<p>My recipe for a Straight A’s:</p>
<p>-Pay attention, yet take no notes in any class. Just listen instead of busying yourself with writing stuff down.</p>
<p>-Waste hours on facebook, (aka ideating time).</p>
<p>-The night before a test crack open a review book or possibly read the actual textbook.</p>
<p>What is your routine?
–>I go to a small private school, and I take seven classes a day. Five of those are AP (I dropped one because my teacher=prejudiced). I do way too many extracurriculars, and volunteer at an elementary school, for a music program, at a library, and at my church. </p>
<p>When do you do homework?/How much time do you spend on it?
–>I get what I can done in classes. Example, I do my calculus (first period) during art history (second) and my art history during ethics (third). idk, I guess I’m pretty good at splitting my attention? I do have a one or two classes that I can’t do other work in, like ap biology, so I usually end up with a few things to do at home. How much time I spend depends on what class its for. Calc, Bio, and English I can usually get done during some other class period. Art History and Gov’t usually take me a little bit longer, though.</p>
<p>Do you ONLY do school-activities-homework (like no TV or phone etc?)?
–>oh my gosh no. I don’t think I’d be able to handle that at all. I watch too much TV for my own good (but you can do other things while watching TV, you know? multitasking FTW.) I’m not really a phone person, but I hang out with my friends a lot, mostly on weekends though. My extracurriculars were carefully chosen, because I’m truthfully a bum, and don’t like to do much. So all my ECs have meetings during school, except the occasional event (like the Walk for Life and stuff). My volunteering stuff is mostly after school (library), weekends(church and once a month, the music program), or during school breaks (elem. school). </p>
<p>How efficiently do you study? Like, do you have a sort of system for learning your subjects?
–>I’m not gonna lie; I don’t. I hate studying to death and so I just pay attention in class, and do all I can to minimize the amount of time I have to spend studying. I take notes, I ask for help in class or from friends if I need it, and consider doing homework enough “studying.” The only classes I have that I really study for are AP Bio and AP Art History, because they’re a lot of memorization of facts, like term and concepts or dates and people, which I’m terrible at. So for studying, I guess I only study (and even then barely at all) for my most difficult classes.</p>
<p>And finally, how do you fit in all your clubs, activities, and sports?
–>Like I said, my clubs and volunteering are pretty minimal, which is fine, because I do enough clubs and have done over 700 hours of community service in high school (I’m a senior this year). Sports…I didn’t have time to actually PLAY (and plus I’m so NOT competitive enough) so I was just a manager for volleyball in the fall. I still went to every practice and game, though. Those weeks, I did homework between the end of school and the start of practice (about 1.5 hours of time). Practice was about 2-2.5 hours, and I would jut go home, shower, and watch movies or TV as i did whatever i had left. </p>
<p>idk if this is helpful. probably not… but i tried?(:</p>
<p>oh. maybe i sounded kind of flippant and careless in some of the stuff before, idk, but i do work to get good grades. i just try to organize my time so that I can get school stuff done and still have time to do things i like to do, which was hard for me. i’m terribly unorganized…</p>
<p>oh yeah – the whole 1.5 hour nap thing;</p>
<p>long naps are totally welcome. there are times that i’m ridiculously sleep-deprived (ah, the day of NOT having getting things done down to an art…) so i am never opposed to taking random 1.5 (or uh…3) hour naps in the middle of a day [[:</p>
<p>bump. 10 char</p>
<p>Just do what is required for an A. If your test scores are low, the hoop is higher. Jump higher. Rethink what you are doing/what the instructor wants if there is any deficit at all.</p>
<p>One of my dual enrollment classes this year required me to rethink my approach for the final. The instructor was particularly brutal and gave no clues for his take home essay tests. Only by rethinking what he wanted from his point of view did I make the grade. Not many were left (most had dropped) by the time of the final.</p>
<p>I totally agree with Tilgaham. I know this one guy who takes notes in class even when we don’t have to. I take notes during lectures but it’s never anything extensive. The teachers talk faster and I listen faster than I can write. It’s better to focus and stay attentive than to take notes while half listening.
My “secret” to not waste time or procrastinate (which trust me, I did alot. It worked well in middle school but I figured I should change for high school)
<p>I’m not a straight A student for high school. This is because of freshman year.</p>
<p>However, NOW I make straight A’s (since beginning of this year)</p>
<p>Basically, you have to learn how your teacher grades. Get in their mind. I do all my homework at school. I study before a test and night (I hear it sticks better if you do it before you go to bed). I am a huge procrastinator. I only spend about 30 minutes doing homework at home. As I said in a previous post, making straight A’s is an art and a science.</p>
<p>You don’t need to know study in order to get straight As, in math and sciences all you need to do is learn the basic principles and learn/figure out/know how they apply to each specific problem. Although in high school you can get away with memorization of different methods of solving each perticular type of problem but this does not work in college and beyond.</p>
<p>For English, History, Philosophy etc. To get an A in history or English you need to memorize some quotes and know dates etc. but to get an A only really requires basic knowledge and the ability to write eloquently.</p>
<p>For Foreign Languages, I think that foreign languagues are something that you can either pick up easily (and thus get an A) or you don’t get easily you can BS an A here through pure memorization but it is a laborious task.</p>
<p>Okay all the strategies up there often work if you go to a BS school where teachers are stupid.</p>
<p>Well it’s pretty easy when your school has a lot of grade inflation jk. Just do all the hw required for each class, which even with like 7 AP/IB courses is only like 2-3 hours and just study a little bit each night when you know a test is coming up.</p>
<p>Actually now I don’t try to keep eye contact with the teacher anymore, so my average for all my classes just went from an A to an A+. that is due to the fact that i am genuinely taking notes and being interested in what they have to say, and not just trying to suck up to them</p>
<p>have fun with the process of learning, fully immerse yourself in the ideas, work hard.</p>
<p>that’s it. innate talent only makes you more efficient, that’s all. :)</p>
<p>PKWsurf21: How do you have only 2-3 hours of hw each night with 7 AP/IB courses? I haven’t taken any so I wouldn’t know, but my school vehemently warns that each AP=2 hours of hw each night. I’m skeptical of their claim though…</p>
<ol>
<li>Don’t overload yourself! You don’t have to be an overachiever to get into college.</li>
<li>Go to bed at a certain time every night, and try to prepare yourself in the morning (pick out clothes, etc.) so you can sleep in and not have to get up ridiculously early.</li>
<li>Pay attention in class and don’t do other homework or that class homework in class, you will benefit from the lesson.</li>
<li>Go to school as much as possible, but not when you’re sick, because you’re better off just resting at home.</li>
<li>Be friendly with your teachers because when you do miss school, they’re nicer about letting you make up work (generally).</li>
<li>When you get home, give yourself a little break but don’t get distracted. Generally start homework about 1/2 hour to an hour of getting home.</li>
<li>Sleep is more important than always finishing your homework.</li>
<li>Try to study for every class a little every night so you don’t have to cram as much for tests.</li>
<li>Take good notes in class, even if you don’t use them to study because it reinforces the knowledge.</li>
<li>Don’t hang out with friends during the weekdays, and keep phone calls/texting to a minimum, especially if you have a lot of work to do.</li>
<li>Eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and a snack after school.</li>
<li>Try to study at times when you don’t have anything better to do (at break/lunch/free time, etc.).</li>
<li>Start your homework early on the weekends so you aren’t stuck with it on Sunday night.</li>
<li>Have study groups for hard classes (AP Physics, Calc, or any class you feel is difficult), and meet weekly/monthly to reinforce concepts (so you have people to bounce your ideas off of, and they can help you understand ideas you don’t). Make sure you meet in a place where you won’t get too distracted (library, coffee shop, etc.).</li>
<li>Take free time to do things you want to do: don’t overload yourself with extracurriculars and clubs. However, limit yourself to the amount of television/time on the computer so you don’t get too distracted.</li>
<li>Drink a lot of water throughout the day, and be prepared with Advil/headache medicine, because you never know when you will need it.</li>
<li> Don’t procrastinate! Start on essays and big projects early and do a little every night so you won’t feel overwhelmed at the last minute and bail on other homework to do the project/essay.</li>
<li>Take classes you’re interested in, and don’t take advanced classes just because it looks good on a college application. It is better to get a B in Algebra II than a D in Algebra II/Trig because you wanted to accelerate yourself, even though you aren’t good in math.</li>
<li>Wear comfortable clothes (this seriously helps you to become a straight A student). It is distracting in class to be wearing jeans that are too tight or have to keep pulling up your shirt. Dress comfortably and wear clothes that fit you.</li>
<li>Lastly, apply what you learn in school to everyday life! You will remember the concepts you learn in class better if it is applied to something familiar, and it will help you study and do well on tests and classwork.</li>
</ol>
<p>Remember that not everyone works on the same level and some people are cut out to take 8 AP’s and have straight A’s, and some people aren’t. But it is possible for anyone to have straight A’s, no matter what classes you take.</p>
<p>
</p>
<ol>
<li><p>But do push yourself.</p></li>
<li><p>Not that important. You can be good at going with lack of sleep too. Cramming the night before a test works wonderfully. You don’t even need to cram long either - just 40 minutes of focused study</p></li>
<li><p>For difficult classes? Yes. For easy ones where you have some of the goofy kids who like to mess around? By all means, get some homework done. </p></li>
<li><p>As much as possible yes. When you’re a little bit sick? yes. When you’re really sick? Honeslty give yourself a break, I stress that. It happened to me at this year. I went to school sick…got worse throughout the day and had to go home I fell apart.</p></li>
<li><p>YES! If you do all your homework and are just a nice guy they WILL hook you up. This year I completely forgot to read in English and we got a pop quiz, i explained to the teacher why i forgot and my teacher GAVE ME THE PERIOD FREE to read and then said to take the quiz afterwards.</p></li>
<li><p>Depends on what time you want to go to bed, and what time you get home. During wrestling season, I don’t get home until 6:30 so I start right away. But when it’s not, that half hour rule isn’t too important. I’ll give it a shot next year though, time management ftw (see, theres always room for improvement)</p></li>
<li><p>Come on? This is not true. In a perfect world. </p></li>
<li><p>You usually have homework every night in every class…don’t know where this came from. </p></li>
<li><p>Not neccessary. You usually have to write stuff down in class anyway. </p></li>
<li><p>Don’t hang out with friends on the weekdays? Ok. No texting? Um, no. Not at all. you need to have a well rounded life.</p></li>
<li><p>Yeah. Although during wrestling season I sometimes had to go a day or 2 without both food and water. it sucked.</p></li>
<li><p>You’re going to be distracted at lunch.</p></li>
<li><p>This one is really good****</p></li>
<li><p>Haha I’ve never actually heard of this being done, at my school anyway.</p></li>
<li><p>Sure</p></li>
<li><p>Yeah good tip, but anyone should do that regardless of being straight A student. </p></li>
<li><p>I’m a HUGE procrastinator. I get straight As. Enough Said.</p></li>
<li><p>Push yourself. Take classes your interested in as an elective.</p></li>
<li><p>My school has a uniform, i don’t have to worry about it.</p></li>
<li><p>k.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Honestly, I’m just an “average smart guy.” I get straight As with good classes because I work hard when I need too and I sacrifice some things for school work. I don’t have stellar SAT scores or anything like people in here, but I can still get straight As. Don’t let college board make you feel like you have lower potential</p>
<p>One comment I’ll make is that I don’t agree with 7 about sleep. In the long run, yes, you need your sleep over assignments, but getting work done for school > one nights sleep</p>
<p>I agree with that too. There are some days where sleeping needs to take a backseat. In general, it’s best to get a full 8 hours but every once in a while, it’s necessary to break that rule and just do what you have to do.</p>
<p>3 year old thread bumped? -.-</p>
<p>You guys do so much work lol. I get home from practice at 6 usually, then eat and sleep until like 10. Hang out with friends til 12/procastinate on facebook, do homework if I have a lot that day. Go home and sleep until 3. Then I do homework until 5:30, than I have to go on a morning run/swim depending on the day. School, repeat</p>
<p>Total hours to do HW: 2.5-4.5
Total hours of sleep: 7 hours (4 + 3)</p>
<p>But then again I don’t have straight A’s.</p>
<p>since i’m not a genius like most of the kids on CC/in my school, i just study really, really hard. i’m in B-A range for most of my classes so far this year.</p>
<p>u know what’s helping? NOT taking notes in class. seriously. notes are taken straight from the book [which u should be reading, anyways] & class time is for understanding material/asking any questions. not writing down things u have know idea about. try it;it’s good stuff.</p>