if you are determined and willing to put into the work, I believe you can bounce back after failing an entire semester.
You got this.
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