Look completing college is not an easy feat to accomplish, especially if you want to get good grades in all of your classes. It can get stressful, annoying, and even time-consuming to study. However, if you don’t study, you will end up getting off track. If you get off track with your studies, you can end up being behind in college. And falling behind is not a very fun thing for a student to deal with.
At the same time, everyone has other things to do in their life, and being a shut-in student isn’t fun. So how can one ace classes in college without aimlessly wasting time, and still be able to hang out with friends, do fun activities, go that bread up, and even just rest? If only there was a way to easily get A’s without sacrificing everything.
Oh wait, that’s why you are here, I forgot, my bad dawg. These tips and tricks that I’ll display to you will be oh-so-mindful, oh-so-demure, and of course useful. So whether you are a slow learner, time waster, want to get a headstart on everyone else, or make your resume look good to land an interview, you’ve come to the right place.
Lets. Get. Started.
Basic Tips For Getting A’s
Read The Frickin Syllabus
You know that thing that the professor goes over during the first day of class? The extremely long and boring list of what to expect in the course and what you’re going to learn. Unfortunately, the information that’s stored inside there is important for getting good grades in college. It contains everything from learning goals, assignments, grade distribution, and needed resources. I believe the most important thing from the syllabus is the course schedule.
Show Up To Class
For the love of everything, please attend the classes that are scheduled. You need to attend class to ensure you get all the important tidbits and chunks of information. You could also end up missing an important day of class, for example, a chemistry lab. If you skip something like a lab, you just miss out on a grade, and if your teacher is nice enough, maybe they’ll let you slide. Now all you have to do is a makeup lab. Oh wait, the lab is next week and you’ve got to prepare for that. That makes two labs to do, on top of other classes—a bad idea.
Not only are you aiming to fail classes by skipping, but also money is going to drain out of the bank for no good reason. Remember, you’re going to college for good reasons, and if you feel like you don’t have any reason to go to college…leave. You will just waste time and money, which is not optimal whatsoever.
Less Screen Time = Good Grades
Oh, wipe that fear off your face. No, you can’t scroll on Instagram reels while reading about the Ottoman Empire. When it’s time to get to work, it means that all distractions must be thrown away somewhere. The common distraction in this modern age is that damn phone. So do whatever you can to reduce screen time, so you can focus on courses. You’ll keep that focus and motivation, readying yourself for the grind. You can’t get good grades in college if you don’t get off that damn phone.
Freaky Tips For Easy Studying
Spaced Repetition
Also known as distributed practice, is key to cutting down the forgetting curve. It’s just what the word means, a practice that’s spread apart rather than chunked together. It has been proven that you remember more when studying 1 hour each day for 10 days, compared to studying 10 hours over two days. It’s similar to going to the gym, you can’t just throw your whole workout into one day, why? It’ll cause a lot of fatigue and you’ll either be injured or wasting time for no gains. Think the same thing for studying, imagine the brain as a muscle. I use this strategy to get good grades because it reduces the time I need to study each day (I hate cramming). Frequency will beat duration all the time when it comes to studying. And other things if you know what I mean.
Practice Testing
Sitting down and reading a textbook or listening to a teacher giving a lecture isn’t enough to get that A. The problem with this is that we get what’s being said, but we don’t do anything with what we’re taught. Practice testing, swoops in to fix the lack of information retention. It’s not as simple as flipping over a flashcard or rereading notes. A good practice makes you struggle and process information until something is recalled. Just occasionally testing yourself will give you a boost in your overall grades.
Good questions should make one attempt to recall something from scratch. So no true/false or multiple choice questions. For example, let’s say the topic was about the Glock 17 (an Austrian handgun). A bad question would be, “Did Gaston Glock’s company almost fail?”. Too simple, and requires very little mental effort to do. A good question would be, “Why were American officials trying to shut down Gaston Glock’s firearm company?” This question requires a person to perform more thinking, bringing that information to the forefront of the mind.
Explanation To Self Or Others
This is self-explanatory, when you verbally attempt to explain a concept to yourself or another person, you will be able to grasp it a lot easier. You read things and obtain new knowledge, and you try to explain it with prior knowledge. This leads to forming connections and a deeper understanding of the topic being taught. If you go in with the mindset to teach, the brain will be actively seeking out important information, and even be forming a teaching course. Plus you’re doing good work by teaching others, which is just plain awesome.
P2R Method
I’m going to be honest here. Reading isn’t studying. The activity is too passive, and 70% of the stuff that was read will be forgotten by the next day. The problem is, that assigned reading of World History is necessary, as the information in the textbook will be guaranteed to be on the test. So to save time, and still retain important information, you should try the P2R method.
The P2R method stands for Preview, Read, and Review. First set the scheduled reading in 10-20 page chunks. Then you preview by skimming the text and looking for headings, titles, graphs, and summarizing paragraphs. Now you can actively read, which is done by taking notes, writing thought-provoking questions, or highlighting only key points. Finally, you can review by going back to those questions you jotted down and answering them, or summarizing what you read in 3-4 sentences. You can also rewrite key concepts in your own words.
Getting Good Grades in College Shouldn’t Be Difficult
These tips should help you obtain those high-scoring grades with ease. It should also cut down on the amount of time you need to spend studying. College is difficult, but getting good grades shouldn’t be impossible to do. As long as you have the discipline to sit down and work smart and hard, it’ll be a breeze.
I hope you found something useful out of this, have a good one.
