how to get good grades in college

8/7/2019 How to Get Good Grades in College

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Safety, Grades and Fun: A Compendium of Ideas

As I write this it occurs to me that I have the advantage, perhaps,

of being more confident of your abilities than you are.

The following are a few thoughts that might make it easier for you to achieve your destiny. greg

I. The title speaks for itself. Nothing is more important than safety.

II. During your college and graduate school years you will make -- literally -- hundreds ofindividual safety decisions. Make each and every one of them slowly, deliberately, and wisely.

You cant have fun next year if youre not alive. Or if youre crippled. Or if youre emotionallydebilitated.

III. Grades. Ninety + percent of the reason an undergraduate student exists is to get good grades.

Grades are almost your sole objective in life and excellent grades mean absolutely everything. It

is how you are judged, and it is what will determine your immediate future following college.

Grades are all that graduate schools care about. A slight overstatement, but very slight.

Here are the things I learned to maximize your grade point average:

1) Doing extremely well for the short 5 years from your Junior year in high schoolthrough your Junior year in college will greatly maximize your chances of achievingtremendous wealth and success the following 50-70 years. So, if you ever wanted to do

well, this is the time.

2) People that get good grades get good grades on purpose. They set out in themorning with the intention of doing what is necessary to get the A.

3) Take each class individually, one at a time, and look at it that way. What exactlydo I have to do in each and every class to get an A? The classes I like, and those that I

dont. Those in my field as well as the others. They all count the same towards your GPA

and therefore they all matter equally. This is science, not art.

4) What if you really hate a class, for completely legitimate reasons? Well, like asports professional who is expected to get up for all their games, you are a now a

professional student. Its your occupation, and the way you are rated is by grades. Your

family has worked hard to pay for your upcoming education and your part of the deal isdoing well. So, Grin and Bear It, Win One for the Gipper, Burn the Midnight Oil, Get Over

It, and other similarly annoying phrases.

5) Know exactly what is required in each class, in excruciating detail. To do well,you must understand the rules of the game completely. What is the test worth, the paper,the final? Every morning during the semester you should be able to answer the question,

What would my grades be if reports came out today?

6) Over achieve where its easy to do so. Every singe paper you write in schoolshould exceed the minimum requirement by 11-13%. (if its more than 13% youre wasting

your time.) If the minimum requirement for paper is less than 8 pages in length add one full


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page of extra text. By the way, one line at the top of the paper is not a page of text. A pageof text is a page of text. Also, never change the margins, font size, or spacing. Cite

everything. The great news is you can use whatever you cite.

7) Always do extra credit the all too rare times its made available. Accept any offerto help a professor.

8) On your exams and papers, always take the position the Professor agrees with.Even if you are positive that you are right and they are wrong. Save your disagreeing foryour beer swilling friends. Students that disagree with the Professor lose at least a half

grade from the onset. The Professor starts the grading with an A-, and lowers it from there.

9) Similarly, professors like to hear their own opinions repeated to them. Whenspecific phrases are repeated frequently on a single issue, put the phrase in quotes ala

XYZ then repeat the same exact quote on the essay or in your paper. Its good for at least

a grade.

10) If at all possible, do not work during your freshman year. There are enoughtransitions to make that year without trying to earn a living at the same time.

11) Choose courses that you know you can get an A in. A real biggie. The secret hereis to choose a major you LOVE. Electives should be off beat and wonderful. Required

courses? See #3 and #4 above. One advantage of most colleges is the incredible number offascinating classes they offer, if you look for them. Madness in the Western Worldwas the

best class I ever took, anywhere. Remember, when it comes to medical school the English

major will beat the chemistry major with inferior grades every day of the week.

12) Take courses from the past award winning Teacher of the Year (s). They didntwin the award for being boring. Be sure to check the best at your school at

www.ratemyprofessors.com

13) The numbers. Mentioned in #3 above for an individual class, this is the macroversion. My point: Anything below a B drags your GPA down, big time. Each and everygrade you receive should be an A, A-, or B+. That should be your expectation. 3 A-s and a

C+ equals a 3.35 GPA. But do nothing but bring that C+ up to a B, and a 3.35 GPAbecomes a 3.525. Please try very hard to have your worst grade during your college career

be a B.

14) Which means you have to start strong. It is very difficult to mathematically digyourself out of a GPA hole. If you have a 2.6 your first semester, and then follow it with

three 3.5s in a row, you will go into your junior year with less than a B+ average.

15) How YOU Learn. In the next year you need to become a world class expert onhow YOU learn. Do you study best at night or in the morning, in your room or in the

library, on a sofa, or sitting upright at a desk? Do you ramp up slowly for a test, or pull an

all-nighter and cram it in just in time for the 8 am exam like me? Understand your

biorhythms, intricately. When should you eat to be at maximum efficiency for an 8amexam? A 1pm exam? A 6pm exam? Napping. Learn to use more colors and lists and
http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/


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highlighting. Pay very close attention to what works for you. Repetition. Repetition,Repetition. Focus. Quiet. And a plan.

16) Efficiency. Do it very well, so you can do less of it. More about this below.

17) In college, always be a face and a name, not a number. It will increase your final

GPA by a shockingly high .15. First, always sit in one of the first two rows. Second,sometime during the first 3 weeks of the semester, after class ask an intelligent question to

each professor regarding the subject matter. Procedural questions do not count, and youshould let students asking that type of question go first. Then, and this is critical, go to their

office hours with a different good subject matter question NOT immediately before or after

a major test, midterm, or final. They will be sitting in their office all by themselves. Your

stopping by to chat is why they went into teaching. It will show them you actually care.They will know and love you and when you are 1 points below the A or A- cutoff, they

will give you the extra half grade because you have a 14 out of 10 attitude. Your wonderful3.65 will become a superb 3.8, or the difference between Harvard and Michigan for

graduate school.

18) Surprisingly, if you do poorly in a class your first year or two (or more), youmight be allowed to retake the class for a higher grade. Wow. Many universities nowallow students to retake one or more classes, with only the higher grade counting towards

your GPA. Please check your schools guidelines - this can impact your GPA by .2 or

more!

19) Once you choose your major, take the hardest required class during the summer ata different school. The credits will count, but not the grade. You can usually do this a

couple of times. Note you probably need to OK the course with your advisor before youtake it.

20) If much of this fails, after your sophomore year, TRANSFER. You get a brandnew GPA. All that matters is your FINAL GPA from the school that finally granted your

diploma.

IV. Fun. On campus, at least once every two weeks see one of the incredible speakers, plays,

symphonies, artistic performances, or concerts. During college I saw Jacques Cousteau, Carl

Sagan, Howard Cosell, Hunter S. Thompson, G. Gordon Liddy, Jimmy Carter, Jessie Jackson,Henry Kissinger, and 25 other luminaries speak. For free. A third of them I went up to ask a

question afterwards it is superb practice. Off campus -- explore. Places and other towns. Wheninvited to go home with your friends, and you will be frequently, join them. You will remember

those trips for the rest of your life.

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Resources

1) To learn more about yourself and implementing your vision:

Psychocybernetics by Maxwell Maltz.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/103-3050041-2947012?_encoding=UTF8&search-type=ss&index=books&field-author=Maxwell%20Maltzhttp://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/103-3050041-2947012?_encoding=UTF8&search-type=ss&index=books&field-author=Maxwell%20Maltz


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2) For interviewing, and a positive mental attitude (PMA):

Knock 'em Dead 2009: The Ultimate Job Seekers Guide by Martin Yate.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/index=books&field-author=Martin%20Yate/102-9903341-0426532http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/index=books&field-author=Martin%20Yate/102-9903341-0426532

how to get good grades in college

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