How to balance academics and extracurriculars?

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
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<p>Right now I am a sophomore at UNC-Chapel Hill. Even though my GPA isn't bad, I can't seem to make an A in any of my science classes. I study for hours (sometimes weeks in advance) and don't do that much better than average. Because of this, I haven't been very involved with any clubs or extracurriculars. Because I am barely getting good grades I am scared to take time away from studying. </p>

<p>Since a lot of you all on this forum are successful and balancing grades and extra activities, I want to get advice on how I can more effectively study. Because I am putting in a lot of hours, but I am not getting grades that reflect that. Hopefully, I can free up some time so that I can do things like research, joining a club etc.
Thanks in advance.</p>

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<p>Firstly, let me just say that what will work for me, may not work for you, every individual is different. Do you work? How many hours of work? How many credit hours are you taking? I would advise designing a study schedule. Each week, set aside a day and time to study a certain course, and ONLY that course. With the schedule, look at groups that you are interested in and their meeting times. Try to work around it. Review your notes on the very day you do the topic, even between classes.</p>

<p>As for average grades, go back and look at your tests, see what you got wrong. It may be topics that are similar and that can be focused on a bit more. Spend time practicing each topic. EC’s are important, so too are volunteer work, research, and, of course, free time to relax. Get a handle on the troubles you have with your courses and then work your way up from there.</p>

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<p>Good starting points:</p>

<p>1) Make sure you’re studying the right stuff. A classic example is a professor who assigns a text book and then draws all exam questions based on lecture notes. The student who skips lecture and just reads the book probably wouldn’t do as well as the student who paid close attention in class and supplemented with the book.</p>

<p>2) It’s usually better to study a little bit for a long time than cram all the material. A good habit is to spend an hour or two each day preparing for your classes–going over the text book chapter(s), downloading the powerpoint and flipping through it, highlighting in novels, making outlines for papers, etc etc.</p>

<p>3) Find someone in your classes to study with. Bonus points if you know they’re doing well in the class. Make a plan to study well in advance of upcoming tests/quizzes, and follow through with those plans.</p>

<p>4) Go to office hours and talk about what you can do to improve your grade. You might get more info about what resources to focus on or insight into how you can raise your grade to one you want. Same goes for TA office hours. Professors, for the most part, LOVE talking to students. They love helping students learn. They want to see you do well! Let them help you!</p>

<p>5) Don’t skip class. Even if it’s at a terrible time, in a terrible location, and you’d have to miss your favorite show or whatever.</p>

<p>6) Use a planner. It can be paper one, a big wall calendar, or the iCal app, whatever. Use it religiously. Put in each of your lectures, quizzes, tests, papers, etc. Plan time to study. Don’t procrastinate.</p>

<p>It would be fantastic if you could find the magic answer to successfully manage school and ECs, but at this point, it sounds like you’re better off focusing on school. I think a semester of As in science classes would be good for your ego right about now–and I think that should be your main goal!</p>