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Both are 25% of my grade...am i doomed or do i have to haul ass on my finals. Has anyone bounced back from less than stellar midterm performance?

Yup. Some personal events happened right before a midterm and I wasnt able to really study. I think I was in the bottom 5 of the class. Worked really hard the remainder of the semester and did well enough on the final the climb up to median. Never was so happy to get a B. haha. So yes, it can happen

If, for your school, median or even top 1/3 is still doomed for OCI, I won't say you are doomed, but the odds are severely against you. If not, you can still easily turn things around.

If you decide to be defeatist, you're fucked. If you harness the fear, you could pull it out phenomenally.

If it helps...I bombed my Torts midterm beyond imagination (thank god it was ungraded) and went into downward spiral of fear, horror and panic until my boyfriend told me to buck up and focus, because the race is still not done yet. The only way to do that is to swallow your fear and study. your. ass. off.

Good luck.

Work your butt off. If your midterm was the same format as your final, figure out why you bombed it and talk with your professor about how to fix it. If not, make sure it is not a poor understanding of the material. It is possible to come back from a poor grade that is 25% of your final grade.

Peg wrote:If it helps...I bombed my Torts midterm beyond imagination (thank god it was ungraded) and went into downward spiral of fear, horror and panic until my boyfriend told me to buck up and focus, because the race is still not done yet. The only way to do that is to swallow your fear and study. your. ass. off.

Good luck.

How is that supposed to help him? LOL

It is possible to do okay. Really depends on what you mean by "bombed." I scored around median on a contracts midterm that was worth 20% of my grade and I still got an A in the class. I was a bit too cocky after first semester and took it a bit too easy early on in the second semester. If you "bombed" your midterm worth 1/3rd of your grade, you might be able to salvage it with a grade in the B range.

This:

IAFG wrote:If you harness the fear, you could pull it out phenomenally.

and this:

D-hops wrote:Work your butt off.

Both will pay off - just buckle down and you'll be okay. Also be strategic: do you have a larger credit class? study hard for that. Is there a class that most section-mates don't enjoy? study hard for that.

Got a B on a midterm. Booked the class (prof threw out a midterm grade if it was lower than your final grade). 25% of 25% of your courses? Nothing's been decided yet.

Figure out what you did wrong and don't do it again.

IAFG wrote:If you decide to be defeatist, you're fucked. If you harness the fear, you could pull it out phenomenally.

I'm going to write this quote on a post-it note and put it on my bathroom mirror.

Extension_Cord wrote:

Peg wrote:If it helps...I bombed my Torts midterm beyond imagination (thank god it was ungraded) and went into downward spiral of fear, horror and panic until my boyfriend told me to buck up and focus, because the race is still not done yet. The only way to do that is to swallow your fear and study. your. ass. off.

Good luck.

How is that supposed to help him? LOL

Fair enough, probably would make him feel worse. I meant to say that he's not the only one who bombed a midterm, e.g. he's not alone in making that mistake.

SchopenhauerFTW wrote:

IAFG wrote:If you decide to be defeatist, you're fucked. If you harness the fear, you could pull it out phenomenally.

I'm going to write this quote on a post-it note and put it on my bathroom mirror.

I was taking care of my mother after she had major surgery so I wasn't on my game. All my profs literally spelled out how to bang out the rest of the semester because they see my potential based on prior ungraded assignments

IAFG- I slipped up and succumbed to the ls mindfuck lol thank u

Thanks everyone!

starlight007 wrote:All my profs literally spelled out how to bang out the rest of the semester because they see my potential based on prior ungraded assignments

starlight007 wrote:All my profs literally spelled out how to bang out the rest of the semester because they see my potential based on prior ungraded assignments

LOL yeah i forgot to add the the emoticon for that....you all know how it is with them. I was sitting in their offices like "okay...."

starlight007 wrote:LOL yeah i forgot to add the the emoticon for that....you all know how it is with them. I was sitting in their offices like "okay...."

My teachers always tell me I dont stand a chance and will most likely fail the exam.

Extension_Cord wrote:

starlight007 wrote:LOL yeah i forgot to add the the emoticon for that....you all know how it is with them. I was sitting in their offices like "okay...."

My teachers always tell me I dont stand a chance and will most likely fail the exam.

Mine do too. It's really disheartening...like the opposite of the end of Dead Poet's Society.

Isn't LRW worth 1 credit at most schools, occasionally 2? With the substantive classes clocking in at 3-4 credits in, I don't think having a minimal percentage of your grade already accounted for makes much of a difference in the long run.

Remember a few things: 1st, people tend to put way more effort into memos and midterms than that effort is actually worth in terms of actual GPA. 2nd, preparing for each of those grades individually is much different than facing 4 tests encompassing way more material in, usually, a 1.5-2 weeks period. So your subpar performance in these things doesn't necessarily translate to subpar final performance.

With that said, you need to make sure that such a translation doesn't happen because then you lose at everything. This really only applies to the midterm grade (LRW is lulz, forget that class/grade) - you've gotta figure out if people did better than you because you didn't study hard for a midterm, you suck at K's, everyone else loves K's, everyone else studied much harder....OR....because you can't write a test, your classmates are objectively more intelligent than you are. The former situations tend to work themselves out as long as you prepare adequately for the real deal, while the latter requires much more serious action.

starlight007 wrote:Both are 25% of my grade...am i doomed or do i have to haul ass on my finals. Has anyone bounced back from less than stellar midterm performance?

Also only a 1L, but I wouldn't go out and kill self just yet. I also didn't do so hot on the midterm or on the memo so far, but the only thing to do is just work your ass off for the finals. If you're still at the bottom of your class after the first semester, then you should go ahead and figure out whether it's worth it to you to continue. Also important to remember that it's the whole first year that employers will be looking at for 2L summer employment.