Bastards make it look so easy! grrr!

The BBQ Pit
21

I am good at reading comprehension. I am good at guessing answers on tests. I am good at bullshitting essay questions.

I cannot memorize anything to save my life. I cannot remember the words to songs that I like. I cannot recite poetry. I cannot recall details of books that I have read recently, or even large parts of the plots of books I read not so recently. I cannot remember the next thing I was going to say.

When I read, I recognize and understand a very large vocabulary of words. When I speak, I stutter and stumble over words that I can’t quite recall. I forget how mnemonic devices go, and I often get them backwards. I forget things I promised to do, and I forget to check the notes that I wrote to remind myself to do things.

Oh, French, the bane of my existence! I have wanted to learn to speak French since I was very small, but I cannot get the vocabulary to stick in my head no matter what I do! It is so horribly disappointing to sit through class after class and watch others soak up a language while it takes me years to figure out basic sentences.

No, I didn’t make such hot grades in school. All of my teachers commented on how bright I was, but I couldn’t remember who they were… :wink:

22

I’m one of those lot that gets good grades while putting in seemingly no effort. Two things you should know:

1.) Some people are just better able to function in a scholastic environment. They might have eidetic memory, or they might just know how to BS a test. I have a near-eidetic memory when I decide to “turn it on”; hence, I have no need for notes. I have trouble physically writing, so notes are actually distracting.

2.) Some of us are putting in more effort than we seem to be. Trust me. I might look like I’m not doing much, but sometimes I study when no one’s around, or I scribble notes in the margins of my books. I have an image to maintain, after all ;).

Learning to work hard’ll help you just as much as innate ability and laziness, maybe even more. Yeah, it sucks now, but it won’t later.

23

I couldn’t write an essay for squat. They were all fairly comprehensible, just mostly not very analytical.
My personal motivation is also quite low… I got through school and early university w/o studying much probably because Comp. Sci. is what I do all the time anyhow. Later on it got harder though, and I think it was only having friends in the class that helped me along. I think I was fairly good at my internship job because of the good environment, and fun co-workers. It’s hard to be bad and slack off at something when you know someone you respect is depending on the job you do.
Anyhow, if you want some suggestions and aren’t just complaining (nothing wrong with that ;)), I recommend trying to find someone to work with. Often you can’t, but IMHO, that’s what helped me.
Hmm. This post is disjointed, and poorly thought out. 65%. :wink:

24

Just curious what makes people say that working 20+ hours a week while going to school full time is “rough” or “overworking”? There are many students who would kill for that kind of schedule. If you think working 20 hours a week at the bookstore, labs, walmart or whatever the typical college job is is rough, then I feel sorry for you when you have to get a real job and work 40+hours a week.

FTR, I have worked 40+ hours a week, on midshift no less, for the last 4 years as a telephony technician all while raising a kid and going to school 15+ hours a quarter with no summers off. This is in a EE program, bar none one of the hardest undergrad programs to complete.

Its just aggravating when I see people sympathize with “kids” who are in school working part-time at some store or whatever because they are “overworked”. Its ridiculous. You went thru 12 years of school while living at home with mom and dad paying the bills. Why would anyone expect to go another 4?

I am also one of those people who gets high grades with less effort. I am graduating with at least a 3.75 GPA. I suck big time at memorization type studying. Math is my bag. I wouldn’t have made it thru a sociology or psych program. I am not saying that this is what Incubus is saying, I didn’t hear him say he was overworked. I just get tired off all the sympathy “kids” get in college because they have to begin a life of working.

25

Yeah…what Stinkpalm said. :smiley:

(FTR, like him I’m full-time student PLUS I work 22 hours per week during semester (but 40+ during breaks) AND I’m a full-time mum as well. It CAN be done, AND you can score great marks as well. The secret is learning how to write a good essay (at least for Arts/Humanities students anyway…I can’t speak for you Science boffins).

26

Sometimes it depends on the subject you’re learning. You said you only have a year left of college, Incubus, so this advice might be a little late, but if the majority of your courses just aren’t interesting, have you sat down and thought about whether or not your major was something you really wanted to be in?

I was in the Business college at my university for my first five semesters. I thought I had a penchant for the subject, as I tend to think I’d be good at administration. But the grades I got in Accounting and other courses were worse than anything I’d ever gotten before. Even though I studied, I simply couldn’t do well, and it was stressful.

During my fifth semester, I took a Linguistics course as a general education requirement. I had already taken one my freshman year, and loved it. My professor made the spiel that gen ed professors sometimes do, suggesting to students that their field of learning was the best. It hooked me. I transferred to the Linguistics department immediately.

I’m now in my sixth semester at college, and although I’m swamped with Linguistics work (I have only a year and a half to complete an entire major!), it’s incredibly fun, and so much easier than Business. I take it all in almost naturally–it makes sense to me, it’s interesting (even the dull parts are worth learning), and the professors are a lot of fun. In the introductory Linguistics course, which is required by the major, I take no notes at all. I read the book, listen to the teacher, and do the homework. During our midterm, we had an hour and a half to work on the test. I finished in twenty minutes and got 100%.

I don’t mean to sound like a braggart (really, I’m not! :o), I’m only attempting to illustrate that sometimes all it takes is a subject you’re interested in to really help you retain information.

27

I thought our grading system was the same (4.5 is A+ all the way through).

My 4.3 was boosted by my exemption from english and not having to deal with math (my achilles heel as it were).

Then all the computer courses (I took network admin) was pretty much what I do at home. I got a B in psychology which is why I didn’t get “perfect”.

The 3.5 GPA included a “D” in Unix (after that I got an “F” and didn’t take it, I actually only need 3 credits related to Unix to get my college degree thingy).

28

I really do like my major, as I get to take a lot of literature/survey courses which are fun. In fact, it seems like the only difference between those classes and a book club is having to write a few papers.

I’ve found that professors vary wildy in their expectations/standards about papers. Some are incredibly picky and my paper (after written 4 drafts) comes back a mess of red pen even after I had 2 or 3 people review it for errors. Then I’ll have other situations where I’ll suddenly remember I have to write a paper, and pull off a 1,200 page essay in 20 minutes, figuring maybe I’ll squeeze by with a ‘D’ and being shocked when I get an ‘A’ on the paper.

One thing that I know hurts my grades (and confidence) is poor attendance. See, when I have a class that is becoming very difficult and everything I am doing is graded as poor, I’ll start to get frustrated and apathetic. I don’t like spending an hour a day feeling like the only person in class who doesn’t understand, so I won’t go. Of course this just causes me to do worse.

I also realized my study habits would probably improve if I had to use the knowlege frequently. Some professors experimented with daily quizzes to encourage students to stay caught up with the work- this worked very well. I hate the classes that are just 3 months of lecture then a final.

29

I had a couple of teachers lecture me at school (high school) for not making enough effort

I pointed out that I was still getting straight As. (Maybe at 85% not 95%, but who cares, since the UK exam system made no distinction?)

Their point was that it wasn’t fair for students who struggled more to see others breezing through, and I was “setting a bad example.”

My thought was “fuck you, life isn’t fair.” No one told the athletic kids to huff and puff more so the rest of us didn’t feel bad.

30

badmana

I can’t say 'bout the rest of the country, but at UT

it was 4.0 for A’s (average)
3.0 for B’s
2.0 for C’s etc.

an avg. of 3.5 would would obviously consist of a few A’s & B’s as a rule. One could have some truly bad grades and still have a good GPA but never a 4.0 and even w/ straight A’s…4.3 no way!
I did several 4.0 and 3.9 semesters but it was too late. My first semester blew my chance at 4.0 overall. That’s cool though, I always made sure I took the hard profs. as well. They make sure you learn something. I mean, if you’re going to pay for it, you better damn sure get it.

BTW, I was Nat. Deans list w/ exception to my first semester all the way from start to end of Grad. school at 30+ yrs. old w/ wife and two kids. (Double major, math and psych.) Plus, I taught full time and was night watchman at my apartment complex. I had my own business and did constuction/remodeling on weekends. I NEVER slept or it seemed that way…I still get by on about 4 hours a night.

Studying wasn’t easy, I was NEVER ready or so I though. I actually memorized a textbook for one class. The ignorant ass grad. student proffing the course, didn’t know “jack”.

I could tell ya’ some stuff, but HEY…hang in there, if it’s what YOU want.

My best advise, read the intros. summarys, key terms, and all before you start a chapter. Do all the work in the texts. Record all lectures when possible. LISTEN and pay attention and participate.
Take notes, esp. if the prof. takes time to write it down! IF they write it down YOU WILL SEE IT AGAIN on a test.
Take advantage of labs. and tutors.

Introduce yourself to the prof. personally, some won’t respond but most will.

and always…okay, you listening
SIT ON THE FRONT ROW.

Grades are reflected in seating arrangement in a positive correlation. Most of the time the farther away from the prof. the worse the grades are.
I know it’s stats. but it’s true. variables: Less distraction, better hearing and vision, more participation, better recognition by the prof. etc.

good luck and no drinking on school nights