Required Time / Activities if you have just made below 70 on a test.

Since you have made below 70 on a test, this indicates that you must give even more attention to the course than before if you are going to succeed this semester. If you are not sure whether you have been meeting the requirements for the course, please look back over the rules and, if necessary, ask me about any of those that you don't understand or don't know whether you are meeting.

If you fail a test, I definitely want to help you. And every semester, with help, many students recover from failing one test and succeed in the course. Remember that, under many circumstances, your final exam grade will replace a previous low test grade. So this failing test grade may not even count in your overall grade. Read more about that on this page by following the link to "Tests in your chosen Testing Center."

But some students just get discouraged after failing a test and quit working. Please don't do that. Please let me help you. But of course, you will have to cooperate in order for me to help you. You need to actually receive appropriate instruction in the software (like going to class in a regular classroom course.) If you are too confused to go on to new material, we can talk about what additional work you can do on the material in the software that will explain the topics you hadn't yet learned well. You must also turn in something for the weekly email participation.

I have found that students who fail a test and then also don't do the required work in the course for more than one week often don't respond to my email messages, or have problems sending or receiving email, or don't respond to my questions that I ask in email messages. I'm sure there are various reasons for that, and I do not think a student is a bad person for doing that. I do, however, think that pattern will prevent the student from succeeding in the course and so I will withdraw the student.

So, if you are are failing tests and feeling confused and frustrated, but want to remain enrolled in the course, it is absolutely crucial that you keep working on the software and paper homework at least four times each week for a subtantial amount of time AND communicating with me.

Some students who fail a test are unable to do the work of the course quickly enough to keep up with the calendar. Such students can stay in the course all semester long, working at the required level, and succeed in learning some material, even if it is not enough to finish the course. That is a reasonable and respectable plan, and results in an IP grade at the end of the semester. That means you have to enroll in the course again to complete it, but the IP grade is not considered a failing grade for the current semester. Students who are working toward this goal must be clear about that as we discuss progress in our weekly email messages.