How to improve grades?

[Jetta]

I'm not liking the path the major I'm taking will lead me into, and my grades have fallen because of my disinterest. How do I go about bringing up my grades so I can switch majors? Do I just start taking classes of interest before doing the official switchover or is there another solution?

 

Thanks

[Cognitive_Canine]

You need to bring up your grades before switching majors?

[Casey13]

Input=output. Spend more time hitting the books to raise those grades but to do that I would strongly consider taking courses of interest to you otherwise it will be such a drag to try to drill in your brain what you really dont care for.

[Jetta]

Yes because I'm an average student and I need to be getting on the higher range of my grade spectrum and I'm not.

[annie24]

study more, study harder and more efficiently. go to office hours. maybe get a tutor. get a study group. figure out where your weaknesses are and work on them. writing out notes/chapter outlines always helped me. do the practice problems and check the answers in the back of the book or the solution manual.

[vermilion]

If you have to raise your grades, I guess your motivation will have to be indirect. For example, some people hate their jobs, but work to get money, which they love.

 

You need to find something you are REALLY interested in majoring in. Then, you work through your current major, which you hate, in order to get to the major you love- and that's your motivation. If you don't care for the major you're switching to either it's going to be hard to motivate yourself to bring you grades up.

 

You could also consider talking to your academic advisor- maybe you can start taking requirements for your next major now? Or start it as a minor?

 

Good luck.

[thejigsup]

Study, study, study!!! There is no other way to bring up your grades. So many people change their majors in the hopes that they will find an easy one. There aren't any. If you really want to do a certain thing, work your behind off to do it. Maybe college isn't for you and you should look for your career in another area.

[YabbaDabba]

I have SO been where you are. Not so much in terms of pursuing the wrong major, but more along the lines of seriously hating a class so much that I could barely force myself to do the work. 'Tis tedious; I know.

 

Anyway, what got me through--eventually--was the realization that I was sabotaging myself. I literally had to force myself to do the work, but I did it because 1) I needed the good grades and 2) I wasn't about to let a class I didn't even like ruin my GPA.

 

Think of it as getting your second-wind. Do the work, and do it well, not because you're interested in it, but simply because raising your GPA is the ONLY way to put an end to the tedium so you can change majors.

 

It's not a surefire solution, by any means, but it helped me somewhat.

 

As for someone else's comment about college maybe not being "for you," I humbly disagree. Yeah, some people just aren't cut out for the academic route, but for others, it really is just a matter of finding the academic path that calls to them. You've done some of the hard work by figuring out what doesn't interest you, so I'd encourage you to stick it out until you find a field of study that you truly enjoy.

 

Personally, I hemmed and hawed about choosing my major for almost all of my freshman year (changed majors three times!), not because I was looking for something easier, but simply because I was looking for the "right fit." You may or may not find it, but it's definitely worth the effort of trying.