<p>I graduated as a valedictorian from high school and am now an undergrad.
But I don't know what went wrong. I moved a long distance, and it took time to adjust to his place, but still everything is going wrong. My university has quarter system, and I am doing terrible. I've put all my scholarships at stake.
I got a 2.75GPA in my first quarter and 2.65 in the second.
Now I have to get at least a 3.75 in my final quarter to get a Cumulative GPA of 3.0</p>
<p>I don't know what's happening to me.
What's went wrong?
Why am I doing so bad?
Did these quarter ruin all 4 years of my undergrad?</p>
<p>Wha’s the point of a quarter system? I bet a lot of classes you’d have to take for two quarters because I can’t imagine one quarter being enough time to cover all the material for any science classes. Unless the quarters are like summer semesters and all the material from 15 weeks is crammed into 6 weeks, that would be crazy…</p>
<p>Was high school easy for you? A lot of successful students find themselves in your position, where they find themselves flabbergasted that they no longer have straight As. You’re not the only one.</p>
<p>There are many different issues that could be going on here. One is that your workload has increased, and you need to find new tactics for getting back in control. Are you not studying enough? Do you need to find tutors?</p>
<p>Are you sleeping as much as you did in high school? Are you partying too much? Your post is somewhat ambiguous.</p>
<p>Usually students at schools on the quarter system take fewer classes per quarter/semester (e.g. three instead of four), but they meet for longer per week. Sort of like summer semesters, but not so intense or crazy…The work load is the same as a semester system, so far as I can tell, only the work amount is divided between three classes instead of four.</p>
High School was very easy for me.
I am not partying too much. I think quarter system is too fast for me, and I can’t catch up and I don’t study enough.</p>
<p>So you’re not studying enough and wondering why your grades are poor? Hmm. I wonder… what could it be?? This is really stumping me.</p>
<p>Try this: today, go to the library or some secluded spot, take your work with you. Sit down and work for at least one hour but if you can go longer do so. Tomorrow, do the same thing except work an hour more than you did today. Keep doing this until you get to 4 hrs/day. Once you can do that, you can adjust it to whatever you need. If you do this, your grades will improve without a doubt. </p>
<p>Also, stop making excuses. People get 4.0’s in schools that are on the quarter system. In fact, the average gpa is probably around 3.0. It is an issue with you, but lucky for you, you have a chance to fix it. Good luck.</p>
<p>That’s the big thing. Up through sophomore year of high school, school came relatively easily to me, though so much as for you; didn’t know how to study very well, but was able to get away with it. Starting junior year, the difficulty hit me, and the reason that it got so hard for me was because of my lack of time management. Granted, it’s different for everybody, but so long as you can make yourself put in the extra time that college requires, and it seems like you can, I think you’ll be fine.</p>
<p>You just have to study a little bit everyday, which I’m notoriously bad at doing. If you do all the reading as prescribed and assigned, there will be no marathon reading sessions or marathon paper-writing nights. You can get a 3.75 or higher this quarter. Just focus on implementing a new pattern of studying.</p>
<p>Apples, I went through something similar when I went to a top school after a relatively easy high school. The only thing that saved me was going to the library, staying away from distractions (including friends who wanted to hang out instead of study), and reading and re-reading. There is no other magic formula.</p>
<p>This semester I am having a huge problem with being motivated to study. I constantly check Facebook and email, so if I want to get some serious reading or studying done, I leave my laptop at home and head to the library. </p>
<p>One thing I notice about my peers who don’t do so well on exams is that they tend to leave all of the reading until the week or two before midterms and finals. My strategy is to follow the syllabus and read the assigned articles/book/chapters prior to the class for which the reading was assigned. This means reading at least one to three hours each day/night. No matter what, I take at least <em>something</em> to read with me everywhere. Even if I just read one page of one article on the bus, it is better than doing nothing. If all you have time to do is skim, at least look for the main argument/thesis, some evidence/examples, and try to get an idea why you are reading the assignment for your class. Then summarize these points - write them out for quick study reference later on.</p>
<p>Form study groups. Seriously, it does help. Try to find the students who are doing well in your classes and who seem serious about studying, and ask them if you can join their study groups or if they want to join yours. Then stick to your end of the bargain.</p>
<p>OP-You slid through high school and now you’re paying the price of having poor study skills. You know you have the ability to do work but not the discipline. You have risked tens of thousands of dollars in tuition by slacking and underestimating how much work and commitment it takes to do well in college. Are you seriously ready to work to salvage this year? You will not like any of these suggestions but these work for kids who treat college like a job. Get up at the same time everyday, if you don’t have class, you review notes or homework. Do work between classes if you have a gap. Stay away from your dorm room during the day it is too easy to nap or waste time hanging out. Don’t invite friends to meet you to study at the library. Keep your laptop in your room or off in your backpack unless you are doing work on it. Don’t distract yourself with emails, youtube, whatever. Cell phone is off and out of sight. Too easy to want to read texts, tweets every time it goes off. No listening to music as you study. You need to learn to focus for long periods of time concentrating or reading. Multitasking while studying diminishes your focus and retention of what you are reading. Study groups with a well chosen few is only useful if all students involved do the work on time and don’t waste time socializing. Being able to rely on a few serious study buddies will be the safety net you need at this time. Use your TA but go to office hours prepared so you don’t waste his or your time.You have to study every day- even Fridays and Saturdays. Most college students suspend studying Friday afternoon through Sunday afternoon and then hit the books again Sunday evening for the next week’s work. You don’t have the luxury to enjoy your weekend. See this time period as gift of not having to go to classes as you try to learn and digest last week’s work. If you binge at a party, remember you will lose time recovering from it. You will earn time to relax when you are AHEAD of your work. If you have a event or weekend trip then you have to double up your work to compensate for the time you could be studying. Sorry to be so harsh but to lose a scholarship in these bad economical times is going to effect the financial situation of you and your family’s future.
OP- Please comment on these suggestions and if you think they are feasible for you to utilize. Oh yeah, stop wasting time on CC. Good luck.</p>
<p>I coasted through a well-regarded high school barely studying. When I got to college, I found out my my old “study” habits just didn’t work anymore. Since you need to do well this quarter to keep your scholarship, talk to your adviser and take “easy” classes. Don’t passively study; work through all the problems and rewrite the concepts down in your own words. Don’t try to cram a few days before the test; make sure you’re following what’s going on in the class every single week. Best of luck!</p>
<p>I read all the comments, and all of them are very helpful.
I admit, I do get distracted a lot by my laptop. I live off-campus, so I try studying at home in my room, but get distracted by roommates. I just have some sort of a phobia, that when I’m in the library I won’t be able to get the stuff I need when I’m in my room. I need to work on this.
This is the first week of spring quarter. I’m keeping up with class but I am going to try staying ahead of class now.
Thank you everyone for the comments.
All of these were very helpful.</p>