Key to good grades

Just show up for class
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.3102/0034654310362998?journalCode=rera

I felt in HS, the key to my 3.0 GPA was other dumb or unmotivated kids. If I had been surrounded by motivated kids, my GPA would have been even worse. I think I broke the school record for skipping school with signed excuses from my parents and still graduating.

In college, the key to my final 2.9 GPA was I pursued majors which did not excite me in any way and got 2.1 GPA. After I found my major I liked, my GPA for classes in that major went up to 3.9.

At law school, I already decided to just study enough to pass law school, the Bar and work as much as possible to gain as much work experience. Had a job lined up before final year so I really didn’t have to study during last year and barely graduated in 3 years. My serious GF/fiancée then decided to break up with me one week before Finals which caused me to lose what little focus I had about studying and almost flunked out. Looking back, I am thankful for her breaking up with me but not for her timing.

So, overall I had a successsful school career because I accomplished my goal, which was to graduate ASAP and pass the Bar which I passed without any problem.

^^^Interesting comments about motivation. In high school I was quite average (unmotivated) . But in college my group of friends really pushed each other to perform. Don’t get me wrong, we had a ton of fun but it was almost a competition regarding who could study more and get a higher GPA. Looking back it makes sense as I got into sales where things have always been measured by leader boards and performance. That’s my personality.

You clearly had different motivation but it worked out quite well as you had the ability to get in to law school, finish law school and pass the bar.

Different strokes for different folks!

I always set my own goal and don’t like competing with others except in sports; and can’t sell anything except myself. Found my own consulting business and did well enough to retire after 20 years of working. Even money wise, after I felt I had enough for my purpose, I sold my business and just doing whatever suits me.

@websensation, it’s interesting that one school of thought insists that one’s peer group affects motivation to do well. That hasn’t been true in my family. My best friend in high school was the valedictorian, went to a top college, and ended up as a college professor. I hated school and did as little work as I could get away with. I reluctantly went to college after a year off, and did no more than I needed to to keep a B average. I was a little more motivated in grad school, but that was directly related to the career I was pursuing. Both our sons have been surrounded by high-achieving friends, but neither liked school and neither did more they had to do. Our oldest was a NMSF who stopped going to most of his classes in college and dropped out after freshman year. He’s currently applying to Americorps. The youngest doesn’t have the high test scores that his brother did, but he’s still in the top 6-8 percent. He doesn’t do a lot of his homework and has kept his GPA just above 3.0. He does seem a little more excited about college than his brother was, and he isn’t likely to flame out. He is likely to have low grades in classes he doesn’t care about, though.

@websensation Glad to hear things turned out great! Love the attitude of doing “whatever suit” you. I do the same as I started my own business about 25 yrs ago. Still engaged because I like it (helping people solve their financial issues) but don’t really need to go at it hard anymore.

@mstomper I had 3 close friends and we did things together. Two went to HYPSM and one, no college would accept him until his friend’s dad pulled some strings and got him into an OOS public school. Unfortunately, my friend who couldn’t get into any college and I skipped school too often together to play video games, sports and watch movies. I don’t know why but when I was young I thought it was unworthy of my effort and time to devote a lot of it to studying. I think I must have taken total of 3 pages of notes in college. I am good at reading quickly and getting the basics though. We both got As in typing though because our fingers coordination was high level due to playing video games.

Article about college grades, not HS. Key- attend classes. This makes sense.