Bad grades in college

taxguy
Wed, 03 Nov 2004 14:59:12 +0000

If you want to do well in college, I will give you some secrets that got me over a 3.7:


Learn to outline all texts: Most high school courses don’t really teach this or even encourage this. In college, this is a very important skill. You must learn to outline all books and study for the tests from your outlines.
For AP courses, order the student guide: Most AP courses and intro college texts have a student study guide. Sometimes this is promoted at the college and sometimes it isn’t. Contact the publisher and order a copy of the student guide. You should incorporate your outline with what is in the guide.DO NOT make the mistake in believing that the outline is the “be all and end all.” It should be a guide and not used as a substitute for studying the text.
Get good time management: College is generally a lot more work that that of high school, especially in the more prestigious universities. Moreover, you have a lot more distractions such as friends willing to party-hardy, girl/boyfriends, sports, etc. Time management is crucial! You need to set up a set time per day to study and get your work accomplished.
Use Some free time to prepare your outlines: If you want until the week of finals, you will find that there is not enough time in the day to effectively study for finals. Many college kids make this mistake to their detriment. If you have some “slow” days where you don’t have a lot of homework, this is the time to start reviewing your outlines and maybe even preparing an “outline of your outline.” The more you are familiar with your outline, the less detailed it need be. If you keep up throughout the year, finals will be a “piece of cake.”
Always attend class. It is very easy to miss a class. First, you don’t have your parents waking you up. Second, most college kids stay up very late these days. It is, thus, tough to wake up for those 9AM classes. You must try to go to bed at a reasonable hour so you can wake up. I also recommend avoiding all classes that start before 9AM for this reason.
Eat a balanced meal and take vitamins: It is very easy to get sick due to the pressure of college exams and papers. Take orange juice every morning and take a vitamin.
Don’t wait until the last minute to write a paper: Someone once coined the quote," Nothing would get accomplished without due dates." You should plan to finish all papers well before they become due. You never know when some big assignment will be sprung on you. Morover, they always seem to spring these big assignments when a big paper becomes due. Bottom line: get the papers and projects done as soon as possible and not to wait till the due date.