How do kids do it? And by it, I mean, get straight A's

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

<p>Here's my question:</p>

<p>How do some kids do it?</p>

<p>I go to a very competitive high school, and so when I hear kids speaking about their grades, I sometimes wonder how they pull it off. Kids will embellish, but I;ve heard enough stories regarding all A's and a few scattered A+'s that I begin to wonder exactly how is it possible? The fact of the matter is, if these students were very bright, or genius-like, then I could understand, but many of them are average but get above average grades. </p>

<p>Now, I realize the likely answer is, "well, they work hard". It's not a wrong answer, but it sort of evades the question, for two reasons. 1) At my school, especially those in honors courses like me, there is simply so much work that I KNOW these students can't spend 2+ hours studying for each subject. So yes, they work hard, but it's practically impossible to prioritize everything in the necessary manner for an A/A+. Also, many of them do things after school.
2) Working hard doesn't even necessarily translate into an A+, or even an A. At tough schools, you can have a tutor, spend 2 hours a night, and still come out with a B+.</p>

<p>To get an A or above, it means that a student basically has to own the class- there is an unwritten rule at my school which is basically that no more than 4-5 kids can get A+'s. I've heard a few different ways in which kids go about it- "get the teacher on your side", "make it seem like you're really trying hard", "see the teacher after school a lot", etc. </p>

<p>For those CC'ers who DO get A's and A+'s across the board, how can manage to juggle five or six classes at once? Is there some sort of secret, some trick?</p>

2

<p>I went to an easy public school. The only APs I was in were English and History. And academics are killing me now, so much worth the struggle you are going through now so you are more prepared.</p>

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<p>Some people just test really well. I'm a college student but I think the same thing happens in high school. For my physics class I did hardly any studying only turned in about 3/4 of the homework which is 20% of the grade but I did well on the tests got all A's and came out of the class with an A.</p>

4

<p>You test well, learn to absolutely adore all of your classes, and pray. The same way I prayed for an A in calculus and got a 90.05.</p>

5

<p>It's simple. Know the requirements. Master the material. </p>

<p>But other than that, I don't know. I go to a crappy public school full of grade inflation.</p>

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<p>I suck up to the teachers...
One thing I find that really helps is by staring at them and looking interested when they're talking. A lot of students start writing on their hands or looking somewhere else, even if they are listening. I'm usually the only one who looks at the teacher, and nods when I'm suppose to. As a result, I'm usually told I'm the most mature student they've ever had, I'm the most hardworking, etc.
Oh, and do as much extra credit as you can. I would have an A in every class if I didn't do extra credit...but I have above a 110% in every class as a result of doing a little bit of extra credit each week, which adds up.</p>

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<p>I guess you were right about "working hard", because that is the only thing I can tell you to do. Of course there is stuff on the side like EC and as you say- "sucking up to the teachers." But then again, I come from a small preparatory school where classes are few and not too demanding. But most of the time you have to do an hour for each main. Sometimes you've got to do what you've got to do to get to the top.</p>

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<p>I went to a pretty good, but not amazing public school with lots of APs and clubs and whatnot. Some students got As by sucking up, like at any school, and some worked hard. Others dropped or didn't take the "hard" AP classes and substituted them with easier ones. Spanish IV is notorious hard, and had very few people taking it, while Physics II was mostly a joke because the teacher was very laid back and most everyone got As, so lots of people not normally in AP classes took it. One guy I know just didn't do much of anything, but was very intelligent. </p>

<p>It all depends, but in most classes that I took, intelligent people could get As as long as they did all the work. I heard people complain all the time about APUSH, but if they actually did all the assignments the teacher gave out, they would have done fine. English was the only class that was different, and there you had to make the teacher like you.</p>

<p>Also, at my school there are no + or - grades, so an A is 90-100 and a B 80-89, so that makes it easier, too. I scraped by with plenty of 90s or 89s that became 90s in English.</p>

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<p>cheat///////////</p>

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<p>Hmmm...I'm just wondering how come relatively many people with nothing but straight A's have mediocre SATs result. Kinda weird....</p>

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<p>Not weird. Grade inflation. That's why SATs are necesary.</p>

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<p>I appreciated the whole "eye contact" response- it's something I'll keep in mind.</p>

<p>Also, this question sort of speaks to gradelocking (esp. in classes like English). You can kind of interpret my original post as, "how does one get gradelocked at an A?". The posts have been helpful, thanks.</p>

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<p>The same way I got a 5000 out of 2400 on the SAT. See the Sometimes peoople on here make me sick thread.</p>

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<p>I hope you don’t mind a parent butting in but I have also wondered how so many kids are getting straight As. Somewhere along the way, most students are going to run into some unfair ‘gotcha’ that is beyond their control.</p>

<p>For example, my D’s PE teacher gave everybody across the board a 90% both quarters. There’s one B. Another teacher, after a big test was over, chose to omit the entire essay question section, the part that my D had focused most of her time on – poor test grade, ended up just barely missing an A for the semester. These teachers didn’t do extra credit. </p>

<p>I'm not talking 'grade-grubbing' here!! but students who recognize a true unfairness (which may or may not have been intentional) and call a teacher on it can get a grade changed, and are more likely to end up in the Straight-A club.</p>

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<p>My school was pretty good, we had quite a few AP's and several clubs. Still, it wasn't that hard to get straight A's, I even managed to pull off straight A+'s once. All you had to do was do all the homework and turn it in on time, which was usually graded by completion. Tests were usually not worth TOO much more points than homework... for example, in my Finite Math class, each homework was worth 10 points, but the tests were worth 30-50 points. Even if you failed a couple tests, the homework pooints would cancel it out. Also, many of my teachers (esp. science ones) would curve tests and finals, which helped a lot of people. </p>

<p>No one really got extra points by sucking up, as far as I know. In my AP English Comp class, I think I kinda got higher grades than I should have on my essays because I was the one of the few who actually read the required summer reading, I went the extra mile on research essays, etc. I think as long as people proved themselves as good students by doing all their work and paying attention in class, the teachers allowed for a few slip-ups.</p>

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<p>Oh yeah...my eye contact thing may not work in high school o_O. I'm talking about 8th grade here...I'm not a freshman until fall.</p>

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<p>that might be part of it, Kim...extra credit and curves are practically unheard of here, and dontpanic- calling out a teacher on a mistake (even when its legitimate) will basically never get a grade change unless parents, dean, sometimes assistant principal, dept. head are brought it. Just going and seeing a teacher, (UNLESS the teacher really likes you) doesn't get much done, but I guess thats just the politics of my school.</p>

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<p>I've always shown eye contact, and now some of the teachers expect me to always be watching them and they seem kinda disappointed when they look at me and I'm doing something else. But it works in general .. i have this kinda serious deep stare (dark brown eyes) so I think it seems that I'm really interested when I look at them.</p>

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<p>I see you are asking CCers how they manage their pefect GPAs, and well it's pretty simple and many kids have hinted at it. You go to a top private school (at least you say you do) as do I. We have kids going to ivies and the likes with enough Bs on their transcripts to make the average CCer slit his wrists. (which from what it seems is anything more than 2) I digress, many of the kids on here go to crappy schools. The kids on CC represent the pinnacle of their class, and thus in order for the school to make it fair for the rest of the kids, it becomes rather easy for a CCer to have a perfect GPA at some random public school.</p>

<p>Do not worry too much, this is the reason schools have regional reps. They are responsible for knowing enough about your school to acknowledge that your B+ is just as good as the public school's A.</p>

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<p>Best way to maintain or get straight A's is to learn to study as quickly and effectively as possible. If you can nail down a chapter of material in five minutes, you'll have time (and then some!) to do all your hw, EC's, sports, whatever. </p>

<p>Know your learning style. Do you memorize things well? Do you learn through repetition? Are you a visual learner?</p>

<p>Another thing is to focus very intensely during class so you pick up the material even faster. When you go back to do your hw after school, you won't have to refer back to textbooks or worksheets.</p>