Sounds like you’ve done a good job getting a varied swatch of education! I love cross-disciplined semesters. Sometimes it’s oppressive, sticking to one are of study. coughgradschool
So haha, it’s funny that writing humanities essays were the worst time for you – that’s the type of essay I’m working to help students dominate.
Misinterpretation is a terrifying part of writing the literature essay. I remember being so embarrassed when one of my professors was like, “Uh, not really…because of THIS.”
I’ll dedicate a blog post to working out the “no right answer” but “feeling like there’s definitely and answer” emotional roller coaster of essay writing.
-Lack of knowledge
-Poor study habits
-Exam difficulty
-Instructor grading
Of course, I think lack of general knowledge of a subject is a big reason. Sometimes, I think I know enough, but I really don’t, so when I take the test, it’s apparent that I didn’t know as much as I should know. Poor study habits goes alongside that. I also put “exam difficulty” because there are some exams that no matter how hard you study, you can still do poorly. Some exams are just designed in a way that only the “best of the best” will do well. Finally, the “pickiness” of the instructor is a big one, especially in writing-intensive courses. You can write the greatest of essays, but the instructor may not think that it’s great. Essays can be very subjective!
Procrastination and lack of will have held me and many that I know back for a long time - as well as a lack of classes in which I feel like I am not being entirely spoon-fed information rather than being given the freedom to inquire.
A motivated inclination to learn can only be found if the student is already ingrained with a yearning for knowledge. In most other cases, such as mine, the student has to truly realise the benefits and implications that education grants him or her before finding the will to not wait until 2:00 AM to do homework, like I just did ^^
I have a 3.93 gpa. Obviously, that means I haven’t gotten an A in every class or it would be a 4.0. The problems I have had not getting an A in the classes I didn’t were two factors: 1. Professors who have a “no one is perfect” ideology and grade accordingly, and 2. Math and science that I am not strong in. It is rare for someone to be able to excel at everything. I can say one thing for sure - the classes I do not have an A in are the ones, ironically, I worked the HARDEST in (because of the professor’s standards and/or my lack of skill in that particular subject.)
Definitely procrastination and just not pushing myself enough. In my honors Chem class (soph year of HS), I got a C+. I still cringe thinking about it, bc If ONLY I had done better on that test, or that test…or. And my 89% in honors Bio. A lot of kicking myself and “what ifs”. And the fact that I’m probably going to get a C+ in Calc BC. A lot of kicking myself again…LOL I want to do pre-med anyways, so my flagship would prob be my best bet at attaining the highest GPA
3.93 is great! Awesome job scoring that. I appreciate the angle you bring up – if your professors are just hard-set against giving students great grades (and that’s a legitimate thing that happens in academia…professors feeling like student’s shouldn’t get high grades because that signals ‘perfection’ which doesn’t exist, or that their class isn’t hard enough, or some other ridiculous reason they’ve talked themselves into).
Also, super rare for people to excel in everything. The course I’m designing strives to show methods for achieving A’s while not being awesome at everything. And a lot of time the one’s we put the most effort into aren’t as successful as they should be. I’ll definitely spend time talking about this – thanks for your valuable input.
It’s good to be aware of the reason you want/need to get good grades. Having a goal to work toward makes a huge difference. I think you’ll have a different experience in college – it kind of lends itself to procrastination in a weird way. I’m actually going to show students how to use procrastination. I never got over mine. But I made it work to my benefit. There’s a way! Thanks for your response!
