What helps you get an 100 on tests/things in college?

[xnfs93hy]

I usually get straight A's now. I do fine in Honors classes but mostly because I am just naturally gifted in History/English/Language. Usually for a science or math test I have to study. I usually do well on everything but not 100's usually. I always screw a few stupid things up.

Also, I took tests for AP classes next year. The placement tests are college level tests that test a random chapter in the textbook of whatever AP class you want to get into.

Now, to be honest. I did not find AP Euro, US, Psych, and English to be much of a problem.

However, I have never really had to study at a college level before that. Could I handle it? Sure. But it took me like three days to nail down a study habit for the tests. Like, a chapter in a college book is MUCH longer than a regular old HS book. It isn't that I cannot handle college level work. I am more concerned about being able to study properly and nail the perfect scores I deserve.

So. How can I learn to study at a college level?

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[TheMagicCookie]

Everybody learns in their own way. Something might work amazingly well for me, but might be a disaster for you. You aren't expected to be perfect and you won't be disciplined for not getting a 100 on every test. Your first year in college will be for discovering what works best for you and what doesn't.

 

[Gallix23]

So. How can I learn to study at a college level?

As I'm sure you know, high school has a lot of cramming in it. Normally, everyone waits until the last minute to study for everything. That's the difference in learning/retaining information.

Say you are starting a new chapter in Anatomy class on the Integumentary System. You could either just take the notes for that month and then cram studying for the test, or you could take the notes, go home and look at the notes, read the chapter on the Integumentary System in the textbook, and as each new piece of information is added, try to fit it in to the "big" picture of the topic.

Eventually, after brushing up on information every day, you begin to retain it and it becomes easy to remember all of the finer details because you gain a better understanding of it all.

So pretty much, just studying all of your material for a little while every day will help you solidify information to do well on tests.

 

[Maygyver]

2 words: Hard Work.

 

[RySerr21]

WTF? yesterday you made a thread about how you "want to kill yourself" becuase your grades and class rank are so low.....you said you want to drop out of high school and just quit. Now you find AP classes to be easy and you "usually get straight As."

quit playin games.

 

[tennisball80]

WTF? yesterday you made a thread about how you "want to kill yourself" becuase your grades and class rank are so low.....you said you want to drop out of high school and just quit. Now you find AP classes to be easy and you "usually get straight As."

quit playin games.

 

[Az1698]

WTF? yesterday you made a thread about how you "want to kill yourself" becuase your grades and class rank are so low.....you said you want to drop out of high school and just quit. Now you find AP classes to be easy and you "usually get straight As."

quit playin games.

Its jefgreen, what do you expect? This is the same guy who said he could easily pull a 2200 on his SAT's, yet got like a 1300 on his PSAT's.

 

[xnfs93hy]

WTF? yesterday you made a thread about how you "want to kill yourself" becuase your grades and class rank are so low.....you said you want to drop out of high school and just quit. Now you find AP classes to be easy and you "usually get straight As."

quit playin games.

I'm not playing games. I am still aggrevated because of my class rank. I do find AP tests do be easy but it doesn't matter if I do well because my GPA/Rank is low. I also made a thread about AP Calc which I want to try and study myself next year because my school will not let me take pre calc.

My grades from this year are fine but I did not have any honors classes until a few months ago when they moved me up in a few classes. I have been getting straight A's THIS YEAR. THIS YEAR. I did well last year but I was in stupid classes which were not weighted very heavily. I think the reason my rank is so low is because

-I basically failed frosh year b/c I didn't care/had no motivation.
-Soph. year I did fine but the classes were dumb classes and weren't weighted heavily. My rank suffered bigtime.
-Junior year. So far mostly A's in regular and honors classes. If I continue to do well my rank may go up a bit but will still be low and even if I take AP classes next year, and make A's, my rank will STILL be low. It may go up quite a bit but I will still remain in the bottom half.

I am pretty sure I will be able to handle AP classes but since I haven't had to take on college level classes, I want to try and establish a study system that will work for me so that I DO NOT FAIL.

Do I really want to kill myself? No. I definitely felt like it last Friday because I was smacked with the harsh reality that even though I may pull A's next year, it doesn't matter b/c I royaly screwed up and that was what I was upset about. I still am pretty upset but I am just trying to focus on my AP classes, and establishing a college level study system that will work for me. That way when college rolls around I will be able to study efficiently and pull high grades.

I haven't even taken any AP's yet but the placement tests given are college level, and I did not find it to be that difficult. I still have yet to see how I did. I just need to find a way to study at a college level and still get a 100.

 

[xnfs93hy]

Its jefgreen, what do you expect? This is the same guy who said he could easily pull a 2200 on his SAT's, yet got like a 1300 on his PSAT's.

I never said I could "easily" pull a 2200. I said that is the highest score I would be able to get with studying.

I am studying like once a week for an hour or so. I will probably end up with a 1800 or something like that. If I had to guess, maybe a 1650. I am hoping for a 1800 but I have no idea. I'm really not putting much effort into as I could. Mostly because I know that if I actually try and study a bit I will do halfway decent. The 1410 I got was w/o studying. So I will have to see.

 

[Gallix23]

-snip-

You're stressin way too much over your past. You said you did good junior year, which is the most important year of high school. If you take and do WELL in many AP classes senior year, that's what colleges love to see. They want to see IMPROVEMENT. Sure, it helps to have good grades through and through, but by stepping up your game these two years it shows colleges that you're serious about being a student now.

So pretty much, kick ass senior year, do decent on SATs (shoot for the 18's or higher, and it CAN be done. I got a 1330 on my Psat's, and I ended up with an 1800 combined overall). Use your past to fuel your success in the future, and you could probably write a really good college essay about it as well.

EDIT: Oh, and just a story of inspiration. My best friend screwed up freshman and sophomore year too, had a bad GPA and class rank, etc etc. He stepped it up with Honor roll for Junior and Senior year, and only got I combined total of a 1650 on his SATs. He still got into great schools around the Boston area, including Northeastern University and Bentley.

 

[PerpetualPupil]

Read this guy's stuff...Cal Newport's "Study Hacks" blog.

www.calnewport.com/blog/

I bought his book, too, but you can find pretty much all you need to know through his blog posts. A portion of it is common sense stuff, but there are some nuggets of gold in there that are worth reading. You'll be glad you did!

 

[WashMe]

You aren't always going to get 100's man, just aim for a 93-95 by the end of the class. You will get some 100's, but you reach a point of diminishing returns with studying and you could still get low/mid 90's A's with only 80 percent of the work. Enjoy yourself, you'll be in school for a long time. My undergrad GPA is good but I seldom get higher than 96-97 on tests (unless there are bonus point questions).

To get A's, just don't procrastinate too badly and always think about what you are likely to see on the test when you are reviewing.

 

[CScull]

2 words: Hard Work.

... I'm eerily reminded of my middle school principal's motto right now... "Hard Work- Pays Off!" You can guess who was the one idiot yelling "Pays Off" by her lonesome at a leadership conference when he was speaking...

 

[WatchMeRise]

jefgreen, try not to stress yourself over everything too much. just focus and try your best. if things don't go well then pick yourself back up again and learn from it.

and I would take gallix's advice about rockin' senior year, but don't forget to have fun. I've been having a lot of fun my senior year... but it just seems like I should enjoy myself more, rather than sit and ponder on my education so long. Sometimes you need a break from studying to prevent from becoming overwhelmed, as in your other threads. it is only high school, afterall.

 

[TraderDoc]

For me, its my goal to beat the freak in my Classical Physics II who shows up to class every other day, doesn't really take notes and yet always does ridiculously well. Well guess what he got on the last test, a 96. But I got a 99!, so i told him to suck it!

 

[Maygyver]

Hey, it's Spring Break so I am too lazy to read through all of the previous walls of text, but I glanced over them.

Anyway, Jef, I'm pretty sure you already knew your GPA and class rank was shot. You've said it multiple times on the forums that you have a 2.0 GPA, etc. People have told you, over and over, that a 2.0 is bad and you need to bring it up. I am confused why you are so shocked about that, just because you finally got it in paper. Bottom line: your freshman year has passed, you can't change it. By worrying, you are wasting more of your time. If you don't start looking forward, you are going to be saying you wasted more than your freshman year.

Now, as far as 100s. Again, don't put the cart before the horse. You need 93+s not 100s. Chances are, if you go to a decent college, you won't see too many 100s. The question you need to ask is, how can I succeed in college. Everyone is a little different. Take it one step at a time. Right now you need to worry about gettings A's in highschool before you can even get into a decent college. Also, I get the feeling that you make these posts asking about how to do things in college because you are procrastinating fixing your problems in HS. I know it is nice to be like "oh, when i get to college i will do this and this and this" but honestly, you need to get your cart on the rails before you can even start thinking of college stuff.

 

[xnfs93hy]

Hey, it's Spring Break so I am too lazy to read through all of the previous walls of text, but I glanced over them.

Anyway, Jef, I'm pretty sure you already knew your GPA and class rank was shot. You've said it multiple times on the forums that you have a 2.0 GPA, etc. People have told you, over and over, that a 2.0 is bad and you need to bring it up. I am confused why you are so shocked about that, just because you finally got it in paper. Bottom line: your freshman year has passed, you can't change it. By worrying, you are wasting more of your time. If you don't start looking forward, you are going to be saying you wasted more than your freshman year.

Now, as far as 100s. Again, don't put the cart before the horse. You need 93+s not 100s. Chances are, if you go to a decent college, you won't see too many 100s. The question you need to ask is, how can I succeed in college. Everyone is a little different. Take it one step at a time. Right now you need to worry about gettings A's in highschool before you can even get into a decent college. Also, I get the feeling that you make these posts asking about how to do things in college because you are procrastinating fixing your problems in HS. I know it is nice to be like "oh, when i get to college i will do this and this and this" but honestly, you need to get your cart on the rails before you can even start thinking of college stuff.

Well my cumulative is 2.0 and my UW is 2.2. So far I have something like a 3.4 right now. If I finish with all A's I'll have a perfect GPA for this year which should bring that up a bit. I know what you mean by "Stop wasting time on here, and make all A's."

Honestly, for the most part right now, I am. The only class that was really pulling me down was Algebra II which I took care of.

Really, all I need to do next year is make sure I have the basics laid out for Bio, Chem, and Physics, and maybe review and nail down my Alg II and trig.

I admit I am begining to say "Well, I'll just do it in collge". Honestly though, I will just do it in college. All I really need to focus on for college is just keeping my GPA up. If I can get a 2.5, I may actually have a shot at a decent school. If not, I'll just go to CC and take Calculus I. Take advantage of the small class size, nail down Calc I and maybe take II and III if I get into OSU or something.

 

[RochChalk]

Sounds like you've got it all thoroughly planned out. Now all you can do is follow through on those plans.

 

[TheMagicCookie]

Sounds like you've got it all thoroughly planned out. Now all you can do is follow through on those plans.

Easier said than done . We just need Jeff to land on one plan and run with it. That is said with love, Jeff and not sarcasm!

 

[tennisball80]

Well my cumulative is 2.0 and my UW is 2.2. So far I have something like a 3.4 right now. If I finish with all A's I'll have a perfect GPA for this year which should bring that up a bit. I know what you mean by "Stop wasting time on here, and make all A's."

Honestly, for the most part right now, I am. The only class that was really pulling me down was Algebra II which I took care of.

Really, all I need to do next year is make sure I have the basics laid out for Bio, Chem, and Physics, and maybe review and nail down my Alg II and trig.

I admit I am begining to say "Well, I'll just do it in collge". Honestly though, I will just do it in college. All I really need to focus on for college is just keeping my GPA up. If I can get a 2.5, I may actually have a shot at a decent school. If not, I'll just go to CC and take Calculus I. Take advantage of the small class size, nail down Calc I and maybe take II and III if I get into OSU or something.

Jeff,

I am confused with all of your stories.

Would you write what has happened from freshman hs year to now ?

Your story doesn't make sense.

 

[coffeeeandtea]

I usually get straight A's now. I do fine in Honors classes but mostly because I am just naturally gifted in History/English/Language. Usually for a science or math test I have to study. I usually do well on everything but not 100's usually. I always screw a few stupid things up.

Also, I took tests for AP classes next year. The placement tests are college level tests that test a random chapter in the textbook of whatever AP class you want to get into.

Now, to be honest. I did not find AP Euro, US, Psych, and English to be much of a problem.

However, I have never really had to study at a college level before that. Could I handle it? Sure. But it took me like three days to nail down a study habit for the tests. Like, a chapter in a college book is MUCH longer than a regular old HS book. It isn't that I cannot handle college level work. I am more concerned about being able to study properly and nail the perfect scores I deserve.

So. How can I learn to study at a college level?

haha i remember the days when i used to think AP tests were exemplary of college-level material. trust, by the time you get into college and actually start taking college courses, you'll discover that it is very different from high school. there are definitely classes that you can slack in and still get As, but chances are those will be few and far between, especially if you decide to go to a more prestigious college known for academics.

so yeah, how do you get 100s? i think it should be more like "STUDY like you want a 100, hope for 100, but don't expect one" because if you expect 100 on every midterm and final, you're definitely going to be disappointed. (just speaking realistically here, i know i don't know you or your study habits, but honestly if you're not getting a 4.9 without trying right now, the likelihood of you "getting 100s" from here on out is very slim.)

 

[Vicviper]

First off, at my university, I think I've only seen anyone get a perfect score on a test maybe.... twice, ever. Most universities curve their grades, and so it is almost expected that no one gets a perfect. I've had it on numerous occasions where I've gotten below a 50% on the test, but because I was a standard deviation above the mean score for the class, I still got an A. It really depends on the teacher and how they do it. So don't stress if you're not perfect, no one is, and no one expects you to be.

Also, many people think that AP classes are how difficult college will be, but this is incorrect. AP English Lit was waaaaaaaaaay harder than the Critical Writing class I had to take to finish my English requirements. Most general ed classes like History and Poli Sci are cake if you go to class and actually pay attention, so don't think that because you've done poorly in the past you're going to fail in college. On the other hand, major science courses like Biochem and Ochem will be difficult, and for those ones you need to develop decent study skills (or you'll end up passing the class by the seat of your pants like I did!). And there's nothing wrong with going to a CC! I did all of my dental pre-req classes at my CC before I transfered (Ochem, Gchem, Physics), and I did just fine. Don't stress, you'll do fine if you try your best.

 

[ButImLETired]

I'm frankly sort of amazed that I'm the first one to point out that AP classes =/= college level classes. They say they are, but they are REALLY not. I had a 98 average in high school AP bio, got a 5 on the AP, got a 780 on the bio SAT2, and I didn't get a 98 in freshman year bio. It's just not the same. We used a much trickier/more detailed textbook, labs were a lot more important (and lab reports were a huge pain in the *$()@), exams were FAR more detail-oriented and focused on understanding connections between topics (this receptor is inactivated. What happens to the gross physiology of this entirely different system?), and my school doesn't really believe in multiple choice exams so I had very few of those. Just knowing the book backwards and forwards would get me a B. The A was a different story. Not to mention the fact that a lot of college classes are graded on a curve, and your peers will be quite different from the people you went to high school with (at least mine were- I went to a pretty high-ranked school though, so I don't know if this is always the case). Motivations are also different. You're going to be in pre-med classes. Pre-meds all need the same grades and same recommendations and they all need to be "the best". This leads to more competition/tougher grading than what you find in other classes.

Anyways, the point is, don't expect that you will do well in college classes just because you're doing well on AP exams. Don't expect that the system you're using now will work well for you once you get to college. Freshman year is a huge adjustment because you basically have to teach yourself how to study again. It's a pain, but it's necessary. You'll adjust to what is required of you and do what you need to do in order to do well. Don't even try to figure out "how to get a 100" because not only are 100s pretty unnecessary (OnlyNeedOneYes said it best: sometimes working that hard just isn't worth it), but whatever method you think you've figured out might/probably wont work. The worst thing you can do right now is try to predict what college classes will be like and become inflexible in your study methods. Just do well now, wait until college, and figure out what needs to be done when you get there.

 

[CScull]

I'm frankly sort of amazed that I'm the first one to point out that AP classes =/= college level classes. They say they are, but they are REALLY not. I had a 98 average in high school AP bio, got a 5 on the AP, got a 780 on the bio SAT2, and I didn't get a 98 in freshman year bio. It's just not the same. We used a much trickier/more detailed textbook, labs were a lot more important (and lab reports were a huge pain in the *$()@), exams were FAR more detail-oriented and focused on understanding connections between topics (this receptor is inactivated. What happens to the gross physiology of this entirely different system?), and my school doesn't really believe in multiple choice exams so I had very few of those. Just knowing the book backwards and forwards would get me a B. The A was a different story. Not to mention the fact that a lot of college classes are graded on a curve, and your peers will be quite different from the people you went to high school with (at least mine were- I went to a pretty high-ranked school though, so I don't know if this is always the case). Motivations are also different. You're going to be in pre-med classes. Pre-meds all need the same grades and same recommendations and they all need to be "the best". This leads to more competition/tougher grading than what you find in other classes.

Anyways, the point is, don't expect that you will do well in college classes just because you're doing well on AP exams. Don't expect that the system you're using now will work well for you once you get to college. Freshman year is a huge adjustment because you basically have to teach yourself how to study again. It's a pain, but it's necessary. You'll adjust to what is required of you and do what you need to do in order to do well. Don't even try to figure out "how to get a 100" because not only are 100s pretty unnecessary (OnlyNeedOneYes said it best: sometimes working that hard just isn't worth it), but whatever method you think you've figured out might/probably wont work. The worst thing you can do right now is try to predict what college classes will be like and become inflexible in your study methods. Just do well now, wait until college, and figure out what needs to be done when you get there.

I've always been told in college it's a better idea to get straight 90s than have an 89 in one class and 100s in all the others... high school, not so much.

 

[TheMagicCookie]

Jeff,

I am confused with all of your stories.

Would you write what has happened from freshman hs year to now ?

Your story doesn't make sense.

Lord, let's not have him do that again! He's given his story out numerous times in other threads. There are a few discrepancies, but I think we can get the main picture.

 

[PerpetualPupil]

I'm frankly sort of amazed that I'm the first one to point out that AP classes =/= college level classes. They say they are, but they are REALLY not.

Yeah, I took AP Chemistry and we only did one lab. Hilarious. Didn't seem to matter though, did great on the AP Exam...

Anyways, the point is, don't expect that you will do well in college classes just because you're doing well on AP exams.

On the other hand, my AP Bio course was significantly more intense than my first year Uni Intro Biology (same text in AP Bio as first-year Bio at my school, anyway). I don't think you can generalize all AP courses as inferior to their college counterparts...it depends on many factors. The enthusiasm and expectations of the teacher, for one.

I think it is safe to say that if you can hack it in AP courses across the board you'll probably have a good foundation for college. College is a whole new ball game, though. And not just academics. There are extracurriculars that can pop up (*cough* booze *cough*), and a ton of other stuff that can distract you for better, or for worse. The high school environment and college environment are so different...I don't think its fair to draw conclusions about AP exams and first year performance.