Semester Grades

Tomorrow is the final day of the 1st quarter.  (Yay!)  And I know that there are a lot of students who are stressed out about their grades, but I want to remind you how grades, credits and GPA work.

Students earn credits each semester if their SEMESTER grade is passing.  And the SEMESTER grades are the only grades which appear on the transcript and count into a student's cumulative GPA.

What makes up your semester grade?  Each semester grade is calculated using the 2 quarter grades and the semester exam grade.  For WKHS students, the return of semester exams and how that will impact your grade is a new element for almost all of you.  Each quarter grade is worth 45% of your semester grade and your exam is worth 10% of your semester grade.

So, if you look at your 1st quarter grades, that equals 45% of your grade for the semester, but you still have 55% of your grade left to earn.  Which means hope is never lost even if your grade isn't where you want it to be.  However, if your grades aren't where they should or could be, you need to start making changes right away because it becomes more difficult to dig out of the hole with every passing day that you don't do well.  

When we had exams previously a lot of students would be concerned that the exam could change their grade up or down a letter grade.  And while yes, that is technically true, what we found was that most students performed about the same on their exam grade as they did in the classes.  So you don't want to count on getting a 100% on your semester exam if you were getting F's all quarter long.

You're at the half-way point for earning the grades that will be on your transcript and calculate into your GPA.  Be sure that you are setting yourself up for success.  Every day is a day to bring you one step closer to your goals.  Try not to focus too much on the ending point and just do what needs to be done today to get you closer to where you want to be in the end.