I've received b+ and b in my advisor's courses

[Hopeh2017]

I am a third-year (international) doctoral student in social sciences. During the last spring semester, I was so occupied with a qualifying written exam in May that I didnt do very well in my advisor's courses. I've passed the exam, and I am sure that I did fairly well in answering my advisor's questions in that exam, though. Also, I did a decent job in other courses, keeping my overall GPA around 3.6/4.0 despite of severall B and B+ (I am well aware that this is not that high compared to that of other grad students).

Fortunately, my advisor didnt say anything to me yet regarding the grades in his courses (maybe because he just has so many stuff to take care of). However, I am still worried a bit if it would significantly affect how he evaluates me in the end... I still have three more years to go, and I am wondering how the bad grades would have impact on me. Is there anyone who was put in the similar situation like me?

Edited October 13, 2017 by Hopeh2017

[St Andrews Lynx]

Three years is a long time. Focus on continually improving as a researcher & scholar, and don't worry too much about grades in coursework (those aren't the most important things in grad school). If your advisor says nothing, then my guess is it isn't a big issue for him. 

[Sigaba]

On 10/13/2017 at 11:48 AM, St Andrews Lynx said:

 If your advisor says nothing, then my guess is it isn't a big issue for him. 

But the grades could be an issue in other places in the department and graduate school where decisions about funding are made.

@Hopeh2017, I recommend that you have conversations with your advisor, the DGS, and other interested parties to make sure that your concerns are noted and that you understand theirs as well (if any).

[fuzzylogician]

On 10/12/2017 at 11:06 PM, Hopeh2017 said:

Fortunately, my advisor didnt say anything to me yet regarding the grades in his courses (maybe because he just has so many stuff to take care of). However, I am still worried a bit if it would significantly affect how he evaluates me in the end... I still have three more years to go, and I am wondering how the bad grades would have impact on me. Is there anyone who was put in the similar situation like me?

This is one of those places where no news doesn't necessarily mean good news. I would suggest having an explicit conversation with your advisor where you ask for their evaluation of your progress in the program. If there are concerns, you want to head them off early and not be caught by surprise when it's too late or after enough time has passed that there is an entrenched less than positive opinion of you. If your advisor thinks you're doing fine and isn't worried about the grades you got in their class, great! You don't need to worry. Either way, I don't think that trying to over-interpret silence or comparing your situation to perhaps-similar things that have happened to internet strangers is particularly useful here. It may be hard, but it's important to have this conversation once in a while.