<p>Long story short, I didn't take my schooling seriously in my first semester and now I'm on academic probation. I stupidly decided to take some summer classes and that was a disaster. I now have a 1.4 GPA. I need to bump it up to at least a 2.0 by Spring 2012 in order to stay eligible for financial aid. Is this even possible? I'll be taking one class in the winter session. I know CC is made up of really overachieving students so can you guys give me some tips on how I can improve my grades and how to study well? My main problem is procrastinating and having little self-motivation. Any advice would be greatly appreciated :).</p>
<p>Stop procrastinating and just do it, even though it sucks.
Also, your academic probation is pretty good motivation to do your work…</p>
<p>I agree that there’s no magic formula to suddenly be super motivated to push through all of your work. However, I will say that for myself, I really don’t mind doing the actual work. What causes me to procrastinate is moreso the IDEA of doing the work, but when I actually start studying and working on problems for my classes, I really don’t mind it. So maybe you can make sure you’re in a class/major that will interest you enough to motivate yourself to want to work on it in the first place?</p>
<p>Yeah, that academic probation sounds like a good motivator … Haha.
But seriously though, get your act together. There isn’t really any magic formula like MapleLeaf mentioned. You just have to sit down, get your work done, and not procrastinate. Put your work over parties and your social life FOR NOW until you can get back up again and remain in a good, stable condition. It’s easier said than done sometimes, I know. What I like to do is go to the library where it’s quiet, sit down in the cubicle area, write down a list of things I have to do, and check them off as I go and everytime I get my assignments complete I feel accomplished. Maybe you can give yourself a reward for everything you get done? I have serious procrastination problems too tothe point where I’d write an entire essay the night before it’s due but that was me when I was in HS. College is a different environment and I just get my act together (for the most part). My motivator is … the thought of my future and my parents like what they’ve done for me to get here.</p>
<p>What did you do in lieu of studying?</p>
<p>I totally dicked around my first semester and I still pulled off a 3.3 GPA without studying for a single exam. I don’t really see how you could get less than a 2.0 unless there was some emergency situation, and you had to miss a lot of school.</p>
<p>@pyroza</p>
<p>Grading differs between schools. It’s perfectly possible to get sub-2 GPAs in some places, while others will hold your hand and make sure your GPA never goes that low.</p>
<p>Also - some people are just naturally smarter than others and can afford to study less.</p>