Qualities Of An A+ Student

[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.

[TACG]

As an A+ "gifted" Junior (and I'll assume you mean a high school Junior because hopefully you aren't having these problems in college xP) I agree with pretty much everything said before.

I was home-schooled for grades 6 through 9 (I took online classes and was home alone.) and I used to literally sit at home and do nothing. A large part of getting good grades is learning to NOT just rely on your intelligence.

For motivation, It helps to have rewards to work towards, even short term goals like "progress reports come out on such and such date and this movie I want to see comes out the next day, If I do well on the progress report I can go see it."
If you have a shorter term material reward it makes it easier to get motivated.

Time management is very important, especially if you're really busy with things like sports. Don't under estimate even the 15 minutes before school starts when you get to school early. Personally I think it helps to keep a planner or to make to-do lists. It's lame but they're both really good ways to organize not only your stuff but your mind also. It doesn't just have to be a list of stuff to do, but it can also be a list of where you have to be at what time.
Breaking assignments into pieces also helps a lot with time management. When you do this it helps to have something else to do, like cleaning your room or folding laundry.
If you have to do a math worksheet with 20 problems on it, break it into 5's. Do 5 problems and then fold 3 shirts then another 5 problems and so on. If you are a serious procrastinator then set a timer for yourself and do those 5 problems in a certain amount of time. You can even race yourself.


Self Discipline unfortunately is the hardest part of being a good student.
I think the rewards come in here also. It's really really tough to keep doing an English essay when all you really want to do is draw or play guitar or sleep or chew your arm off or please anything but English. D: If you have a reward to work towards you can keep on task much better.

You say you've never studied and don't know how.
First I would start by taking notes if you don't already. If you do, try and find ways to make them more detailed. Don't just write what the teacher has written on the board, put down what s/he says also.
If you have questions about something put them down on your notes too.
Then when get home part of your homework should be either rewriting your notes or highlighting the important parts.
Don't write out complete sentences either. Draw arrows or pictures, just make sure you get the concepts down.

Read the text book. It really is there for a reason.

Google the phrase "Studying tips"
Really.

As for finding the passion in all subjects, I'm not sure its possible to genuinely like every subject let alone be passionate about it. That being said, I completely understand about not wanting to do something you don't really care about. This is part of where self discipline and will power come in.
Maybe you can think of the work for these classes as obstacles that you have to over come in order to become a programmer; kind of a "fight the power" type thing.


I think for you, being an INTJ might be a double edged sword. (Props for knowing stuff about myers-briggs btw!) Hanging out with friends won't exactly be the motivation it is for me. (ENFP with a strong border on ENFJ here.) Maybe you could use hobbies as incentive instead?

Try to use the same creativity you do for other things, with your homework.

I'm not sure how much of a perfectionist you are but I know it's messed me up a little bit especially this year. Look to balance out having one assignment done perfectly but not having done the other assignment vs. not having either assignment perfectly done but at least having them DONE. I guess you have to remember that 2 B grades are still more points then an A and an F. (Especially if the F assignment was worth more o__O)

I think if you throw the same dedication into your school work that you do the other things you like to do and learn to use tools like notes and lists to manage your time and study the material it'll work out.

[mplanchard]

Set a goal for yourself. If you want to be an A+ student what do you have to do to get there? Do you do great on tests but forget to hand in a lab or homework? Do you come to class and sleep? Can you help other students in your class achieve their goals.

When I look to hire students, I dont just look at GPA, also look at attitude. Can you work by yourself with little direction and can you work as a part of a team - you need both these skills as a programmer. You also need to be humble - there are far more people out there that have great talent. Surround yourself with the people you can learn from.

If you want to survive, realize that life is far more that C++, there are many languages and there will be new languages in your professional career. You will also need to apply of math - so get those skills up too. Marie