Playing With / Gotta Pass the Class

Basic Trope: A character (student) is failing a class (or multiple classes), and needs to improve their grades quickly.

• Straight: Bob Troperson has a 50% in his Math class... in late April, but the passing score is 60%.
• Exaggerated: Bob has a 30%, there are only two weeks of school left and the passing score is 80%. Basically, there's no way he's going to pass unless the teacher is particularly nice.^note "I'm not going to fail this student because they really did try their best" is actually a thing.
• Downplayed:
  • Bob has a 67%, but he did well enough in the first semester, so he won't fail the entire class if he doesn't bring it up unless he fails particularly hard.
  • Bob's overall grade in the class is a 71%, and finals are approaching.
  • Bob has average (and maybe somewhat good) grades, but he wants them to be better so that in the future, he won't get kicked out of college for having a low GPA.
• Justified:
  • Bob is lazy and/or a troublemaker.
  • Bob has an undiagnosed learning disability or other neurological/psychiatric disorder that affects his studying.
• Inverted: Bob has a 102% in the class, and works really hard to keep that grade for bragging rights.
• Subverted:
  • Bob's teacher is biased against him, and has been grading his homework unfairly as a result. When he discovers this, he complains to the principal and the teacher is given an ultimatum:
    Principal: Either you grade Bob's homework correctly, without malice, or you're fired.
  • The final test is worth a maximum of 250 points.
  • Bob's teacher knows that he really is trying his best and lets him pass despite his failing grade, believing that effort is more important than success.
  • Bob has a ton of late assignments that he can make up. 50% for a late assignment is better than zero, and it adds up quite quickly.
  • Bob is offered extra credit assignments by his teacher, so he can still catch up and pass if he puts in the effort.
  • Bob has a very serious illness and has been hospitalized for an extended period of time. The teachers exclude the assignments given out during his absence because of this.
• Double Subverted:
  • After this, his grade moves up to a 62%.
  • Bob's grade is so low that not even 250 points is enough for him to pass.
  • However, Bob's grade is so low that his teacher couldn't possibly pass him without getting in trouble.
  • He doesn't do them.
  • ...Except for one Jerkass teacher. He has to work like a dog to make everything up and pass that class.
• Parodied: Bob has a 2%. The teacher, knowing that a student with a dreadful grade like that would probably land both of them in trouble, gives him a ridiculously easy final test that's worth 20,000 points.
• Zig-Zagged:
  • Bob's grade constantly sits at around a 70%.
  • The teacher hates Bob, but the principal threatens to fire the teacher as a result. His grade is still very low, but it turns out that the teacher was really grading honestly; Bob is just a horrible student.
• Averted: Bob is passing his classes just fine.
• Enforced: The aesop of the story is to encourage students to work hard at school and get good grades.
• Invoked: Bob skips school.
• Lampshaded: At a parent-teacher conference, we can hear dialogue between Bob's parents and his teachers.
  Teacher: Mr. and Mrs. Troperson... your son's performance in my classroom leaves much to be desired.
  Bob's parents: Wow, it's that bad?
  Teacher: Sure is... have a look.
  Bob's parents: Forty-five percent?! Well then ... we know a boy who's getting grounded until he improves his grades.
• Defied:
  • See the last line in the "Lampshaded" dialogue.
  • A Stern Teacher is hired specifically to deal with Bob. Alternatively, a stern principal makes sure Bob stays on the right track.
• Discussed: The students have to write a learning plan at the start of the school year for an assignment. One of the questions they are required to answer is, "What will you do if your grade in [insert subject here] is one grade lower than the passing grade in April?"

• Deconstructed:
  • Bob's poor grades are caused by an undiagnosed learning disability, such as ADHD^note Technically, this isn't a learning disability, but is often considered to be one or dyslexia. Furthermore, his parents just think he's lazy.
  • Bob isn't the only one who gets in big trouble for his grades — his teacher is threatened with the possibility of being fired for having a student who performs that badly, and his parents lose custody of him due to their failure to realize something is wrong with their son.
  • Bob's teachers develop an animosity towards him as he gains a reputation as an "unteachable" student. This results in them helping him out less than other students, and he suffers even more.
• Reconstructed:
  • Even after Bob's disability is discovered, he begins treatment for it, and even though he starts working harder, he's not getting ahead. Furthermore, it's still too late in the year for him to improve his score to passing calibre.
  • Bob transfers to a new school, but not before visiting a doctor to see if he has a learning disability of some sort, which he in fact does.
  • Bob realizes this and makes a conscious effort to improve his performance. His teachers recognize his effort and try to encourage him, and he's back in their good graces after a few weeks.
• Played for Laughs: Bob is Held Back in School. A lot. The freshmen are made extremely uncomfortable by the fact that there's a grown-ass man other than the teacher in the classroom.
• Played for Drama:
  • Bob is severely depressed, and as a result suffers from a lack of motivation. He's also afraid to tell people, because many people are extremely ignorant about depression.
  • Bob used to be an amazing student. However, the intense pressure put on him by his Education Mama eventually crushed him and he lost his motivation due to trying to get back the childhood he never had.

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Why are you wasting your time on TV Tropes? You Gotta Pass the Class!

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