Feeling Personally Attacked by Your Midterm Grades?

Published on October 12, 2023

Let me set the scene for you here: It’s a cool morning in Pullman.  You’ve been studying for midterm exams diligently.  You’ve been writing papers and re-writing papers, having your people, and anyone who can read, peer-review your essay before submission.  Your diet now consists of mainly coffee, snack food, and the occasional meal when your schedule allows it.  Your instructors have been giving reminders at the start and end of every class about prepping for midterms and taking this “seriously.”  You open myWSU to check in on your midterm grades, mentally preparing for some disappointment, but not too much.  You peek one eye open and discover that you are A LOT more disappointed than you wanted to be. 

So where do we go from here?  Obviously, you are entitled to a brief breakdown, whatever that might look like for you.  You can curse the class, the instructor, yourself even, but it can’t end there.  Right?  Ultimately, the class has been created with the student in mind, the instructor was hired for a reason, and pity parties are only fun for so long.  So as much as we want to rage against all of the above, at some point, we must put that anger aside and press onward. 

So I ask again, where do we go from here?  If the above resonates with you at all, I recommend the following:

  • Review your syllabus– what does it say about late work?  About extra credit?  About talking with the professor?
  • Take stock of what you have done so far.  Look at the Canvas gradebook.  Write down any missing assignments and/or any assignments with a less than desirable grade.  *Keep in mind: professors sometimes enter your grade as “Missing” instead of giving you a zero.  In doing this, your grade will not correctly reflect what you have or not have done so far.  So, make sure to calculate what those zero’s will do to your grade as well. *
  • Come up with a plan of attack based on your syllabus information.  If the professor allows late work to be submitted, even if you lose points, turn in the missing work!  If extra credit is offered, sign up for it!  If your professor wants you to talk directly with them about such things, come up with what you want to say!
  • Talk with the professor or TA.  It is easy to say that we are going to talk with the instructor, and it’s even EASIER to not talk with them.  Whether you are stuck in a cycle of negative self-talk (“the deadline already passed,” “there’s no point since it’s been so long,” “I’ll just take the L on this one and get A’s on the rest of the assignments”) or are just too embarrassed to face the person that created the class, what’s the worst that could happen?  Either you get good news or you get the news that you suspected all along.  Either way, you have an answer and next steps!
  • Talk with your classmates.  At the very least, you have a friendly face to grimace at before final presentations and exams.  At the very most, you have a new accountability buddy.  You know, someone to study with, share notes with, and pace yourself against.  We all need a person in our corner, and the closer to the class that person is, the better!
  • Use campus resources: you have already paid for these services with your tuition costs.  Why not get the most out of them?  These include but are not limited to:
  • Prep for upcoming assignments and exams.  Start the assignment early, the sooner it’s done, the sooner it’s off your plate!  Do you NEED to get an A on your final?  Go ahead and start studying now, ensure your success! 
  • Talk with your advisor about next steps.  If it really is hopeless to try to salvage your grades (which I highly doubt because I’ve been there but also understand because I’ve been there) then talk with your advisor about what that means for you and your program of study. 
By Adrianne Mitchell
Adrianne Mitchell GA: Academic Coach
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