School is back in session. It's another opportunity to move in a positive direction towards your educational and career goals. You may be looking at your course or courses and wondering how you will earn passing grades while juggling everything else on your plate.
The best way to increase your chances of performing at a high level in the course is to use your syllabus.
A course syllabus is your roadmap for your course. It contains valuable information to help you succeed and stay organized throughout the entire semester. However, to fully benefit from the course syllabus, you have to read it, understand it, and keep it handy, as you will be continually referring to it throughout your course.
A course syllabus will help you plan your semester and limit confusion and stress if adequately used. A course syllabus will specify what you as a student will be expected to do in a course and how your performance will be evaluated and graded throughout the course. A course syllabus has several different parts and may seem overwhelming at first. Rest assured that it is actually not that hard to read.
A critical section of the syllabus that you can use to manage your performance in the course is the Grading/Evaluation section. This is the section where the professor will inform you of the factors considered when determining your final grade for the course. These factors will vary depending on the professor and your course.
Professors may use two standard grading systems: a) Weighted Average and b) Point System.
Most college courses use the latter. As a student, you can use this point system to your advantage in two key ways. Large point assignments need more attention and planning. Knowing that an assignment is worth more points means that more time, care, and planning should be applied. On the other hand, it is the low point assignments that many students treat incorrectly. These points add up at the end of the course and can be the reason why you missed a passing grade by mere points. Lower points are usually for things like introducing yourself, signing off on the syllabus, taking the syllabus quiz, and proper participation in synchronous or asynchronous discussions.
The key is not to pass up any opportunity to earn those easy points. It relieves the student's pressure when passing the entire course rests on getting near-perfect scores on the tougher assignments. Do yourself a favor and be sure to plan and execute on those easier assignments that are worth a mere ten points each. Just like pennies, they do add up. If your goal is to pass the course, why would you want to leave valuable points on the table?