Very few students do as well in college as they did in high school. Students who are more used to getting mostly A’s may be getting D’s and F’s in some classes. This will be a shock to you and your student.

How do you react to the news of bad grades. Here’s some guidance:

1.     Don’t overreact. The only thing that this will do is assure you that you won’t hear of any future bad grades.

2.     Conduct a Post Test Audit with your student. See the topic: “Conducting a Post Test Audit”. You can be very effective in helping your student discover what happened on the past test.

3.     Help your student understand that a bad test doesn’t mean that the grade in the class is hopeless. But continuing to do the same thing will probably lead to the same result. See the topic: Studying for a Test for guidance.

4.     Work with your student to understand that the way he/she confronts a challenge is maybe the most important thing to be learned in college.

5.     Increase your oversight on your student’s study habits, especially doing homework, going to class, and being efficient about how he/she studies. There’s a lot of information on these study approaches in the student section of this website.

When bad grades happen, and they probably will, you can be key to helping your student overcome his/her challenge. Your reaction can be incredibly helpful or harmful..