Advice on getting a better GPA

[kuroikumo98]

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Hello SDN
I’m a freshman with sophomore standing. I keep getting Bs in my science courses and I don’t know how to study to get an A and would like your advice. I have to sleep 9 hours a day because of mental reasons so sleeping less is out of the question. I got a B in the first half of organic chemistry and was sad because I had studied so much for that class but still got a B. My current science GPA is 3.0 . Any advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[Medin2017]

Increase study time or study with more effective methods. If you're using effective methods and maximizing study time, like dropping social activity or studying while eating/commuting, then I guess it's not meant to be. Pretty sure 9 hours of sleep is doable even with a full undergrad course load, but if it isn't for you, then you're going to have to choose between A's and mental reasons. There are other respectable professions out there that don't care as much about science GPA.

Effective methods:
Drawing things out
teaching friends
Flash cards
practice questions

 

[ringofkeys]

Go into office hours and discuss with your professors how you can improve on your study strategies. They should be able to help you figure out what you can do to better grasp the material.

 

[caffeine jitters]

Try studying right outside your professor’s door during their office hours. This way if you have any questions you can just pop in and have them explain the concept to you. Additionally, schedule blocks of time to study for each class. Seriously. Just put the time block in your calendar and set your phone timer to ring when the block is done. If you get distracted by your phone, there are apps that will lock you out of whatever is distracting you (Facebook, instagram, etc.). If you get distracted by the people you study with, find different people to study with or study alone.

 

[Incis0r]

Hello SDN
I’m a freshman with sophomore standing. I keep getting Bs in my science courses and I don’t know how to study to get an A and would like your advice. I have to sleep 9 hours a day because of mental reasons so sleeping less is out of the question. I got a B in the first half of organic chemistry and was sad because I had studied so much for that class but still got a B. My current science GPA is 3.0 . Any advice is greatly appreciated.

You can do well with 9 hours of sleep so don't worry about compromising that.

My advice:
1. Stay on top of the material everyday. Read your lecture notes in advance so that you have a general idea of what the instructor will discuss, and then fill in the gaps during the lecture itself. Anything unclear? Go to office hours immediately. Do not let this material gain momentum and overwhelm you.

2. Problems problems problems. OChem is all about knocking out as many problems as possible and understanding all the solutions.

3. Go for active learning over passive learning. Take your notes, convert them to questions, and make flashcards on them in Anki. It's time-consuming, but it gets the job done. Review those flashcards everyday.

You do these things and I guarantee you that you will do well in your science classes.

 

[GypsyHummus]

Depends on the class. If it was bio related, I would make notecards and just drill those until they were committed to long term memory.

Chemistry was much tougher. No matter how hard I worked, I couldn’t make above a B in biochem. Organic I felt was easier, but I would study about 2 hours every night for orgo doing lecture right after it ended.

 

[deleted740991]

Study everyday for multiple hours, without fail, no matter what. Consistency and frequency trains memory recall, nothing else.

 

[Johnwickk]

Review review review review review!!!!!. Go over once, take notes, go over a second time take different notes, go over again and make notes again and rewrite your stuff draw make charts go over again make notes again keep doing this. IF you can record your professor and re-listen to his/her lecture on 2X speed