HS grade trend: up, down or steady?

Massmomm
Mon, 06 Nov 2017 20:22:13 +0000

My daughter, who has struggled with a mood disorder since she was 15, never struggled in any academic class. She made straight As all through high school and college. Her grade trajectory was flat.

My son, who was battle-scarred after being bullied in 8th grade, took only regular classes his freshman year in high school. He made straight As, so they made him take honors classes his sophomore year. He did make a couple of Bs that year, and then straight As in honors and AP classes his last two years. Considering his easy course load freshman year, I’d say his grade trajectory was upwards. He’s a junior in college and has been pretty consistent, mostly As and a couple of Bs. I think he has a 3.8 GPA at this point.

It is definitely possible to have your GPA head upward as you develop good study habits in high school. My kids, like many others, already had good habits going into high school, and had authority-pleasing personality types, so the learning curve wasn’t as steep.

I, on the other hand, coasted through high school and got horrible grades my first semester in college because I didn’t know how to study. My husband says his grades got progressively worse in college, as the courses became more difficult and many profs then graded on a curve.