Question: I study all the time, but I’m still not getting grades that are as good as some of my friends. What am I doing wrong?
Susan’s Take: It’s going to be pretty tough to have a happy new year if you are studying all the time without desired results, so I’m glad you sent in your question. But before giving you some tips on what you might be doing wrong, I want you to read this sentence and take it to heart: Swim in your own lane. I can’t stress this enough. Stop comparing yourself to others. It will only distract you from your own performance. Swim in your own lane. Worry about how you are doing compared to how you could be doing, not compared to how your friends are doing. Enough said.
As a general rule there is a strong correlation between time spent studying and good grades, so if you are putting in the time and are not seeing desired result, you’re probably making one or more of these five study mistakes:
Susan’s Take: It’s going to be pretty tough to have a happy new year if you are studying all the time without desired results, so I’m glad you sent in your question. But before giving you some tips on what you might be doing wrong, I want you to read this sentence and take it to heart: Swim in your own lane. I can’t stress this enough. Stop comparing yourself to others. It will only distract you from your own performance. Swim in your own lane. Worry about how you are doing compared to how you could be doing, not compared to how your friends are doing. Enough said.
As a general rule there is a strong correlation between time spent studying and good grades, so if you are putting in the time and are not seeing desired result, you’re probably making one or more of these five study mistakes:
Mistake 1: Underestimating the time you need to be studying.
You say that you “study all the time” but you don’t actually quantify that. For every hour in class, you need to be studying at least 4-6 hours outside of class. Are you doing that?
Mistake #2: Being distracted.
There is quantity of study time and quality of study time, both of which are necessary for good grades. If you are studying while also keeping up on the latest YouTube videos, you’re grades will reflect your lack of concentration.
Mistake #3: Studying only in your head.
It’s easy to think that you know the material when you only review it in your head, but how do you know if you’ve actually learned the material? The best way to check what you really know is to study with other people who quiz each other, or to make yourself a written test. Moving beyond simply thinking about the material in your head is one of the best way to improve your test grades.
Mistake #4: Last-minute cramming.
If you try to cram 10 hours of studying in the day before an exam, you can’t expect the same results that you’d get if you spent 10 hours spread over 2-3 days. The brain actually needs time to process information, so in order to improve your test performance you need to sleep on what you’ve learned, figure out what you don’t fully know yet (see #3 above), study some more, and sleep on it again before test day.
Mistake #5: Not covering all the material.
The professors gives you a syllabus or some sort of outline of what he/she expects you to learn. He/she may not actuality cover all of the material in class, but that does not mean you don’t need to learn all of it. If you don’t cover all the required information when you study, you can’t expect to do well in the class no matter how much time you spend studying. Pay close attention to everything listed on the syllabus.
Susan’s Bottom Line: Studying all the time is no guarantee that you’ll get good grades, but it should be a pretty good indicator. If you’re not doing as well as you desire (regardless of how your friends are doing), take a close look at your study habits and see if you’re making any of the mistakes listed above. Eliminate these mistakes, and you’re bound to see greater success in the new year.
Pat’s Take: Susan has offered five very solid tips for how to improve the quality of your study efforts – and therefore improve your results. If you would like more, my book,Making College Count, is loaded with ideas as to how to maximize your GPA. Given that, I am going to take a different approach in my response to your question. I’m not as concerned about your performance relative to your friends. I’m concerned about you doing the best you can do AND taking steps to maximize your marketability to employers.
My advice to you is to get beyond the battle for the highest GPA, and look at college from a more holistic standpoint. Grades definitely matter. They matter a lot, but there is much more to college than that last point on your GPA. So do the best you can do, try to get about the threshold you’ll need to surpass to get an interview in your field of study (talk to your career center to know that those are), and then think about what strengths and skills you have to offer employers and how you can exhibit those skills in a compelling way outside the classroom.
Employers will be very interested in understanding your level of involvement side the classroom. They will want to understand what extracurricular activities you were involved in, and importantly, how you made those organizations different and better.
They will want to understand what jobs you held that were related to the field you are entering, and the kind of impact you had in those roles. They will even be interested in your performance in less relevant jobs, to understand how you perform in less than ideal conditions, and want to know how you set yourself apart in those roles.
Finally, many will even want to discuss how you made your campus or community a better place, and how you built and exhibited leadership skills in doing so. Companies today are more interested than ever in community service, and the skills you can build from your involvement in them.
Your GPA will get you the interview, but it will likely not land you the job. It is in most cases simply an entry point into the game. Because of that, you want to achieve the best grades that you are capable of, but do not let small differences in GPA become an obsession for you.
Pat’s Bottom Line: Follow Susan’s advice (and the advice in my book), and make the most of your study efforts to maximize your GPA. That said, make sure you are focusing on the bigger picture, and creating a complete college experience that will attract employers, versus obsessing on how to take your GPA from a 3.3 to 3.5.
Are you transitioning from college to career or working in your first job after graduation? If so, we’d love to answer any question you may have related to career success. Send your first name, school and/or employer to [email protected] and we’ll try to address your question in a future article.
This article comes from The USA TODAY College Contributor network. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of USA TODAY. You understand that we have no obligation to monitor any discussion forums, blogs, photo- or video-sharing pages, or other areas of the Site through which users can supply information or material. However, we reserve the right at all times, in our sole discretion, to screen content submitted by users and to edit, move, delete and/or refuse to accept any content that in our judgment violates these Terms of Service or is otherwise unacceptable or inappropriate, whether for legal or other reasons.
You say that you “study all the time” but you don’t actually quantify that. For every hour in class, you need to be studying at least 4-6 hours outside of class. Are you doing that?
Mistake #2: Being distracted.
There is quantity of study time and quality of study time, both of which are necessary for good grades. If you are studying while also keeping up on the latest YouTube videos, you’re grades will reflect your lack of concentration.
Mistake #3: Studying only in your head.
It’s easy to think that you know the material when you only review it in your head, but how do you know if you’ve actually learned the material? The best way to check what you really know is to study with other people who quiz each other, or to make yourself a written test. Moving beyond simply thinking about the material in your head is one of the best way to improve your test grades.
Mistake #4: Last-minute cramming.
If you try to cram 10 hours of studying in the day before an exam, you can’t expect the same results that you’d get if you spent 10 hours spread over 2-3 days. The brain actually needs time to process information, so in order to improve your test performance you need to sleep on what you’ve learned, figure out what you don’t fully know yet (see #3 above), study some more, and sleep on it again before test day.
Mistake #5: Not covering all the material.
The professors gives you a syllabus or some sort of outline of what he/she expects you to learn. He/she may not actuality cover all of the material in class, but that does not mean you don’t need to learn all of it. If you don’t cover all the required information when you study, you can’t expect to do well in the class no matter how much time you spend studying. Pay close attention to everything listed on the syllabus.
Susan’s Bottom Line: Studying all the time is no guarantee that you’ll get good grades, but it should be a pretty good indicator. If you’re not doing as well as you desire (regardless of how your friends are doing), take a close look at your study habits and see if you’re making any of the mistakes listed above. Eliminate these mistakes, and you’re bound to see greater success in the new year.
Pat’s Take: Susan has offered five very solid tips for how to improve the quality of your study efforts – and therefore improve your results. If you would like more, my book,Making College Count, is loaded with ideas as to how to maximize your GPA. Given that, I am going to take a different approach in my response to your question. I’m not as concerned about your performance relative to your friends. I’m concerned about you doing the best you can do AND taking steps to maximize your marketability to employers.
My advice to you is to get beyond the battle for the highest GPA, and look at college from a more holistic standpoint. Grades definitely matter. They matter a lot, but there is much more to college than that last point on your GPA. So do the best you can do, try to get about the threshold you’ll need to surpass to get an interview in your field of study (talk to your career center to know that those are), and then think about what strengths and skills you have to offer employers and how you can exhibit those skills in a compelling way outside the classroom.
Employers will be very interested in understanding your level of involvement side the classroom. They will want to understand what extracurricular activities you were involved in, and importantly, how you made those organizations different and better.
They will want to understand what jobs you held that were related to the field you are entering, and the kind of impact you had in those roles. They will even be interested in your performance in less relevant jobs, to understand how you perform in less than ideal conditions, and want to know how you set yourself apart in those roles.
Finally, many will even want to discuss how you made your campus or community a better place, and how you built and exhibited leadership skills in doing so. Companies today are more interested than ever in community service, and the skills you can build from your involvement in them.
Your GPA will get you the interview, but it will likely not land you the job. It is in most cases simply an entry point into the game. Because of that, you want to achieve the best grades that you are capable of, but do not let small differences in GPA become an obsession for you.
Pat’s Bottom Line: Follow Susan’s advice (and the advice in my book), and make the most of your study efforts to maximize your GPA. That said, make sure you are focusing on the bigger picture, and creating a complete college experience that will attract employers, versus obsessing on how to take your GPA from a 3.3 to 3.5.
Are you transitioning from college to career or working in your first job after graduation? If so, we’d love to answer any question you may have related to career success. Send your first name, school and/or employer to [email protected] and we’ll try to address your question in a future article.
This article comes from The USA TODAY College Contributor network. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of USA TODAY. You understand that we have no obligation to monitor any discussion forums, blogs, photo- or video-sharing pages, or other areas of the Site through which users can supply information or material. However, we reserve the right at all times, in our sole discretion, to screen content submitted by users and to edit, move, delete and/or refuse to accept any content that in our judgment violates these Terms of Service or is otherwise unacceptable or inappropriate, whether for legal or other reasons.