Second Chances: Retaking Classes

If you earned a failing grade in a class, it is a good idea to retake the class if you can.  Grades that are lower than a C might not eligible for transfer to a different college or university and they may not count towards graduation requirements.  While those rules will vary, one thing is for certain:  a failed class significantly lowers your GPA and leaves a blemish on your transcript.  Retaking a failed class is your best shot at limiting the negative effects on your record.  Here are some things to consider if you need to retake a class.

• Be aware of your college’s rules on retakes.  Depending on your college’s policies, the grade for the new attempt at the class may replace the old grade or be averaged with the old grade.  You will not have an unlimited number of times to retake the class.  Colleges have become much more strict about how many times students can retake classes for credit.  
• It is a good idea to retake a failed class as soon as possible.  Even though you did poorly in the class, the overall knowledge is still fresh in your mind and you can maximize your chances of doing well if you take advantage of that.
• If you are retaking the class with the same instructor, you certainly should review old materials and notes thoroughly, but don’t rely solely on them.  Remember, when you used them before, the results were not good, so taking additional notes and approaching the material from a different angle is necessary.  Do not assume that all the rules and requirements are the same as the last time you took the class.  Instructors do change their syllabi frequently, so make sure you are up to date as well.
• If you are retaking the class with a different instructor, your old materials and notes may or may not be helpful.  Instructors often use different textbooks and teach classes using quite different methods.  If you found the prior instructor’s teaching style not a good match for your learning style, taking the class with someone else is a good idea if you can possibly do so.  
• Take a detailed and honest look at what went wrong the last time you took the class and commit to correcting all of the factors you can possibly control.  If you failed the class because you did not read the text, study enough, or have good class attendance, those are relatively easy to work on.  If there were class assignments or tests that puzzled you, talk to your instructor and/or seek tutoring help.  Be proactive as possible to help assure your success in the class this time around so you can continue advancing toward your educational goals.

But, Professor, My Computer Crashed!

In over 30 years of working with computers in education and elsewhere, I can predict one sure thing: at some crucial moment while you're finishing something that you've worked very hard on that is due very soon, your equipment will malfunction. There are some simple precautions you can take to avoid this inevitability from becoming a complete disaster.

• If it's important, back it up. Even if it's not so important, back it up anyway. The best habit any user of data can develop is that of having a scheduled time to do backups to safe and secure places. It's also important to do frequent backups when you're working on major projects like a research paper, a take home final, or a presentation. If you rely on a flash drive, back it up to your hard drive. If you rely on your hard drive, back up key elements to a flash drive. Back both of them up to a server if you have access to one or sign up for one of the many cloud-based services to cover your data's back. The more intensely you're working on a task, the more frequently you should back it up. 

• Having an equipment backup plan can save you a lot of stress. If you own more than one computer, make sure they all have the software you use the most installed and updated. If you don't have multiple computers, you still have options. Be aware of which friends and family members have equipment you can rely upon in a pinch. Keep in mind that your college or university has computers and printers available for students, and so do most public libraries. 

• Flash drives (also known as thumb drives, keys, and several other names) are your friends. When flash drives first came on the market, they were quite expensive and had a limited capacity. I cannot recall exactly what my first one cost (I believe it was over $60), but I do know it was a paltry 256 MB. That's right, megabytes. My newest flash drive is 32 generous GB and cost all of $20 at a chain office supply store. I've seen simple 8 GB flash drives for as little as $5. At that price, it's worth having a few of them to help ensure your piece of mind (that is, as long as you can keep track of them). Not only are flash drives invaluable for backup purposes, they give your files incredible portability to and from a wide variety of devices and can really be essential in recovering from a computer crash.

• Print and save rough drafts of your work. Hold on to all those versions of your work until the final project is safely turned in. You never know at what point that your equipment may fail, so having an old school safety net like printed copies may be your only hope of recovery at times. If you don’t have ready access to a printer, make those multiple email addresses useful and send rough drafts to yourself. This was a trick that I used to avoid frantic teaching moments without my lecture materials in the olden days before flash drives existed, because a file you saved on a floppy disk at home was not always readable by computers elsewhere. 

These tips have saved me from disaster many times both as a student and as an instructor. Modifying your computer habits just a bit can result in saving your sanity big time should your computer crash at the worst possible moment.