Study Tips
15 Secrets of Getting Good Grades in College
Grades are the measure of college success. Like the salary at a job, the batting average in baseball, or the price of a stock, your grade-point average is an objective indication of how you're doing. And yet, there's surprisingly little good information—least of all from professors—about just what you should do to get good grades at college. Here are the 15 best tips from our Professors' Guide to Getting Good Grades in College—with our best wishes that you get all A's as you start your college year:
1. Take charge of this thing. College isn't like high school. There's no teacher or parent to remind you every day of what you need to do. So step up to bat and take responsibility. What grades you get will depend on what you yourself do.
2. Select, don't settle. To get good grades in college, it's very important that you pick the right courses. Pick classes that you think you can do. And be sure to pick the right level in required courses such as math, English comp, sciences, and languages (in some colleges, there are five courses all bearing the name "college math"). Most of all, don't accept some "standard freshman program" from your adviser. Pick your courses one by one, paying careful attention that some fulfill distribution requirements, some count to a possible major, some satisfy some interest of yours, and at least one is something that somehow "sounds interesting." You'll do better if you've made the right choices.
3. Don't overload. Some students think it's a mark of pride to take as many hours as the college allows. It isn't. Take four or at the most five courses each semester. And, unless you are very special, don't take more than one major. Each major comes equipped with 10 or 12 required courses, and you can really kill your GPA if you're taking lots of required—that is, forced—courses in a major that you're only half-interested in.
4. Make a plan. Part of getting good grades is balancing off the
Grades are the measure of college success. Like the salary at a job, the batting average in baseball, or the price of a stock, your grade-point average is an objective indication of how you're doing. And yet, there's surprisingly little good information—least of all from professors—about just what you should do to get good grades at college. Here are the 15 best tips from our Professors' Guide to Getting Good Grades in College—with our best wishes that you get all A's as you start your college year:
1. Take charge of this thing. College isn't like high school. There's no teacher or parent to remind you every day of what you need to do. So step up to bat and take responsibility. What grades you get will depend on what you yourself do.
2. Select, don't settle. To get good grades in college, it's very important that you pick the right courses. Pick classes that you think you can do. And be sure to pick the right level in required courses such as math, English comp, sciences, and languages (in some colleges, there are five courses all bearing the name "college math"). Most of all, don't accept some "standard freshman program" from your adviser. Pick your courses one by one, paying careful attention that some fulfill distribution requirements, some count to a possible major, some satisfy some interest of yours, and at least one is something that somehow "sounds interesting." You'll do better if you've made the right choices.
3. Don't overload. Some students think it's a mark of pride to take as many hours as the college allows. It isn't. Take four or at the most five courses each semester. And, unless you are very special, don't take more than one major. Each major comes equipped with 10 or 12 required courses, and you can really kill your GPA if you're taking lots of required—that is, forced—courses in a major that you're only half-interested in.
4. Make a plan. Part of getting good grades is balancing off the