I will be the first to admit it, I did not do so hot this last semester of my freshman year.

From finally being able to go out more to being busy with other projects to my mind constantly being elsewhere—it was a combination of many things. School has always been important to me. Ever since I was young, I've been taught that 90s should always be 100's, and A's are the only things that are acceptable. I grew up as a star pupil, and anything below that was disappointing.

But, the second semester was different for me. I was going through a lot mentally, and I wasn't in the right state of mind to focus on school. I also felt as if I was in a slump, stuck between what I was studying and what I really wanted to do with my life. My classes were piling on more and more work each week, which was normal to me as a STEM major. But, for some reason, when I checked my grades at the end of the semester, I was still shocked by how poor I did.

Despite all this, I've realized that it is possible to bounce back after a rough semester. I hope to not make the same mistakes this next semester. You too can also bounce back, no matter how poor you think you did. Here are three tips to make those pesky C's become delightful A's:

Although I initially freaked out and did damage control, I realize now that even though I did make a few mistakes, I hope to do better later. I know that if I put in the effort, I'll get somewhere. I knew for sure I wasn't going to let this mess up my summer. A bad semester is just a few months, remember that.