How am I supposed to get straight As from now?

[MidwestLovin]

I'm not good at sucking up teachers or reading their minds.

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[Mr Interesting]

I suppose you can try to study like the rest of us then.

 

[deleted407021]

Don't procrastinate (unless you actually thrive under pressure. YMMV). Attend lecture and ask questions. Make connections between disciplines. Relate things to what you experience in your life. Study effectively and try to enjoy the work.

Sucking up teachers in not a widely endorsed method for getting As.

 

[edgerock24]

Cry in front of them so you can retake exams.

 

[chocolatethunder]

Get off SDN and study

 

[Oso]

I'm not good at sucking up teachers or reading their minds.

Do you really think this is how people get A's? Sucking up will probably annoy the teacher and your classmates and using telepathy to get good grades is cheating.

Just study, work hard, and don't fall behind. You may not get all A's, but that's the general strategy for doing well.

 

[Ace-Co-A]

I'm not good at sucking up teachers or reading their minds.

OP... I think people exaggerate when they say that all you need to do is work more. Surely, that's part of it, but they're neglecting the whole picture. We also need to know the methods and habits you employ for studying before giving you direction about how to improve. First, though, don't answer these questions until after your finals are taken and the semester is over.

Allow me to ask some clarifying questions to try to help:

(1) How are you studying (i.e., what are your methods used, right before a test for a day vs. spacing it out over several days, studying continuously vs. studying only for tests, doing practice problems vs. not doing problems, outlines vs. note cards for memorization, content review before exams)?

(2) How much do you study? [Studying too little can be part of the problem.]

(3) Are there particular areas of courses with which you struggle (e.g., reading the chapters, paying attention in lecture, doing the problems in the textbook or that were assigned, understanding concepts, forgetting details)?

 

[Boolean]

Log off of SDN, open a book, learn content of said book. Do not simply read. Learn.

 

[Mad Jack]

I'm not good at sucking up teachers or reading their minds.

I never, ever sucked up and I'm far from a mind reader. Just work hard and limit your distractions and you'll be fine.

 

[terra330]

For the lower level classes (100 level) I really didn't need to study at all as long as I paid attention during lecture.

After that it was just a matter of reading the textbook, doing practice problems, and sometimes using explanations from outside sources. I found Wikipedia to be surprisingly helpful for organic, and for bio classes I'd occasionally read medical physiology text books to get a more complete picture.

 

[WillburCobb]

I'm not good at sucking up teachers or reading their minds.

Worked every time...

 

[BlueCircle]

Cry in front of them so you can retake exams.

I actually met a girl who failed a physics midterm (or final cant remember), and so she cried to the professor saying she was under a lot of pressure and got testing anxiety and he ended up letting her retake the exam with more time. This stuff does happen more freqently then we think lol

....... and using telepathy to get good grades is cheating........

 

[MidwestLovin]

OP... I think people exaggerate when they say that all you need to do is work more. Surely, that's part of it, but they're neglecting the whole picture. We also need to know the methods and habits you employ for studying before giving you direction about how to improve. First, though, don't answer these questions until after your finals are taken and the semester is over.

Allow me to ask some clarifying questions to try to help:

(1) How are you studying (i.e., what are your methods used, right before a test for a day vs. spacing it out over several days, studying continuously vs. studying only for tests, doing practice problems vs. not doing problems, outlines vs. note cards for memorization, content review before exams)?

(2) How much do you study? [Studying too little can be part of the problem.]

(3) Are there particular areas of courses with which you struggle (e.g., reading the chapters, paying attention in lecture, doing the problems in the textbook or that were assigned, understanding concepts, forgetting details)?

I'm having trouble with a particular class being super hard and the professor being unclear in what we have to know and just saying "there will be a curve". That's great, bit I want to be above average. I'm thinking about dropping it, but I'm not sure. If opening a book was the only thing I had to use to study, then I would have all As.

1. I study daily, I go to a fast paced school, even if you don't study continuously, there will be an exam next week anyways.

2. Everyday in all my free time, I study more than the average student here. Or at least try to...

3. It depends on the course but I did great in Chem because it was clear what we had to know, now everything is up in the air. Random pages are assigned to read and random material the professor barely discusses shows up on exams that is not from the book.

 

[Ace-Co-A]

I'm having trouble with a particular class being super hard and the professor being unclear in what we have to know and just saying "there will be a curve". That's great, bit I want to be above average. I'm thinking about dropping it, but I'm not sure. If opening a book was the only thing I had to use to study, then I would have all As.

1. I study daily, I go to a fast paced school, even if you don't study continuously, there will be an exam next week anyways.

2. Everyday in all my free time, I study more than the average student here. Or at least try to...

3. It depends on the course but I did great in Chem because it was clear what we had to know, now everything is up in the air. Random pages are assigned to read and random material the professor barely discusses shows up on exams that is not from the book.

(1) Good. Studying should be habitual.

(2) Seems good. Although studying as much as possible does not always equate to excellent performance. The goal should be to study as efficiently as possible. Make sure you're not wasting time when you study by delving into low-yield content or being distracted by Facebook/SDN/random other internet stuff/television/paying credit card bills/paying your rent/etc.

(3) It's good when professors are helpful in outlining what it is you need to know, but this is also part of your responsibility. You have to figure out what content/chapters/material is important and worth knowing. As for the bolded part, get used to it.

Best of luck & enjoy the journey, friend.

 

[MidwestLovin]

(1) Good. Studying should be habitual.

(2) Seems good. Although studying as much as possible does not always equate to excellent performance. The goal should be to study as efficiently as possible. Make sure you're not wasting time when you study by delving into low-yield content or being distracted by Facebook/SDN/random other internet stuff/television/paying credit card bills/paying your rent/etc.

(3) It's good when professors are helpful in outlining what it is you need to know, but this is also part of your responsibility. You have to figure out what content/chapters/material is important and worth knowing. As for the bolded part, get used to it.

Best of luck & enjoy the journey, friend.

I think I'm just frustrated from studying/trying to study so much and I'm coming up empty handed...

 

[Ace-Co-A]

I think I'm just frustrated from studying/trying to study so much and I'm coming up empty handed...

Determine why it is that you are not getting as much as you'd like out of studying and correct the underlying problem. It gets easier as you work harder. Not to be cryptic as h*** but this will totally make sense as you refine your studying methods.

 

[MidwestLovin]

Determine why it is that you are not getting as much as you'd like out of studying and correct the underlying problem. It gets easier as you work harder. Not to be cryptic as h*** but this will totally make sense as you refine your studying methods.

Thanks, I'll try. There's no way in hell I can get close to the average sGPA accepted though, so what do I do now? Should I switch to a major that will not kill my sGPA and then do a post-bacc?

 

[DermViser]

I'm not good at sucking up teachers or reading their minds.

I SERIOUSLY think SDN needs to add a function to be able to delete certain threads from view.

 

[mehc012]

Determine why it is that you are not getting as much as you'd like out of studying and correct the underlying problem. It gets easier as you work harder. Not to be cryptic as h*** but this will totally make sense as you refine your studying methods.

No, there really are some sh¡tty-ass disorganized profs.
You can pull As in their classes, of course, but it's 8x harder than it has to be and you get far less out of it than an organized course. Completely worth frustration, though the original post was...interesting.

 

[MidwestLovin]

No, there really are some sh¡tty-ass disorganized profs.
You can pull As in their classes, of course, but it's 8x harder than it has to be and you get far less out of it than an organized course. Completely worth frustration, though the original post was...interesting.

Do you have any tips on how to do so? The original post should have been more descriptive, but I feel like one professor is very unclear and with trying to do well in my other classes that require work (Math based), I'm dying of sleeplessness.

 

[mehc012]

Do you have any tips on how to do so? The original post should have been more descriptive, but I feel like one professor is very unclear and with trying to do well in my other classes that require work (Math based), I'm dying of sleeplessness.

The only thing you can do is to go to the extreme...know everything you can, beyond what is theoretically expected of the class, and hopefully get helped by the curve. The less organized and specific they are, the more you have to know.
I've found for these sorts of classes, breadth is more helpful than depth of knowledge. You can typically reason out some of the details during an exam if you know something about the topic you're questioned on, but if you spend too much time delving into the details you will run short on the more obscure/diverse points, leaving you with no starting point if those topics are hit. In a Bio-based class, it is not surprising if you are unable to learn everything, as Bio is an infinite spiral of small details, so I always focus on getting as much breadth of knowledge as possible first, and then filling in as many details as you can in the time you have left.

 

[MidwestLovin]

The only thing you can do is to go to the extreme...know everything you can, beyond what is theoretically expected of the class, and hopefully get helped by the curve. The less organized and specific they are, the more you have to know.
I've found for these sorts of classes, breadth is more helpful than depth of knowledge. You can typically reason out some of the details during an exam if you know something about the topic you're questioned on, but if you spend too much time delving into the details you will run short on the more obscure/diverse points, leaving you with no starting point if those topics are hit. In a Bio-based class, it is not surprising if you are unable to learn everything, as Bio is an infinite spiral of small details, so I always focus on getting as much breadth of knowledge as possible first, and then filling in as many details as you can in the time you have left.

Thank you, I think Google is going to be my best friend in this class. The worst part is that this class is completely quiz based. The quizzes get very detailed, I wish I took this class when it was offered as a Midterm + Final exam class.

 

[Boolean]

Honestly, welcome to university. Yes, it is tough. Yes, the class grading mechanisms don't always work in your favor. But that's simply life and you just have to deal. Making excuses isn't going to help you in the end.

 

[Gauss44]

I'm not good at sucking up teachers or reading their minds.

If money permits, there's tutors. If time permits, there's online classes, http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/free-stuff/1247592/ And by staying away from classes graded subjectively; although there are fewer of those in the sciences.

 

[MidwestLovin]

Honestly, welcome to university. Yes, it is tough. Yes, the class grading mechanisms don't always work in your favor. But that's simply life and you just have to deal. Making excuses isn't going to help you in the end.

Let's switch schools for a week. If only transferring were an option.

 

[youmed]

Hm well once you get to some point in your college career, you have to face the fact that some people are innately smarter and can process/comprehend/understand faster than someone who isn't innately smarter. That doesn't mean you are at fault nor should you let that get in your way. You just have to try harder and put more time than said people.

 

[Boolean]

Let's switch schools for a week. If only transferring were an option.

Would love to. A challenge is always pleasant, whether it exists in actuality or is merely perceived.

 

[Goro]

Your school should have al earnign or education center. Go seek them out for help in studying and testing taking skills. Learn good time mgt skills as well.

And limit your computer time to actual learning stuff.

I'm not good at sucking up teachers or reading their minds.

 

[Zelda840]

You can typically reason out some of the details during an exam if you know something about the topic you're questioned on, but if you spend too much time delving into the details you will run short on the more obscure/diverse points, leaving you with no starting point if those topics are hit...I always focus on getting as much breadth of knowledge as possible first, and then filling in as many details as you can in the time you have left.

^^^This is great advice.

 

[sobored]

I'm not good at sucking up teachers or reading their minds.

Invest in some knee pads. Should solve your problem

 

[dudeliness]

Get off SDN and study

It's almost like you're speaking right to me.
Ok, I'll go study for my neuro final just as soon as I read all of today's new threads.