How to study like a straight A student
I did really well during my first year of college, and aside from a B+ in statistics (which was really good for me, haha! Iâm not good at math), I had Aâs in all of my classes. Iâm certain that the reason I did so well was due to the way that I figured out how to study, so here are some tips I have based on what I did to study this past year!
This isnât high school anymore, itâs not embarrassing or nerdy to sit in the front row. By sitting in the front row, you wonât be tempted to check your phone and you wonât be distracted by looking at the people around you. I focus best in the front row. This also gives you a chance to easily ask any questions you have.
2. Show up to class a little early.
Show up to class about five minutes early every day, if possible. During the time it takes your professor to get set up, read through your previous notes. If you do this every day, youâll begin to memorize info that you certainly wouldnât have learned if you spent those five minutes before class just scrolling through tumblr.Â
3. Type your notes and print them out.
If you prefer to spend a lot of time on hand written notes, then go crazy. However, I donât really have time to make aesthetic notes, so I prefer to just write my notes by hand during class, then copy them into microsoft word so I can organize and print them out. This makes the notes much easier to read, and itâs much easier on the eyes.Â
4. Do every assignment. Yes, EVERY assignment.
I donât know why thereâs advice floating around on tumblr telling people that itâs okay to skip a ton of homework assignments, because I definitely wouldnât recommend it at all. Of course some assignments might be stupid or seem too small to matter, but if youâre being graded on them, you need all the points you can get. Trust me, just because homework assignments only account for 10-15% of your final grade, that doesnât mean that they wonât be the difference between a B+ and an A-. Think about it: if your homework is 10% of your grade and you didnât do it, you would literally have to get NOTHING wrong on your exams just to get the lowest A- possible.Â
5. Donât skip. Donât skip. Donât skip.Â
Donât skip if you can help it. If there is a serious emergency and you really canât make it, try your hardest to get the best notes you can from someone who was in class. Thereâs nothing worse than sitting down for a test and realizing that a ton of the questions are about content you missed when you were absent.Â
6. Go over material in your head when youâre not busy.Â
If youâre in the shower or waiting in line at the cafe, go over class material in your head. Think about what you learned that day. If you do this often, this will help significantly with retention.Â
7. Make flashcards throughout the semester, not the night before the final.
Donât be one of those students who has to relearn an entire textbook the week before finals. If youâre studying right, studying for finals should be relatively painless. Throughout the semester, make flashcards of class content and regularly go over them. The easiest way to do this is to use quizlet.com and fill in definitions and other things you need to know, and use their helpful games and quizzes to memorize the info. It even keeps track of the definitions you rarely get wrong, so you know what you donât need to study as much.Â
8. Makes specific agendas for what you need to study and get done.Â
When I study, I need to have a very specific to-do list detailing exactly what I want to get done. This will motivate you to keep going because youâre able to check off what youâve already done.Â
9. Donât get discouraged by a bad grade- take it as motivation.
This is much easier said than done, but I had to do this in my western civilization class when I very nearly failed the first set of exams. If this happens to you, you should definitely take time to be upset about the grade, but donât let yourself think itâs the end of the world. If you do badly, at least you know what to expect on the next assignment/exam so you know how to alter your studying to prepare for the next one. You can do it! I started western civ with a high D+ after my first exams, but I pulled out with an A- at the end of the semester!Â
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