<p>Starting college in a few months. What are some tips to get all A's in my first semester. P.S. I have taken over 10 CC courses during high school with AP</p>
<p>Treat school like a job. Put 40+ hours a week into classes and homework. If you have extra time, be useful. Re-organize your notes. Do extra reading on the subject. When you have to put in mores hours than usual, don’t treat yourself to a “reward” (game time, party time, etc.). If you start doing that, you’ll find a never-ending list of reasons to reward yourself.</p>
<p>Also, stay on top of things. Try to do assignments the day they are assigned </p>
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<p>Take the easiest classes possible.</p>
<p>[ul][<em>]There is a good book to read called “What Smart Students Know” that was written by a co-founder of the Princeton Review Prep schools. To do well you are going to have to spend time studying, more than you might think. [</em>]Good students find they spend 6-10 hours per week on each class, especially probable if it is a math/science class. [<em>]Spaced study is better for learning than trying to “cram”. You are much better off studying 90 minutes on each of 5 days then spending the same time on Sunday trying to catch up. [</em>]For many subjects there are workbooks such as the “Chemistry Problem Solver”. These are incredible tools and I don’t know why schools don’t pass them out along with the textbook. The chapters have worked problems, hundreds of them. There is no rule that says you can only do the assigned problems from your text. Using these books should be a big part of those hours previously mentioned. [<em>]There are free software tools such as Anki that implement spaced-repetition programs, proven to be the most efficient way to memorize things. [</em>]Get to know your profs. Not brown-nosing, but show your interest in your subjects and see if you can go farther. One day you may need recs and you want them to be strong and personal. [/ul]There are tons of websites you can visit for advice, and your college is likely to have a learning center as well. Two links to get you started are [On</a> Becoming a Math Whiz: My Advice to a New MIT Student](<a href=“http://■■■■■■■.com/3zh9frh]On”>On Becoming a Math Whiz: My Advice to a New MIT Student - Cal Newport) and [How</a> to Ace Calculus: The Art of Doing Well in Technical Courses](<a href=“http://■■■■■■■.com/aok5qn]How”>How to Ace Calculus: The Art of Doing Well in Technical Courses - Cal Newport) Read thru the story at [Teaching</a> linear algebra](<a href=“http://bentilly.blogspot.com/2009/09/teaching-linear-algebra.html]Teaching”>Random Observations: Teaching linear algebra) and see how that prof forced students to rehearse material with great results; the advice earlier focuses on doing that yourself. </p>
<p>The downfall of many students is confusing recognition with recall (won’t be a problem if you follow the advice above). When you do the homework you have the book right there and can thumb back to see how similar problems were solved. After a while the approaches become familiar, and then when you review the book before the test they may seem even more so, but as you’ve discovered once you face a test and can’t refer back you can’t recall what you need. Two academic links discussing this are</p>
<p>[Why</a> Students Think They Understand—When They Don’t](<a href=“http://www.aft.org/newspubs/periodicals/ae/winter0304/willingham.cfm]Why”>Ask the Cognitive Scientist: Why Students Think They Understand—When They Don't) </p>
<p>[Practice</a> Makes Perfect—but Only If You Practice Beyond the Point of Perfection](<a href=“http://www.aft.org/newspubs/periodicals/ae/spring2004/willingham.cfm]Practice”>Ask the Cognitive Scientist: Practice Makes Perfect—But Only If You Practice beyond the Point of Perfection)</p>
<p>Some good advice here already, but I’ll add add to not worry about getting all As. Just do your best. If you can say that you confidently gave it your best shot, then that’s more than a lot of other people can say. </p>
<p>You might find that you’ll get a few professors with ridiculous standards or who otherwise don’t hand out As easily. When this happens, the best thing to do is into give it your all because otherwise, you’ll always be wondering if you could’ve done better. </p>
<p>At the end of the day, the grade doesn’t matter: it’s what YOU get out of the the experience. </p>
<ul>
<li>Go to class.</li>
<li>Read the books.</li>
<li>Do the assignments.</li>
<li>If you need help understanding something, find the instructors at their office hours and ask them your questions.</li>
<li>Plan for three hours of work per week per credit hour unit of courses (45-48 hours per week for a full course load of 15-16 credit hour units). But note that courses do vary in workload per credit hour unit; courses with labs, art studio, music performance, or large term projects tend to be higher in workload (whether or not they are intellectually difficult).</li>
</ul>
<p>You do have a leg up on many because your experience in community college courses should have shown you that college courses typically expect students to have more self-motivation and need less hand holding than students in high school courses (including advanced or AP ones).</p>