Kind of on a different approach since I'm out of school, but I remember how my grades were in school.
K-5th: I had mostly all A's and B's in most subjects and usually a C- in Gym class (hated it, but luckily, you only need at least a 70% to qualify for the Honor Roll). I had a few stinker grades, but not too many. I think here I began to develop a serious perfectionist complex during 5th grade. See, I had problems that I would fly into a rage if I got a math problem wrong on a test. That's right; I threw chairs to the floor and turned over my desk over getting a 95%! God, I wouldn't want to think what stupid things I would have done if I would have failed...
6th-8th: This is when my grades went downhill. At first, I was getting A's and B's. Then I slowly fell down into getting C's, D's and eventually F's. My mother had a lot of fun grounding me too, let me tell you. Where before I pretty much always got at least regular Honor Roll, out of all three of these years which would span 12 marking periods, I got regular Honor Roll ONCE, and that was at the end of 6th grade. Once I moved onto Junior High (7th-8th grade, now it's "Middle School" which is 6th-8th), my grades took another hit. This time, I even admitted that I didn't care. I would even DEMAND to be given a 0 instead of attempting a test and homework? Hah! Homework is for schmucks. It was so bad I got put on something called the "Ineligibility List", which you get by failing two or more subjects. Basically, while on it, you're banned from sports, clubs and school dances, among other things.
9th-12th: I don't know what happened here, but it took me being shipped to a different high school for me to start flying straight. Here, my grades began a massive recovery from the blunders of 6th-8th grade. I never got less than regular Honor Roll and towards the latter half of high school, I only failed to get Distinguished Honors ONCE, and that was in 12th grade because I had an 88% in a Social Skills class I had to take all four years as part of my IEP. I pushed myself very hard to achieve excellence, even to the point of taking it too far. Example, I got an 80% on a math quiz my senior year and I had to be sent to the guidance counselor because I was that upset. OVER GETTING A "B"! At this point, I put a very strict self-imposed challenge on myself to never get less than 90% in a math-related class and for everything else, nothing below an 80%. I think this is half the reason I'm the mess I am today lol.
College I think is where my stress level hit a peak because here I began to pressure myself way too much. I actually got to the point I'd bail out of a course if I thought I was failing or not doing good enough. Like I got a "D" on a mid-term and I ended up dropping the course, only for my advisor (who happened to be the same person that taught that class) to get upset with me. Hell, one term, I had god-awful grades, but I was stuck because I had only two courses and dropping either of them would have disqualified me for financial aid. Neither professor could teach at all; one was some bull-headed asshole lawyer and the other was some woman that had NO ability to hold review sessions, not to mention almost all of her test questions were like this:
Which statement about yada yada yada is true?
a) Statement 1
b) Statement 2
c) Both Statements 1 and 2
d) Neither Statements 1 and 2
I still did good in college, despite that abysmal term. I almost wanted to repeat the courses, hoping I got a better professor or a chance to get a better grade, but at around $1,100 per course, that wasn't really worth it. Don't forget books cost $20.00 up to $200.00+ EACH, and you're expected to buy them with YOUR money. Then the con-artist college scams you by finding every little problem with your book at the end of the term and offers you a few bucks for your books. Maybe if you're lucky, $20.00-$30.00 for a book. One term I was beyond pissed; I blew $400.00 or so on textbooks and when I tried to sell them, I had a measly $9.00. Two sold back for $2.00 a piece and one $5.00. The other they refused to buy on the basis of "it's out of edition".
One thing to say to the younger members of PureZC, keep your grades up. Make sure in high school you don't screw up because if you have mediocre grades, you're going to make your future more difficult. Harder to get into college, harder to find jobs, etc. Seriously, would YOU want to hire someone that was satisfied with just barely passing high school with D's to serve your customers? Once you get through high school with the best grades you can get, then you can take it easy. But the better you do, the easier college will be to get into and the cheaper it will be since you'll earn grants and scholarships that would make it more affordable than if you tried to get in content with poor grades. Employers value education, and the more effort you prove to have in school, the more people will believe you'll put into a job.
