How to Get Better Grades in College

Florida Tech May 23, 2014

The first thing that should pop into mind when you’re trying to get a good grade is “always ask questions in class.” It doesn’t matter what other people may think of you—what matters is if you understand the material or not. I used stay quiet in class because I felt that my peers would think I was stupid and I regret it to this day. I have started asking questions, and the benefits I get from that are exponential.

Because you are learning new material every day, your brain can easily forget everything you learn. An easy way you can solve that problem is going over the material that you learned that day after class.

Rather than studying alone, it’s always a good idea to form study groups so that you and your peers can share ideas and help each other out while solving problems. It increases your chances of understanding the material clearly.

Choose classes that you find interesting and want to be a part of. That also goes with choosing the correct major. Go to those classes; do not skip because you are lazy or were up late the night before. Get at least eight hours of sleep every night and make it to the classes; that way you don’t miss out on any of the fun. Work around your schedule and make sure you get classes with the teachers that you like and want to learn from. Don’t choose them because it’s an “easy A.” Choose them because you learn and understand what they teach.

Do the extra work that professors assign, whether it may be counted as extra credit or not. They tell you to do it because practice makes perfect. The more you are exposed to the material they are teaching, the more you will understand; thus, the more you’ll benefit from it. I used to think that it didn’t matter, but at some point I realized that doing the extra bit of work made all the difference.

One last thing is do a bit of research in your field of interest, no matter what you are interested in: find out what’s going on with it. Every field is connected; with the research you do in the field of your choice, you will eventually hit something that you are learning about or other things you are interested in that you never knew were related. This allows you to broaden your mind and take in a lot more information.