You Are Smart, Your School Grades Should Be Too

You’ve got the brains to make it in college and do well in your studies, so here are some “smart” tips on how to succeed.

You didn’t get into college because you smiled at the admissions officer and skated by in high school. You were admitted because you’re an intelligent person with great promise for your future. So why spend all your time studying without seeing those good grades pay off? Here are some ideas for ways to study smarter — not harder.

A little bit each day goes a long way.

Whatever you do, don’t cram for that exam. Maybe you’ve been told a thousand times not to procrastinate studying, but you still find the task overwhelming and intimidating. Remember the adage: How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Instead of trying to study the entire book or even the entire chapter before an exam, go home each night and spend 20-30 minutes working on just one section. Do practice problems that only apply to that concept. Review the vocabulary just for those paragraphs. By breaking up the studying into smaller pieces, you’ll have to spend less time when it’s exam time.

Make real-life connections to your subjects.

If you’re studying finance or civil engineering, it might be easier to see the practical application of your studies. Other subjects, like English composition or philosophy might be harder. But remember, when you make connections between the content you learn in school and the outside world, the information solidifies in your brain, and you have experiences to refer to when you need to recall information. The next time you see a billboard, make note of the punctuation and grammar. Try and associate the grammar rules with examples you see in the world.

Build an army of study buddies in college.

Get as many people involved and invested in your success as possible. This includes family and friends and outside help. Ask your mom or sister to text you questions throughout your day before an exam and pledge to send back a correct answer within an hour. Make friends with people in your class who always have their hands up (they’re the ones who know their stuff). Even get your friends who aren’t in the class involved. Teach them a new concept — remember, you don’t really know a subject until you can teach it to someone else. Also, it can be helpful to enlist the help of a tutor to work with you each week on questions you might have, or to offer practice problems or writing help. A tutoring service like Solution Inn can pair you up with tutors all over the world, available on your schedule.

Go ahead; sit at the front of the class.

Want to look like a real smarty pants? Sit where all the kids who have their hands up sit — right at the front. There are a few reasons why this is a good idea. First, you won’t have anything in your field of vision to distract you. That cute girl over there? She doesn’t exist. What’s the guy texting to his mom? Doesn’t matter; you can’t see it. Another reason sitting in the front is great is because professors are more likely to ask you questions and engage with you. This will help you stay engaged with the class and feel some slight pressure to participate. Sitting in front will also discourage you from napping in class, since you’re front-and-center of the action.

Multi-tasking isn’t real. You need to focus.

In the 2000s, the idea of multi-tasking took flight. The concept sprung from personal computers being able to run multiple programs at one time and internet browsers having multiple “tabs” open during a session. Since then, scientists have debunked the idea of multi-tasking as a myth. It’s not that the brain can do many things at once, but that it can switch between tasks quickly. This is not ideal for studying though, so put down your phone, close those other browser tabs, turn off the TV and get down to business. The brain needs time with material to really have it sink in, so give it the time it needs without getting distracted by other tasks. Those bills can wait.