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Getting straight A's is not easy for most people. Unless you are a genius, you have to put in a serious amount of work in order to pull top grades. But everyone has their own tricks or study methods that enables them to stand out and get the 4.0. If you are one of those students, post your study tips/guides so others can benefit.
Before I post my tips, I should post my credentials. I am not a perfect student, nor do I have a 4.0 cumulative GPA. I did however, get all A's and one B in my last 4 semesters of college. Furthermore, I have set the curve on exams in a bunch of classes (organic chemistry, biochemistry, calculus, and a bunch of GE courses like political science and art and such). Also I went to a college prep high school which helped me enter the studious track in college.
For my advice, I would have to say studying basically comes down to quality over quantity. The most important thing is not how much time you spend studying, but how effective you study. Study Smart! That is the key. I know tons of people who come in on test day and say things like, "Oh man, I studied for 10 hours a day for five days straight for this exam! I hope I do well!" Or they brag about how many hours they spent going over material and such. And in the end, they get a B or C. I would say these people are not studying smart.
Studying Smart:
1) Take excellent notes during lecture. Make sure you pay attention to lecture. Go through the material in your mind as the professor is stating the material. If you can get it the first time around, when you study it will come to you more easily. The professor will usually indicate the important points that will likely come up on an exam. Look for phrases like:
"You should know..."
"If I were to state ____ on an exam, you should be able to _____"
"This is important..."
"Review these terms..."
etc.
These are topics that you will likely see on the exam. Put a STAR next to the topic and make sure you know these points before the exam comes up. Many people don't attend lectures or don't pay enough attention to catch these phrases, and they miss out on easy points. Every point counts, so don't miss out on these.
2) Study guides and Practice Exams are your best friend. Some classes may not provide study guides, but many classes do have them. DO ALL OF THE QUESTIONS ON THE STUDY GUIDE! They are important topics and focus your studying to the key points. It is MUCH more effective to go through the study guide which focuses your studying, rather than reading through the entire chapter over again. The chapter may talk about things you haven't covered in class, or go over less important facts. Whereas the study guide explicitly tells you which points are the HOT points that will come up on the exam. Practice exams are GOLD. Do these, and understand the concept of each problem.
--Side point: One time I heard a student go, "I don't do the practice exams because the problems on the real exam are always different, so I don't bother wasting the time." I was like, WTF... O_O... Practice exams tell you the format of the exam, the types of questions that can be asked, and give you a sense of what to expect. They are perhaps one of the most important gauges as to how you will do on the real exam. Take them seriously.
3) Make up your own questions Look at the study guide and practice exams and see how the questions are worded. See what kinds of topics they are testing, and the degree of knowledge you need to know to answer the questions. Once you do that, you will get a sense of what types of questions to expect. Now, when you go over your notes and the material in the book, you should begin to make up your own questions that may come up on the exam. As you are reading, you can say, "The exam might ask a question on this topic that would ask x, y, and z." Doing this will help you remember the topic more and be more prepared.
4) Ask questions. Email your teacher, go to office hours, stick around after class to ask questions. You learn a lot by asking questions. As you are doing your homework, have a separate paper next to you where you can write down questions that come to you as you do the work. Then you will have a list of questions. Go to your teacher and go through this list, and usually talking about it will help you remember more.
5) Eliminate distractions, and focus 100%. This is hard for a lot of people. Usually we open up the internet browser, go to Youtube, and start looking at video after video so we can put off our work. It's basically procrastination. If you want 4.0, this is not gonna work. I find that keeping yourself busy really helps in eliminating distractions. One of my semesters, I took Mammalian Physiology, Biochemistry, did Biochem research (and had to make posters and present at conferences, and write reports), took three Religion classes, and did hospital volunteer, and ended up getting 4.0. I was so busy with work that I didn't have time for distractions. I had barely enough time to do all the work for my classes. But the fact that I had so much work left me with little time for anything else, and I was constantly in that "study zone" type of thing. Watching videos and stuff tends to slow your brain down and make you lazier, which lowers your sharpness and memory.
6) I don't recommend drugs/drinking (This one is gonna get criticism, lol). I've never done drugs nor drank, so I don't know if I would still perform the same if I did do them. But, it's best to avoid these. These can probably go under "eliminate distractions." Drinking kills brain cells, and smoking does stuff to your brain. So doing these things will mess with your maximum brain potential (which you will want for 4.0).
Finally, a ton of you may be able to get 4.0 without following any of these tips. Everyone has their own style of studying. If study groups are your thing, then go for it (I don't go to study groups because they do not help me one bit). Remember that this is just advice, not a set in stone method for guaranteeing 4.0. In the end, it all comes down to how much you want to get straight A's. If you really, really want it, you will get it. You will put in the time and energy, and make the effort for it.
If you have your own tips and tricks for getting 4.0, please contribute! I'm sure many will like to hear how others do it. (TL is supposedly full of smart people, so there should be a lot of contribution) 
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My recommendation:
Have sex with the lonely ugly teachers.
That will only work about half of the time though.
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Getting straight A depends more on luck than anything else.
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"I don't do the practice exams because the problems on the real exam are always different, so I don't bother wasting the time." -- this is true with many professors -_- i've been fucked so many times because the professors are vague and give irrelevant practice exams. obviously, most professors don't but you need to watch out for that
also, get rid of point 6 before it turns this thread into a shit fest.
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motbob
United States12546 Posts
Whoooaaaaa this guide is awesome and 100% accurate.
For some people, the "removing distractions" point is the most important. For example I can't have a computer in my room during the school year because I'll just be on it all day when I'm supposed to be studying. If you have a distraction, and it remains a problem, do WHATEVER IT TAKES to remove it completely.
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So... where's your time to play Starcraft?
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If you're not getting an A go talk to your teacher and find out why.
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Tip: Make a bunch of smart/genius/successful friends and do study circles or whatnot :: forge connections & understand why some people somehow effortlessly get A :X
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On August 16 2009 17:30 zyxjk wrote:
Tip: Make a bunch of smart/genius/successful friends and do study circles or whatnot :: forge connections & understand why some people somehow effortlessly get A :X
Lol, this is exactly why I don't go to study groups. I'm usually one of the people who studied, and knows the material, and everyone just asks me questions and leeches off of me. So I end up just helping a bunch of people, but never studying my weak points or the things I want to lol. But some people like to talk about the material cuz it helps them remember. Just depends on your learning style.
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On August 16 2009 17:23 GrayArea wrote:
6) Don't do drugs and don't drink (This one is gonna get criticism, lol). I've never done drugs nor drank,
but I'm going to give you advice about them?
Really?
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is awesome32278 Posts
On August 16 2009 17:37 Pawsom wrote:Show nested quote +On August 16 2009 17:23 GrayArea wrote:
6) Don't do drugs and don't drink (This one is gonna get criticism, lol). I've never done drugs nor drank, but I'm going to give you advice about them? Really?
Ugh, I don't need to hit a my head against the wall to know it will hurt.
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On August 16 2009 17:37 Pawsom wrote:Show nested quote +On August 16 2009 17:23 GrayArea wrote:
6) Don't do drugs and don't drink (This one is gonna get criticism, lol). I've never done drugs nor drank, but I'm going to give you advice about them? Really?
You're right. I changed it to state that I don't recommend them. They are classified as distractions, and also they can mess with your brain if you need to be in the study zone.
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Coming from someone who got everything from A+ to C in his first year:
GET YOUR ASS IN CLASS. And do your homework. It's not worth it to skip half a semester of school and kill yourself for two weeks before exams only to pull a shitty grade out of it. -_-
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I know high school is BS but I got a 3.97ish gpa (and took 4 uni classes in physics and computer science and 14 AP's), and my no. 1 advice is forming study circles with smart people...if you are not totally outclassed and you can contribute just a little bit to the discussion/problem solving, you will benefit a ton from building off each other during study sessions before exams.
edit: 4 uni classes in physics and computer science and 14 AP's, not "4 uni classes & 14 APs along the way in physics and computer science"
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Look, the only way to get top mark consistently is to have a plan.
Don't overload before exam. Plan out your study and stick to it. Overloading before exam might work once or twice but it doesn't retain your memories and you will find things difficult next year.
People learn differently. Some people learn by listening, some by watching/reading, some by doing. Figure out which method is the best for you. Some are hybrids so plan your study around that.
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- Take notes. Most important thing you can do. You will forget a lot of what is said in class, but often what is said is important to help you understand everything better. Whenever something important comes up which you don't yet have on paper or you don't understand the stuff you have on paper well, take notes. Many people only take notes when they really have to. But you need to take notes whenever something interesting comes up
- Be interested. After all, if nothing interests you, you cannot motivate yourself enough to try to understand everything
- Ask
- Hang around smart people
- Never skip classes
Being good does not necessarily mean doing more for school in your free time. It means doing the best you can while you're attending school. If you do that, you won't even need to learn much before a test - because you have everything in your head already, and just need to "test yourself" - not learn a lot of stuff at once. Which is difficult.
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I agree with a fair amount of what the OP said, but there is plenty of leeway there. I don't take great notes, I spend very little time studying, I don't make up my own questions, I rarely if ever ask a teacher questions, and I occasionally do drink but the jist of what he says still goes. The most important thing for me at least I'd say is to go to class and understand what the professor says every time. Understand the logic behind what they say, how they reach the conclusions they do. Understand how and why they phrase things a specific way, and when they preface something understand why. Like the OP said, it could hint to you that it will be on the test, but it could also just tell you how to get from one concept to the next in your mind and make them your own. Of course this method won't work for everyone, it depends on your learning style, but if you do well with listening and find study groups to be the only way to learn, you have to at least try to approach the lecture with the same open mind and learning attitude to get everything out of it.
Of the other things, being able to put all distractions out of mind and taking practice tests are also very important. You'll find you dont actually have to study that much for any particular class as long as you study well and make sure you understand what you are studying. 15mins - 2hours the day before the test (varying by class, sometimes a bit longer if the tests are particularly large or the concept particularly confusing) is generally more than enough to get my As on the vast majority of the tests I take. I wish I could brag about a 4.0, but I can't because I fucking hate the +/- system at my school (seriously fuck whoever let an A- be worth less than an A but kept the A+ worth the same).
edit: Oh one last thing. Learn to write well, no matter how long it takes. Don't just do it for a particular essay or essay test, do it just to learn how. Do it during your summer or winter if you need to, just find the time to practice writing and critique it. It comes more naturally for me, but if it didn't I'd put all my time into making sure I knew how. Seriously, writing coherently and with direction is so important in school. When I went through high school, I was astounded at how simply writing well with just a little content could get me As on tests I didn't study at all for. I thought it would be harder in undergrad, but its not (at least at my crappy school :X). Writing well applies to so many classes. It will turn your F-quality content into B-C work, and your B-C quality content into top of the class A+ work. This may be even more important than going to class for me, which is saying a lot.
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Read your notes after if you're going to take them
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EPT
