What To Do If You’re Falling Behind In School
How To Tell When You’re Falling Behind
If you’re falling behind in one or more of your classes, it can be stressful to constantly try to catch up. This could mean you are failing your course, or you are not achieving the grade you would like. For some, the added pressures of being behind may even affect your ability to perform in other classes.
Those who are falling behind need to remember it’s not the end of the world. It’s important to stay calm and identify what needs to get done and when. Simply by writing all your responsibilities down it can help you understand your upcoming workload. For courses at iLearn, this should be displayed in the pacing guide for each of your courses. For courses at other schools, it might be best to print your syllabi and highlight the assignment deadlines.
Once you have all your assignment deadlines written down, take the time to estimate how long each one will take. If it’s clear from here that you will not be able to stay on track, then it’s time to admit you’re falling behind and seek help.
What Are Your Options When You Start To Fall Behind?
Evaluate your goals and decide on one of the following options:
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Make a plan and catch up
This is the #1 option if it’s possible. Speak with your teacher(s) and let them know that you are falling behind. Together, you and your teacher can create a plan to catch up.
Need tips on how to catch up? Stay tuned for part 2 (when it’s released) for best practices when catching up.
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Finish the course and improve your mark afterward
Though this may sound similar to #1, it involves doing your best in the course and completing it anyway. You may not achieve your desired grade but you will get the credits for completing the course (if you pass).
After you have received your final grade, you have two options to improve your mark. For those who are eligible, you can do a course upgrade and improve your mark without redoing the entire course. If you are not eligible, you are stuck with having to retake the course.
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Drop / withdraw from the course
If you know you will continue to be behind in your courses, it could be beneficial to drop the course and free up your schedule to focus on other priorities. Once the course is dropped, you can re-evaluate your situation and either take a different course, take the course over summer school, or enroll with us and set a schedule that works best for you.
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Place your course on hold
**Please note this is for iLearn students only. Ask your school staff to see if they have a similar policy.**
When it’s necessary, iLearn teachers can place your course on hold for up to 2 months. Hold requests can be approved for a number of reasons, including reasons related to schoolwork overload. A course on hold means your course progress can be frozen for a period of time to deal with personal situations.
Re-Taking Your Course Online
When students retake their courses, the most common way to retake a course is in summer school. Summer school allows students to catch up while completing the course in a 6-week format before their next school year. Though, not all courses are available in summer school.
If you do not have a summer school program for your desired course(s) then you can take your course online any time. Check your eligibility to request your courses and get started.