Qualities Of An A+ Student

[davidthefat]

What are the qualities that make an A+ student?


I need help on this section of my life. I always have been a very brilliant guy, but never the model student. All my teachers have given the exact same comment regarding my academics ever since elementary: "David is has a lot of potential, he is a very smart guy, he is just very lazy" Now old habits are hard to break, but what can I do to be a better student? I never really studied in my life, I do not know how. According to my counselor, my GPA is 3.1, that is no where near I want it to be. I got until the end of this semester to get my grades up. I have been just coasting through school every since I began schooling. (I am a Junior)

Here is a list of qualities that I think a good students have:
Drive, motivation.
Great time management.
Self Discipline

Those are the only two I can think of, which I lack. I fixed my habit of not doing my homework, I do it every day, but that still did not help much. I have goals in life, but I can not find the passion in school work that I find in other aspects of my life. I seek knowledge, but I only seek what I want. I do not want to know who the presidential candidate for the Whigs in the 1848 election was or what television means in Spanish. That is a major flaw in my personality. Today I learned that actually looking at the examples given in the book helps ALOT... I am such an idiot. Now football season is over, so I have no excuse of blaming football practice for the lack of time to do homework, in fact I have extra time compared to other students because the lack of 6th period. I have a long way to mature.

Now I am the type of person that finds something I love, I stick with it all the way. I am 100% sure I am going to be a Computer Programmer when I grow up, I made that choice in 8th grade. I always knew I wanted to be a scientist ever since elementary. I picked up a C++ book when I was 11 and I was hooked since then.


I believe that if I just motivate my self and manage my time well, I will do great in school. I just need help on that.

Knowledge is useless if not put into action.












BTW I am an INTJ, if that helps.

[gblake]

Originally Posted by davidthefat

I always have been a very brilliant guy, but never the model student.

My blunt advice: Job 1 is shaking the notion that you are brilliant. Never entertain that thought again.

In some narrow sense you are likely to have lucked into scoring above average in some measurements; but if that was all it took to be brilliant, you would not have started this thread.

Spend some time in honest reflection about the differences between the abilities and successes you want to attain, and the abilities you currently have. By your own admission those current abilities aren't getting you where you want to go. Apparently they are nice to have, but not a magic wand. It's time to cultivate some new abilities.

My Fraternity asks its members to pay the price of success through honest effort. That is sound advice, particularly when the honest effort is focused on goals that are not seen through rose-colored glasses.

For me getting good grades was never a mystery. I sometimes didn't like the process, and I often wished for a different process, but deep down I knew what the process and price were. Search out the root causes by digging deeper than superficial appearances, and change what needs to be changed.

Blake

[Al Skierkiewicz]

David,
Funny how close your description matches mine although my grades were far worse. I found that one of my biggest problems was the failure to realize a "why" for studying. I needed a light at the end of the tunnel and I didn't get that from the professionals. I graduated from high school exactly in the middle. I didn't even pick a school until after January of my senior year. (That is something that simply can't be done now!) I think there were two things that turned me around.
The first was economic, I payed for all schooling from my senior year in high school on. (with some financial aid) So I had a vested interest in getting what I was paying for. That meant that I became learning machine to get the most out of what I was spending. On occasion that brought me in conflict with teachers that were not performing to my criteria. That taught me something very special. Teachers want you to learn even if that is not the persona they project. They will put more effort into students that want to learn even if they are having a tough time. Get to know your teachers and talk with them about doing better.
The second was the need for that light at the end of the tunnel. When I didn't get that from my teachers, I gave myself reasons. For instance, why do you need to study the French Revolution? Why do I need to learn a slide rule (calculator for you)? Why do I need to study circuit analysis and Thevenin's Equivalents? The only answers that worked for me were the one's I came up with myself. They are different for each of us so you need to come with your own. You can start with your desire to become a programmer. If that is what you want to become, you must do the work to get there. Each thing we learn is a tool to understanding the world. I can tell you that the process never stops. That phrase in my signature is not something catchy it is life. Learn something new everyday, because...

[Taylor]

WORK ETHIC.

I'd rather have a few hard-working B- students than an army of lazy A+ students on my side.

Sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel just doesn't exist; sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel can't be understood by those in the tunnel.

I have a perfect reason for why you would need to know the dates of the French Revolution or the word Television in Spanish: Because you were asked to know so. Because the knowledge of these things will bring you closer to your goal to becoming an A+ student. Because this will help you realize that maybe - just maybe - the teachers are teachers because they're pretty doggone smart and know what you will need to know to succeed in their classes (and in life). Because the realization that teachers are teachers and students are students will serve you well in your adult life.

Studying things that you like is easy. Anybody can learn about something that excites him or her. Studying, learning, and becoming knowledgeable about things that don't particularly interest you separate the wheat from the chaff.

Learn for the sake of learning. You don't need a reason.

Or, maybe, that is your reason.



Make that your reason.

[Chris is me]

The average A student in high school is probably not a hard working genius. They're probably just a student smart enough to get away with doing well in all their classes without real effort. They have "tons" of "fun" in college.

Occasionally you'll stumble on someone dedicated to their schoolwork more than anything, but more often than not people I know in this position do that at the expense of extracurriculars, a social life, and whatnot.

------------------------------------------

Now with that off my chest, it seems like this thread is less about "What do those A students have that I don't?" and more about how people like you (and me, too) can become those A students wherever we need to be.

The only way to do better in school than you are now is to own up and work hard. No matter how many times you tell yourself that you're brilliant, you're going to have to apply yourself and do the work you don't necessarily want to do. It's not some aspect of your personality that you don't care about some of your classes; it's that you're not trying and it's awfully hard to connect the dots in your head that what you're doing dictates your future.

You do know how to study. You have a textbook for each class, you can read the chapters, do the practice problems if any, it's not exactly a mysterious process. You just haven't before, for whatever reason. Some people fear failure so much that they don't even try so that they can chalk it up to laziness and still feel smart at the end of the day since their abilities were never actually tested. It's silly, but it affects the best of us, apparently. Other people are unmotivated for other reasons, or they just plain don't care. Either way, the only way to really turn that around is to muscle through your work.

-----------

If that advice actually helped you, lemme know. We're a lot less different than you might think, and my 3.1 GPA isn't going to stay that way for long at this rate...

[EricVanWyk]

Originally Posted by gblake

My blunt advice: Job 1 is shaking the notion that you are brilliant. Never entertain that thought again.

If you ever find yourself thinking that you are the most brilliant person in a situation, you are doing something wrong.

It is extremely rare for you to actually be more brilliant than your peers. Believing you are will do nothing to ingratiate you to them, and will result in the host of problems. Drop the ego.

If you actually are the most brilliant person, move on. I enjoy working with people that put me to shame with their abilities. It is the only way to improve yourself.

[JesseK]

Originally Posted by davidthefat

What are the qualities that make an A+ student?

I have been just coasting through school every since I began schooling. (I am a Junior)

In your post you've pretty much summed up what you need to do academically, including finding the thing that motivates you. You're already steps ahead of most high school kids, even the A+ ones. Here's the next step, and it's the secret that got me through my toughest times in college:

We all have work to do. Quit complaining and do your part!

edit -- I should say I mean this with the sincerest "tough love" attitude I can. Sometimes we really just need a kick in the butt to get started.

[Cynette]

I'm not sure if it is considered drive, or self motivation, or... The one thing that comes to me, and the one thing I personally wish my kids would get, is the personal responsibility to do the absolute best you are able to do in everything that you do. It shouldn't matter if the subject is hard or easy, if you are interested or not, if it is a requirement or elective, do you best. Give it your all. Make it your practice to learn all you can and love learning for the sake of learning!

[JaneYoung]

Building calluses. If training for football, you worked with free weights, you know how building up the calluses help you with working with the weights. Those calluses are built up by self-discipline, dedication, and correct usage. The reward is the strength and power that is gained.

Build mental calluses through dedication, commitment, and proper usage. Determine the study habits that work for you and apply them. If you don't know how to study, seek help. Since you have started this thread, ask for some best practices here. Seek out teachers or administrators that will help you. Research resources off campus that can teach you how to study. Recognize that different courses may require different methods of study. Also, part of studying is organization. How organized are you? Think about your locker, your back back, your study area at home, and determine how they can be better organized. If they can't be improved, then that tells you that you have that part of it under control.

Jane

[Siri]

I had to major realizations somewhere in senior HS-freshman college that really kicked me into gear. Before that I'd been largely relying on pure habit to get my work done.*

The first one was the simple recognition that what I do right now matters. I've found this hard to articulate to those who havn't felt it, but it's not necessarily because I want to get into a good college or get a good job. Rather, it's simply because it's my life and I have to use and be in charge of it. I think that's sort of what Cynette is getting at, in which case she probably made more sense that I did.

The second one is less ambiguous, though it benefits from the first. When I need some convincing, the steps I us are something like this: I've already decided that I'm unsatisfied with my current situation (as have you). I want to change it (as have you), so my natural next step should be to hold myself to a higher standard in order to achieve it. (Some people feel this as a bit of a leap. Don't. It makes sense, right? So just do it. Raise the bar on yourself.) And the next time I'm sitting there not studying, I realize that if I don't to it, it won't get done. I'm the only one who can do my job for me, that job needs to get done, ergo I may as well just do it.


*This may work for you as well, actually. In that case, my advice would be to simply do it for x days. Just tell yourself "it's worked for a lot of other people and they say it's not really as painful/annoying as it seems, so I'll give it a shot". You might be surprised how quickly you just plain get used to it. For some reason this isn't as strong for me anymore (I need the above), but it carried me through pre-college life with a 4.2. ymmv

[Ian Curtis]

I hate to sound like a broken record, but time management is really important. (Bonus, you can "procrastinate" right now by watching it!)

Essentially, it all boils down to doing stuff. Come home, start working. I'm a really big fan of the setting false deadlines, as Dr. Pausch mentions in his final talk. You treat a project like it is due 2 days before it is due, so if some extenuating circumstance comes up, you are okay. The important thing with this strategy is to actually treat the fake deadline like the real one, so you only slip at the last minute if you have to.

IMHO, to get things done, you've got to be intrinsically motivated. How you find that intrinsic motivation is something you've got to figure out for yourself, because otherwise it won't be intrinsic, will it? Relate things to what you've interested in, because high school is mostly general education, so your teachers won't do it for you.

[smurfgirl]

I think it's important that you know yourself - what are your strengths and weaknesses? In which situations do you thrive, and in which do you struggle? If you're aware of this, you can actively work to improve in the academic areas where you need assistance and in the other areas where you've recognized that you struggle.

Be proactive. Seek out help yourself, do not expect it to come to you. You say "I never really studied in my life, I do not know how." Recognizing that this is an issue you face is the first step, but now you have to go do something about it - look up resources that exist at your school to help you deal with this problem.

In terms of motivating yourself, it might help to have a purpose for being in them - think about how your classes now relate to "real life" experiences and why these topics are important to study. Find out what the applications of what you're learning in class are - maybe you'll be more interested in the applications than in the theory, who knows. It's a lot easier to be motivated to understand when you're learning about things that interest you. Wherever possible, take classes with subjects you're interested in. Take classes that you enjoy, rather than blindly selecting things to fulfill requirements.

[Karibou]

Originally Posted by smurfgirl

It's a lot easier to be motivated to understand when you're learning about things that interest you. Wherever possible, take classes with subjects you're interested in. Take classes that you enjoy, rather than blindly selecting things to fulfill requirements.

Or if you have to fill a requirement, fill it with a class that you know you won't be totally miserable in. Taking Journalism over British or Classical Literature was one of the best choices I've made in regards to my class choice.

And I know that it's too late for you, but for any underclassmen reading this thread: you know what courses your school offers. Start planning out your future classes as soon as you can. Most states and schools don't require that you take a particular course in a specific year (keyword: most. Freshman English is obviously a class for freshmen), so if you begin planning ahead of time, you'll find that you can usually spread out the required classes that you really don't like over a few years. Don't save all of the "boring but required" classes for one year, or you'll just hurt in the end. Know the requirements for your state and school district and have an idea of where you are in terms of those requirements BEFORE you find out senior year that you have to drop choir to take health and a computer course, even though you're going to major in music.

My cross country coach always told us that students involved with athletics and extracurriculars tend to do better than those who aren't, because they learn how to manage their time. Being sure to do your homework every night is the first step to managing your school life better, and you seem to have taken that step. I don't know how much you procrastinate, but work on not doing that. Don't wait to start a paper due on Thursday until Wednesday night, when you know that you have prior commitments that will keep you out of the house until 10pm on Wednesday. You will feel so much better about yourself when you finish that paper by 9pm on Tuesday.

For study skills, talk to your teachers. They have a lot more experience with studying than you do, and at this point in the school year, they should have some kind of an idea of your personality and what study skills you should try based on that.

I don't know how to tell you how to motivate yourself: as iCurtis said (paraphrased), it's different for everyone. If you're the kind of guy who enjoys random trivia and hates it when people know more than you, try going on www.sporcle.com and see if it inspires you to pay more attention to who the presidential candidate for the Whigs in the 1848 election was.

[XaulZan11]

I think the first step would be to learn how to study (as you stated that you never done it and don't really know how). Its hard to motivate yourself to do something that you don't know how to do.

Recently, I've been procrastinating doing a certain step on my honors research. Its something I'm extremely interested in (marketing beer) and I've been really motivated to complete, but I just couldn't bring myself to completing this one step. The issue was, which I figured out after a day or two of just not working on it, was that I didn't really know how to start it. The problem wasn't a lack of motivation but a lack of knowledge or a plan on how to complete it.

I'm sure you school will have resources on how to study, but I would recommend "Getting Straight As" by Gordan Green. It was a book my mom got me when I had similarly disappointing grades in high school. My gpa in college is significantly higher than what it was in high school.

I think it is good that you are realizing you do not have the study skills now opposed of learning the very harsh lesson in college. I know of several people who never studied in high school or never wrote more than a 5 paragraph paper. Learning these skills now will make a huge impact in college.

[DonRotolo]

Work at it.

If you aren't putting everything into it, you're not doing anything.

You don't just want to learn history (for example), you have to want to understand and even enjoy it, and simply be better at it than anyone. With a reasonable intelligence, work will get you there.

Like Taylor wrote, one motivated B employee is worth a room full of A+ slackers.

Nobody is going to do it for you.