5 Tips to Getting Straight A’s and a 4.0 GPA

I know exams are coming up for a few of you, so I wanted to share 5 tips that helped me study more efficiently, with less time.

The purpose of this blog post is to promote a smarter way of learning for students who wish to get better grades without facing burnout.

1. Break a Project into Chunks

Big assignments like research papers can become overwhelming very quickly. It is actually one of the ways your professors enforce active learning, in order to better understand the course’s material. For me at least, it was always easier to start the assignment when I break it down into smaller tasks.

For example, you can schedule out a layout before uploading your final paper:

1-3 days for research
1 day for the outline
1 day for the intro
2-3 days for the body paragraphs
1 day for the conclusion,
1 day for editing
3 days for peer-review

This method allows more energy and time for critical thinking and not only reduces stress, but it also increases my essay score by 15%.

TIP: Ask yourself what the professor is REALLY asking you in the rubric. Find out what is absolutely necessary to include in the project, and narrow it down from there. If you do the reverse, most essays become bland and unstructured.

2. Work on the Hardest Task First

Now that we know how to break projects into smaller tasks, most students will still leave the most difficult task to the very last minute.

Make it a habit of tackling the most difficult & tedious tasks first. Research shows that putting off harder tasks negatively affects one’s productivity for the rest of the day.

The reality of the situation is that your willpower weakens throughout the day. Like I said before, attempting to tackle a hard task (and most likely a boring task too) with insufficient energy, just ends up being tomorrow’s problem.

3. Create Flashcards on Anki

This was a game changer during my last year at university. Rather than writing a ton of notes, I would create flashcards for the most important parts in my lectures.

I first heard about Anki from Rachel Southard, a medical student on YouTube. She explains how the algorithm enforces active recall rather than passive learning.

click here to get anki

Passive learning is when students acquire knowledge without making any conscious efforts. Examples includes reading, listening to lectures, even writing notes word for word from your textbook.

Active learning involve interactive methods such as, teaching, practicing questions, and partaking in discussions to promote divergent thinking.

4. Stop Making your Notes so Pretty

I used to be someone who obsessed on making aesthetically-pleasing notes. In fact, I was focusing on what they looked like, rather than what they mean.

I noticed my obsession tied to perfecting my handwriting, so I avoided handwritten notes all-together. During class, I would never type up exactly what's on the slide (that's just passive learning again). I'd rather save my energy and take a screenshot or a picture from my phone.

Also, my notes for different types of courses would vary greatly.

Here are some examples for different types off courses:

Mathematics & Physics: Problem-solving on paper, Anki for theory
Psychology: Only Anki cards from typed-up notes in class and textbooks.
Biology & Chemistry: Illustrations on paper, and Anki for theory.
Law: Problem-solving on paper, Anki cards from typed-up notes in class and textbooks.

5. Listen more in Class

As I said before, I stopped handwriting my notes during lectures.

However, something I would write on paper was what the professor said out loud.

Some professors are very smart at putting “easter eggs” in their lectures. They may be quite obvious about it such as, “THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION * WINK WINK *.” Or, it is simply the first fact, example, or story about the topic. Regardless, the information will most likely be on your exam.

I also wrote down the answers to questions arisen in class, as well as my own questions that I could ask later. Remember, no answer is stupid!

The Detox

Big tasks ➞ Small tasks

Easiest task first ➞Hardest task first

Pretty notes ➞ Informative notes

Copying Lecture Notes ➞ Listening in Class