greyeyes

dont forget to kiss your professors asses, or at least ask them questions and get them to help you out after school or class for a few minutes. This will allow them to know that you are working hard (or at least make them think that) and they might be a little more leniant on your grading. Just the other day I was able to convince my history professor to bump my grade from a 87 (B) to a 90 (A) just by speaking with her after class. Though this technique does not always work. Last year I had a history professor that I shot the shit with after every class for about fifteen minutes, he told me in one of these asskissing sessions that I was definately going to get an A in the class. That bastard gave me a C but I think he was a little crazy/unstable so that might have been it.

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AngelicVampire

Both, you can do well by being either good or by working hard...

I get A's in computer science basically without turning up because I understand the subject and have a good grasp of it.

I get A-D in Electrical engineering because I don't grasp it intutively so must work at it... barely scraped through this year because I got like 2 hours revision for each course (~ half way reading through the notes... no examples or stuff).

Some people know stuff intuitively or grasp it very quickly, others don't or can't... hard work can get round most of the later however it can take a lot of work, I sound really like a stereotyper here but its true... hardwork => intuitive learning, however it takes a lot of hardwork to beat a hardworking intitive learner (I know from High School... man it sucks being 2nd when you know you could do better if you tried!)

AlBob

Study hard, 2 to 3 hours of study for each hour of class. Take good notes and sit in the front of the class and listen the lectures usually cover the test material. Get to know your teachers, when I taught I gave extra consideration to motivated and interested students, you don't have to suck up, just show your serious about an education. Try your hardest to get in an honors program, they are much more interesting and can actually be easier than the drill in a regular course. And most importantly realize that education is a lifetime journey. Over emphasizing grades for short term goals can ruin the purpose of an education which in my mind is to develop our potential as valuable members of the human community. Just my 2 cents worth, I really don no nuffin....

klo

Damn... i wish i was like one of those ppl that get everything at once... sadly im not

So now I guess studying is what is done... I think its a gift basically... some people reach their limit at like B while others they jsut dont work and get really high marks. Sucks.

tspikes51

My point of view, as a student, is that getting good grades is a skill, but not in the traditional way of thinking. It is more of a skill of being able to manipulate the grading system, to do as little as possible and still make the grade. I, myself have become quite skilled at it.

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Kalibah

Skill that you learn. For things where you write essays or papers or thesis let me say
If you want a good grade- you learn early on to put what the teacher WANTS to hear- unless its an opinion paper- but even then- you can sense what they want usually for instance if the professer is religious, dont write a pro-choice paper unless the teacher is FAIR- and many arent.


One of my earliest lessons was the question
explain the major cause of the civil war?

Well i can think of good reason for the civil war ( slavery) but true thats connected to economics ( cheap labor). but all through the course the teacher emphazied economics .... so you know what - write about economics

if you know what the teacher WANTS
it doesnt matter if its right or wrong
put that down. and next year- if a teacher says the opposite, put that down

most teachers i know are control freaks- no arguing- dont question them ( the good ones LIKE that- because it shows you are learning!) but most dont- so dont try

tehpronking

I think it's a combination of both. I study hard sometimes, but I also slack off a lot of the time. I average out around an A/B in most of my classes without a lot of hard work.

The Magic

Unless you're one of the few really, really, smart people, studying/working hard is required for the 4.0.

As said before, the best way to study isn't necessarly just memorizing for hours. I've found in math that if I take my own notes from the book, I will understand the subject at hand much better than if I just copied lecture notes. I can usually reverse engineer any of the odd problems I have trouble with to understand the concept.

Studying trends/methods is a great way to improve in math/history. Two weeks prior to taking the AP Chemistry test, I unplugged my computer and had my parents hide the cord so I would get some studying done (although I sorta replaced it with tv~). I found that if I sat down and really analyzed step by step how to do things and work it out myself, it retains much better. Develop a system for problems and make sure to get the basics down.

History is a breeze for me. Except for the first month, I pretty much never read our history book in my AP U.S. history class. I still managed to get an A all three trimesters though. It's probably mostly due to being able to memorize historical facts well, but I think it also has a lot to do with just the way I approach history. Look at everything from a prespective of themes/trends, then you will be able to guess what is going on in a specific time period even if you don't know what happened.

English is my most difficult subject. I really think that there is only one thing that will really improve english writing and comprehension skills -- read, read, read, and read more. Go up to the people who got As on their essays, ask them when they started the essay and how much time they spent on it, and then ask them how often they read/read as a child. If anybody says they just wrote the essay the night before it was due they probably read very often. Unfortunately, I can count the amount of books I've read outside of classes in the past few years with both my hands -- and I'm usuaslly too lazy to make drafts for my essays.

lpj8

I think that intelligence and grade achievement are two different things as other people have mentioned. However, there is a positive correlation between the two variables. IQ tests scores are the single best predictor of academic achievement in elementary school. By definition, individuals with high IQ scores are better problem solvers than those with lower IQs. Also, the rate of learning for individuals with higher IQs is much faster than those with lower IQs. I think the ability to get good grades in high school and college is a complex phenomenon that encompasses many variables such as academic motivation, locus of control, attention span, motivation, academic engagement, Intelligence, and test taking skills.
Another interesting factor is the arbitrary nature of the grading system. Each professor, class, school ect. has different sets of expectations. An "A" in an easy class may not equal an "A" in a hard class. Likewise, an "A" for one teacher may be different from another teacher.

Lpj8

kleptophobiac

Or being at the receiving end of an Asian parent's whip... it does the trick quite nicely.

molloby

In the end, no matter how intelligent you are it still comes down to wether or not you enjoy what you are doing. If you can get on a roll and get your head into the problem, for me at the moment that means physics, maths or engineering mechanics, then things will flow and you will learn better.

If you are constantly stop-start and never really get the big picture of how o do what you need to do you won't do as well as you possibly can.

I do, however, challenge anyone to come up with a method for solving 2nd order differential equations on the spot from first principles in a 90 min exam and still get over 50%.

D Rice

I think if you take two people with basically the same intelligence and have them take a test it is possible for one student to do excellent and the other to do poorly. I think the bottomline is that some people are excellent at taking tests and other ways teachers and proffesors attempt to test the knowledge of thier students.

planets

having just flunked a major test, i hope those posts in favour of hard workers are true. i used to rely on intuitive learning, until it came to this maths topic where intuition just goes out the window. if you realise, after going through sufficient pain trying to make logical sense out of abstract maths, intuitive comes from having prerequisite knowledge, which can be best accumulated via whipping by parents, late nights, mnemonics blah blah. it's a pain, working hard, but bottom line is, even intuition has to have a basis from which we can apply

FatherTed

Great question!

I've always been smart. I do really well in aptitude and intelligence tests so am seen to be pretty intelligent.
Problem is I've never been able to knuckle down to do serious study, so my grades have always been absolute crap. I used to REALLY try, but any distraction and I'd be off.

Luckily, employers dont seem to care about grades as much as they used to (certainly not in Europe anyway) - experience seems to be a much more valuable commodity, so it has never held me back that much

1010011010

Ah... ye olde Grind v. Natural debate.

Grind:
You can certainly grind away at it. Study, study, study. Enough will eventually get crammed in there by sheer force of repetition. The only pitfall of this is that you must avoid rote memorization of a disorganized assortment of facts. Keep everything connected and ordered, or you'll just forget it.
Studying backwards. Most lesson plans work by building on previous material. This makes it easier to learn each individual block without overwhelming the student. Studying it starting with the final "big picture" and work to starting principles- this allows you to put each individual lesson into context.

Natural:
It's basically a matter of the skills everyone uses to know all the lyrics of their favorite songs, or recall a nearly encyclopedic collection of sports statistics, or obsess about every trivial detail of TV characters' lives. Pretend calculus is the coolest thing you've ever heard, history is endlessly fascinating, and organic chemistry is truly useful in day to day life.
Learn to route all this boring school crap through the high priority brain wiring devoted to the things you find interesting. Do it long enough and you actually will find the boring school crap interesting... or at least you'll honestly think you do while you're in the class.

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bill96ab

I believe that as stated above, it is a combo of everything. If you enjoy it, and it comes easy to you, then one learns that subject matter a LOT faster than something that really takes time for that person to learn. I feel that I have gotten to the level in my ecucation where I am now at the stage that I just have to work super hard to be average. High school was easy, col. was harder, but graduate school is tough. I am actually just average now, and work my tail off. It matters the level of those around you. It used to be easy to not work, and do well. Not so much any more...

cheers

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Rangsk

I haven't read through all the comments, so you'll have to forgive me if I've repeated anything, but I thought I'd give my view before reading too many replies. As you may notice as you read this, I have little respect for the American highschool system.

I was a mostly-A student in Highschool, but I barely studied. Because of honors courses, my weighted GPA was 4.5 or something like that, unweighted it was 3.9 or so. I'm the guy you hate because I did better on the test even though you studied 10x as much as me. Right now I'm in college (UC San Diego, third year CS major), and I just had three miderms that I barely studied for (one of them I only looked at my notes long enough to make the sheet of equations that was allowed, one I looked over my notes for maybe 30 minutes, and the other I didn't study at all)... I believe I did very well on them, and probably better than many of the students who studied. Are you pissed at me yet?

What's my secret? I don't really have one. However, I will try and gives some insight into A students, as I hang out with many of them.

There are definately multiple kinds of A students. I'll list three of them, though I'm sure there's more... these apply almost exclusively to highschool, as I believe college does a much better job at educating than highschool did.

1) "The sellout" - the student who truly believes that the system works, and so they work with the system. He does the homework because he thinks it's actually necessary, he studies religiously for tests, etc.

2) "The hard worker" - the student who may not have the natural talent for the subject, but wants so desperately to succeed that he manages to eek out an A anyway. This student studies until it hurts, doesn't get sleep, and goes in for extra help. This student many times starts depending on the teacher and other A students to spoon-feed the information to them at an excrutiatingly slow pace. He gets As because he holds the rest of the class back, and makes the teacher go slow enough that he is able to get an A.

3) "The Above-It-All" - This student is probably generally intelligent, a very fast learner, and most definately lazy when it comes to school work. I think I relate most to this kind of student. He does just enough to get an A - he knows exactly what his limits are. He does all the work, but does the bare minimum, and most certaintly does it at the very last minute where he knows he can still finish it. He mostly teaches himself the content, as the teacher goes way too slowly trying to appease the A students that fit category #2 - the ones who need it spoonfed. He does not put a priority to the education the school gives him, and instead educates himself on what he finds interesting and relevent. He is in control of his own education, which keeps him interested, and has a birds-eye view of the system and knows how to beat it and knows what the teachers want. Often, he'll teach himself the material while taking the test. Note that he does very well in the math and science classes, but doesn't do as well in English/Literature/History classes that require reading and memorization. Depending on the value he puts on the "A", he may or may not actually work hard in the classes that require memorization.

Now, to the original poster, here's something I have to say to you. You get Bs. Whoop-de-doo. First of all, if colleges didn't put so much damn importance on grades, I'd tell you that As weren't worth it. However, they do, and college is incredibly important if you want a real education, so I'm going to give you some advice for As. Wake up and smell the coffee! Highschool is slooooowwwww. They spoonfeed you everything - you just have to accept it. If you just relaxed and realized this, then maybe you'd be able to retain the content better. Most B students would be A students if they knew how to take a test. Most of them simply freak out before, during and after it, get stressed, study way too much, and by doing so end up hurting themselves.

That's my advice. Take it or leave it. If you want to just call me an asshole and listen to the people who say "repetition, repetition, repetition" be my guest. I say you're just hurting yourself if you spend 3 hours studying something where you just have to plug constants into an equation.

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FngKestrel

Lots of good advice in posts, I'll probably end up reiterating a lot of them.

I feel that it's not really about skill, but about, for lack of a better word, dedication.

My perspective is that talent is your starting point with a particular skill. Some people are gifted at drawing, some people have an affinity for numbers, while others remember historical stats without breaking a sweat. Dedication takes you beyond your initial starting point. The willingness to invest the time to excel at that particular skill.

The short answer is: self-induced repetition. For classes you enjoy, that'll be a snap. You're probably doing it already. For classes that you hate, you'll have to make it fun for yourself to stomach it. In that regard, that's why homework is useful. It's a form of repetition that exposes you to the concepts you're trying to learn. And you do it a million times until you get it or you're sick of it. It's like playing a video game and you're stuck on a level. You'll end up going through the level a bunch of times until you finally get the way you're supposed to approach it and then it's a snap. That knowledge then serves you later on harder levels.

A few more things learning related. The average person needs to take in information 3 ways before it sticks. So for difficult subjects, trying reading it out loud, writing it down, and careful listening. During a lecture though, scribbling down notes at a breakneck speed usually preempts any useful listening and cognizance of what you're actually writing down.

Like was stated in an earlier post, a learning style inventory is also useful. For me, I'm extremely visual and technical. Knowing that helped me pick out a major and also clued me onto the best way to get info into my thick skull.

Best of luck. Feel free to PM me if you've got more questions.

Lefty04

In math, if you don't quite grasp it, you get a C. If you have a good understanding, but no attention to detail, you get a B. It's the silly errors that cost you an A.

fallsauce

In math and physics, I find it useful to practice questions on as many different types of questions as possible. There are only so many types examiners can throw at you.

For English/history etc, I memorize a bunch of quotes and facts so that whatever type of questions come up, I'll at least have some sort of evidence to support my arguments.

This coming from a huge procrastinator who just finished 3/4 of her exam, do not go anywhere *near* the computer/TV/whatever else interests you. And don't start a new obsession two days before your study leave.

Skill vs. Gift?

I find people who have a gift in that subject already to be able to put in a lot more effort into it. I think it's because it's relatively easy to them so they understand it, so they find the homework etc doesn't need to take 2 hours and ending up with a massive headache.

I think people who get good marks despite lacking the gift for it to be incredible. I can't even imagine sitting there everyday studying for 5 hours.
I think it's a skill in that you need to figure out what the question is asking you, instead of *thinking* what the question is asking you. With physics, a lot of the word problems have a basis in equations, so that helps a lot, especially if you're stuck, I try to link equations together, and sometimes they turn out right...

(sorry if this post was incoherent. It's late and I'm tired...)

1010011010

fallsauce brings up an interesting point.

It's possible to pass tests without studying anything provided you are familiar with the types of questions that will appear. You can know no more about the subject than what you overheard in the handful of lectures you didn't skip or sleep through entirely and the information presented on the test itself by way of asking questions... and still pass- no detailed knowledge required.

Whether this is a good idea in the long run is debatable... but learning how to take tests is more generally useful than what you'll learn in certain classes.

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