<p>As of sophomore, I am a pretty good student. This first quarter I was able to achieve a 3.9 GPA, much higher than my goal. However, school would be much less stressful if I didn't have to worry so much about every test. </p>
<p>The problem for me is that it seems like the amount of time I spend studying has absolutely no effect on my test grade. For example, yesterday I had a Biology test worth 65 points, I studied on Sunday for an hour or so and 2.5 hours on Monday, the night before the test. I ended up getting a 77%. This is a lot lower than what I am usually upset with (i.e. I would have been upset with an 85% considering the amount of time I put into it). A kid who got 98% spent less than an hour studying, only the night before the test. How is it possible that I can study so much and get such mediocre grades on certain tests?</p>
<p>It's just so frustrating to work so hard with such little yield. Last quarter, although I was in the 90% range in a few of my classes before quarter finals, I ended up getting the 93% for an A in all but one because I spent nearly 7 hours studying for each of the classes I really needed to bring up. It worked, but I shouldn't have had to spend that much time cramming at the end of the quarter, but that is because my grades during the quarter didn't reflect the amount of time I spent studying.</p>
<p>It's usually the same classes too. Certain classes it just seems like my grades are predetermined before I even take the test! I know that's not true, but it sure feels like it. I am also pretty serious about school and get pretty nervous before tests, which I'm sure doesn't help either. Any suggestions would really be appreciated, I'm really upset over this- today 3 tests came back with crap results and I put forth effort for every one of them, it doesn't make sense.</p>
<p>I know its long, but please don't "tl;dr", I know there's some smart people who would be able to help me here. Please, if you have anything to suggest, don't hesitate. Thanks.</p>
<p>Throughout high school, I rarely studied–but I did know the material. When it comes to studying, it is not about quantity but quality. Just don’t study for an hour for no reason…</p>
<p>Test anxiety is a real possibility, actually. One of my favorite teachers in grade school once told me that he thought I had text anxiety and suggested a place where they could help me with that. I never went, but I think I might ask him where the place is again and give it a try.</p>
<p>MIT, thanks for the response. Admittedly, I don’t always 100% pay attention in class, but sometimes that is due to notes we have to take AS the teacher is speaking, which really makes it hard to concentrate on what my teacher is saying. We actually have slides of notes in a PowerPoint he projects on the board that we would be dumb not to take. But I will try harder to get done with my notes faster and pay complete attention whenever I can.</p>
<p>Already good advice so far, but if you have anything to say, please do</p>
<p>^^ Exactly.
The thing on notes… I’m going to assume you don’t have a photographic memory. Copying thins verbatim is time-consuming. Notes should be quick and useful for your benefit.</p>
<p>I’m wondering why people keep saying “just get smarter” if they won’t say how to do so. I don’t seem to be smart enough to figure it out for myself ;)</p>
<p>On a more serious note, I do really have the same problem and have found that participation has helped me a lot. In Spanish, I used to have a B-. Actually, my improvement was incited by a bit of petty revenge =P I’d always been the most quiet person in the class until two weeks ago. The teacher suddenly decided that she loved to call on me, even when she knew I didn’t have the answer (I was gone two days during the week and missed an entire unit as a result) and I looked pretty dumb when I didn’t have an answer. When we started the next unit, I started participating a lot more, just to prove that I wasn’t as dumb as she made me out to be (I spoke 12 times in three days, thank you very much) and not only did I bring up my participation grade, but I also improved my scores on assignments.
Also, my best friend participates a pretty ridiculous amount in APUSH (everybody gets mad at him because he won’t shut up, lol.) It’s pretty annoying for everybody else, but hey, they’re not getting A’s on the tests without even trying, are they ;)</p>
<p>If studying is your problem, I’m kind of having the same problem right now. I study for hours and still don’t do well. If anyone has some tips, that’d be nice :)</p>
<p>I wasn’t literally asking how to “just be more intelligent”, I was just basically saying that that’s really a useless response. Some people, such as myself, just aren’t as naturally smart as other and can’t pull A’s with little effort. That is why I tried resorting to studying my way to better grades.</p>
<p>Anyways, I appreciate the response. I rarely ask questions or answer them, so that could be of some use. Thanks.</p>
<p>How do you study for tests? If you’re just reading over your textbook or notes, that’s not an effective way to study. In my opinion, the best way to study is to summarize what you’re trying to learn in your own words. I take the section headings from the textbook and turn them into questions, then try to answer the questions in 5 sentences or less.</p>
<p>Oh, I know It was meant to be a joke. When I said people kept saying that I should just be more intelligent, I wasn’t referring to you, because you didn’t say that in the first place. I was saying that I hear that on occasion on these forums, and because I saw it again in this one, I decided to comment on it. That’s all I really didn’t mean that in an offensive way or anything; maybe I phrased it wrong? It was merely a joke, nothing more.</p>
<p>Don’t be so hard on yourself. Really think about it, you’re one person in one school in one country on one planet in one solar system in one galaxy in one universe out of probably trillions (maybe an infinite number) of other universes in the entire cosmos. There are probably literally billions of different worlds out there with life that all have their own horrible problems and major issues. You are one person. Whether or not you don’t get above 93% in one class in high school means literally nothing. Face it, where you go to college only matters for like one job and in the grand scheme of things that means nothing either. I know this doesn’t really help you and nobody should live their life this way (I don’t) but its something to think about when you get too hard on yourself.</p>
<p>I learn as much in class as possible and it allows me to spend less time studying. It doesn’t always work out though and you move on and stop worrying 'cuz you can still do well next time.</p>
It was meant to be a joke. When I said people kept saying that I should just be more intelligent, I wasn’t referring to you, because you didn’t say that in the first place. I was saying that I hear that on occasion on these forums, and because I saw it again in this one, I decided to comment on it. That’s all