Mid-Semester Goal Setting

As you approach the halfway point in the semester, what academic goals are you striving for? Are you aiming for a “C” in that difficult subject course and an “A” in your stronger area or are you striving for straight “A”s this semester and no excuses?

· List each one of your courses and the grade you wish to obtain in each given how you’ve been doing in each course so far and what grades you would like to obtain on future assignments. Take into consideration how much time you will need to devote to each subject given the required assignments, how much you already know about the subject and how much you need to learn about course concepts in order to be most productive on your assignments.

· Review your course syllabi and list out tasks that you need to accomplish in each of your classes as you go through each assignment. List out the remaining projects and assignments that you need to complete and the grade requirements for each, along with the grade you wish to receive.

· Outline your study habits for each exam, quiz and assignment that you will need in order to achieve the desired grade that you want. How long will you need to study to receive an “A” or a “B” on the mid-term. What areas will you target to increase your chances of getting a good grade on an upcoming assignment? For example, if you want to get an “A” on your upcoming presentation, what extra steps can you take (such as planning ahead, rehearsing and writing the presentation notes in a legible format) to ensure that you are as well prepared as possible?

· Review your tasks that you have yet to complete. Base your aspirations for your grades on those exams on how well or poorly you did on previous assignments. For example, if you got a “C” on a recent exam and you were striving for an “A”, look carefully at the remaining list of assignments and what grades you will need in order to ensure that you receive the grade in the course that you want to achieve. You may need to do more extensive research for an upcoming paper in order to ensure that you get that “A” that you are trying for. Conversely, if you do well above the grade you were striving for on a project, getting a B+ on that exam may be all you need to achieve the “A” in the course that you wanted.

· Keep a reminder of your goals every day; record your goals and where you are at in achieving them in a journal every day; writing out your goals is a useful way to reinforce what you want to achieve and how close you are to achieving them.

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