Monday, December 04, 2006
Worried About Failing Eleventh Grade
Dear Guidance Guy,
I am not good with school. I know that I am very smart and should be able to make really good grades and I do most all of my homework and do well on tests. But I still seem to fail EVERY class I have had this year and I don't know what to do. I think I am going to fail my junior year if I don't do something. I just dont know what.
Worried
*** *** ***
Dear Worried,
It doesn't make sense that you do all your homework and do well on tests, yet wind up failing every class. So the possibilities are you're either not doing as much homework as you think, not passing your tests, or are actually doing well and aren't going to fail. If there's a fourth choice, I don't know what it is.
The first thing you need to do is figure out exactly what is happening. Go back and look at what you're doing. One of the above three is going on. If it's actually homework that isn't getting done, decide this will be a priority and get it going. If you're not passing tests, sit down with your teachers and figure out what's going wrong. Then make a game plan to start doing better.
The third possibility - that you really are passing - is pretty common for 11th graders. This tends to be a year of worry for a lot of students. They realize graduation isn't that far away and they will be responsible for their own futures. As much as kids like independence, there's also a lot of securty in someone else telling you what to do and how to do it. And there's worry when you start to see that going away. I'm wondering if that's what's happening with you. Sitting down with your guidance counselor may be a great idea to get rid of some of this confusion.
Best of Luck,
The Guidance Guy
I am not good with school. I know that I am very smart and should be able to make really good grades and I do most all of my homework and do well on tests. But I still seem to fail EVERY class I have had this year and I don't know what to do. I think I am going to fail my junior year if I don't do something. I just dont know what.
Worried
*** *** ***
Dear Worried,
It doesn't make sense that you do all your homework and do well on tests, yet wind up failing every class. So the possibilities are you're either not doing as much homework as you think, not passing your tests, or are actually doing well and aren't going to fail. If there's a fourth choice, I don't know what it is.
The first thing you need to do is figure out exactly what is happening. Go back and look at what you're doing. One of the above three is going on. If it's actually homework that isn't getting done, decide this will be a priority and get it going. If you're not passing tests, sit down with your teachers and figure out what's going wrong. Then make a game plan to start doing better.
The third possibility - that you really are passing - is pretty common for 11th graders. This tends to be a year of worry for a lot of students. They realize graduation isn't that far away and they will be responsible for their own futures. As much as kids like independence, there's also a lot of securty in someone else telling you what to do and how to do it. And there's worry when you start to see that going away. I'm wondering if that's what's happening with you. Sitting down with your guidance counselor may be a great idea to get rid of some of this confusion.
Best of Luck,
The Guidance Guy
# posted by Larry Hochman : 3:39 PM
