Is there a chance for me to become a 4.0 GPA student?

Pre-College Topics High School Life
1

Hey guys, I’m going into high school next year, and I’ve never been a person of super high grades, I usually get 1 A+ , 3 A, 2 A-, and 1 B+. I’m kinda worried if I’m gonna have excellent grades, because every time I see a chance me thread I think about how I would like to be that type of person in terms of grades. So here goes the question to those who have high GPA, SAT, or ACT Scores;
Have you ever been a excellent grades person or did you become one? If so when?
Is it too late for me to have excellent grades?
What were your grades in freshman year?
Any tips for becoming a high GPA person and start loving studying without procrastinating?

Thanks, and sorry for all the questions, I just want a little bit of motivation.

2

How have you been studying? What are your weakest subjects?

3

My weakest subject is Math which I got a B+, I’ve been studying without any techniques only rereading homework and some notes. What should i do?

4

You should find new textbook problems to use for practice rather than just reworking homework problems.

5

Thanks, I’m gonna start studying from the textbook

6

Take good notes. Remember that A+, A, A- doesn’t affect your GPA in high school. Even if you have 90.0’s in all classes, it’s still a 4.0 (unweighted).

If you’re going to high school, I assume that you will be taking geometry. I would highly suggest checking out Khan Academy’s geometry course, it was spot on with my school’s geometry course. And if you encounter anything you don’t know during the class, it is probably readily available on KA for you to study and review from. Their videos are super helpful and their exercises are great.

I’ve been taking the Algebra II course on Khan Academy this summer as I’ll be going into sophomore year this year and it has been a great help. Take good notes, as what the teachers has you take notes over is what (s)he will probably stress during tests and quizzes.

7

Hey there @Pitusky!!

So, let me just say: it’s absolutely never to late to start working on your grades & going for that 4.0. A lot of people get a reality shock when they come to high school, since they easily got As and Bs in middle school without trying. High school is a bit of a different ball game, but you just need to readjust your mindset and work hard.

I guess my tips would be:
-Keep the goal in mind. Write it down, stick it up to your wall. Why are you working hard? Why do you want a 4.0? Hopefully your reason is more than something superficial. Make the reason behind your goal something meaningful, and it’s going to be so much easier for you to work hard and keep going especially when it gets tough. I’m also a big inspirational quotes person, so whenever I’m feeling demotivated, I look up quotes and look at the reason behind my goal. Also, Tumblr and Pinterest can be useful when you set a timer or something before getting on, haha.

-Get organized. 'nough said. I had a problem freshman year where I would forget about homework assignments (and a test once, whoops). So get a system going. You can find a lot of different ideas across the Interwebz, just keep experimenting and find one that works for you!

-Stay on top of things!! Setting out a scheduled study time, and just getting in the habit of doing things, or at least STARTING things when you get them is soo helpful. I know it’s not always possible, (I’m a huuge procrastinator myself, so I know this stuff), but when you do get ahead, especially with studying, it reduces stress and helps you perform better overall.

-ask teachers for help. SERIOUSLY. They are paid to help you, so ask whenever you BEGIN to get confused. That way, you won’t get to the day before the test and have to be like, “so can you teach me everything??”

-make good friends! get them motivated that helps.

//

If you need anything more specific, let me know. It’s a process, but I’m a FIRM believer in hard work. I’m not what you would call “naturally” intelligent, but I’ve put in the time and am grateful to have a 4.0 and a pretty decent SAT score.

8

Thanks a lot you guys! :smiley: You’ve all given me awesome tips and I really appreciate it :smiley:

9

Different schools have different grading scales. Where I went, someone who got 93% in every class would have a 3.0 unweighted GPA.

10

Why are you worried about posters on CC? They represent less than 5% of the total population of the world. I have a 3.75 UW GPA (I only had one B in an elective freshman year, but struggled with depression my sophomore year) and a 2210 SAT. I’m not ashamed of it. Why do you compare yourself to others? That only creates worry, and you’ll never be truly happy. Having ambition is a very good thing, but wanting perfection is bad. From time to time, you may feel daunted or you may feel like your life is over. I have 10 Bs on my report card, and no hole ever opened up in the earth to swallow me whole. Everything turns out fine. As long as you know you’re trying your hardest, than your grades are good enough.

11

Depends on how much you’re willing to sacrifice.

I probably averaged 4 hours of sleep a night 1st semester of my sophomore year, and that was what it took to get me a 4.0.

Slack or give your 120%. Whatever you choose, don’t regret it.

12

Freshman year, my GPA was a 3.75. Sophomore year, a 4.0 with harder classes.

Why? Because I pushed myself sophomore year. I didn’t slack off (as much: I still did half my homework during read period). If I did badly in one class, I made sure I focused on that one and took time away from others. I practiced a lot. You’re not going to love studying, especially for classes you don’t like, but it’s necessary.

Also, it’s not the end of the world if you get a B or two, especially freshman year.

(also, I concur with the previous posters on many things, namely not to put things off. freshman year, we had a bio project and an english project due the same day; I did the bio project and most of the english project early, and I was one of the only people who didn’t pull an all-nighter that night.)

(I’ve never really had trouble comprehending the material for my classes, but I don’t have a 4.0. On the other hand, I have friends who have trouble comprehending the material who have 4.0s. It’s all about how hard you work; you seem smart, so you shouldn’t have too much of a problem.)

13

Mathwise, Barrons EZ series is really helpful. I self taught from those books.

14

Hi, I am copying and pasting my response from another thread, but I think it’s relevant here as well.

This past year was freshmen for me. While my grades were fine and I am one of the top students ( UW average of 94), I know that if I were more proactive I could have done better, I was in all honors classes. Here are some things I have learned that were helpful to me:

Find an organizational method that works for you. I had an agenda book that the school gives everyone and I tried using it but never could get into it. I would forget to write assignments down, or didn’t look at it at home. I did find an app that works great! It’s called myHomework. It’s on my iPad mini and you can add your classes to it and add assignments under different types (quiz, test, homework, project, lab etc.). I also have the app set up so a notification appears a day before something is due. There is also a calendar on the app that automatically puts any assignments you have added to it, and a circle symbolizes an assignment, so you can see how many things are due any given day. I’ve seen some people who use an agenda book that works for them, or some people use a HUGE wall calendar to write down assignments.

If you don’t understand material and are at home and can’t contact or stay after school with a teacher, use Khan academy. I prepared for a college placement math test and it was SO helpful. I’ve browsed through some of the subjects, and there are just so many! Especially in math and science. Of course, if you have the chance, go see your teacher, they’ll be able to answer specific questions or explain it in multiple ways as opposed to Khan Academy.

Determine which ECs are the biggest “time sucks” (not a negative connotation, but which ones are most time intensive). I did cross country, which met from 2-5 everyday, and meets went from 2-8 and you couldn’t do homework because you had warm ups. I wasn’t good at it, nor was I passionate about it and it was taking time away from things that I was passionate about or was important to me, so I am dropping it this year. I play saxophone and had lots of homework, so I didn’t have much time to practice because of XC and I had homework.

When your teacher says “there’s a chapter x test in 2 weeks”, don’t wait until the last two days to study… Or the night before… Begin studying a little bit every day! Maybe just 20-30 minutes the first few days, and then increase as more material is added. If you study material as you get it, it will be MUCH more manageable then cramming EVERYTHING the night before… Which leads to this point.

It has been proven that as the night goes on, the brain is not as good as absorbing information and retaining it (like 11 PM?). I read this a while ago, so I don’t remember the exact facts, but don’t cram the night before.

If you have a study hall, USE IT. Do not goof off or play on your phone. Use it to get some homework done and you’ll have one less thing to do at home.

When you get home, have a snack but don’t watch TV or YouTube… I found myself doing this and saying “well just after this (20 minute) video, I’ll do homework” and then 2 hours later I realized I was still watching YouTube… To combat this, I began doing this towards the end of the year:

Since I often was too distracted when I got home, in the last semester, I stayed after school almost everyday, whether or not I needed extra help, until 4 (so 2 hours) and I did homework. And if while I was studying I needed extra help, I would just walk down the hall and find my teacher! Usually what I did was I went into my biology classroom and used a table as my work base. My bio teacher was fine with me chilling in his room, and he usually had kids after school with questions or extra help so he was there anyways (awesome teacher). Of course, ask a teacher whether they are okay with this, don’t just show up in their room one day!

A lot of these tips I developed towards the end of my freshmen year, but this upcoming year I hope to implement them right from the start!