HOW TO GET A 4.0 IN COLLEGE | STRAIGHT A'S IN HARD CLASSES
Summary
TLDRJoanne, a third-year public health major, shares her strategies for achieving a 4.0 GPA in college. She emphasizes the importance of planning ahead with a planner, utilizing resources like Rate My Professors and Quizlet, and understanding the syllabus. Joanne advises attending and actively participating in class, seeking help early, completing all assignments on time, and understanding one's best study methods. She also suggests using evidence-based study techniques, maintaining clear priorities, starting strong, and focusing on understanding the material rather than just the grades. Joanne acknowledges the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and encourages students to do their best given their circumstances.
Takeaways
- 📅 Plan ahead using a planner to organize assignments and deadlines.
- 🔍 Utilize resources like Rate My Professors and Quizlet to enhance learning and understanding.
- 📚 Read the syllabus thoroughly to understand grading policies and assignment details.
- 🎓 Attend classes regularly as they provide valuable information and help with learning.
- 👂 Pay attention in class by actively participating and asking questions to maximize learning.
- 🆘 Seek help early if you're struggling with the material to avoid falling behind.
- 📝 Complete all assignments on time and go beyond the minimum to achieve a 4.0 GPA.
- 🧠 Understand your best study methods and adapt them to different subjects.
- 📈 Use evidence-based study techniques such as the Pomodoro technique and active learning.
- 🎯 Keep your priorities straight by valuing your education and making necessary sacrifices.
- 💪 Start off strong in the semester to give yourself a good foundation for maintaining a high GPA.
- 📈 Focus on understanding the material rather than just achieving a high grade.
Q & A
What is the first tip Joanne gives for achieving a 4.0 GPA?
-Joanne's first tip is to plan ahead, using a planner to stay organized and accountable, and to complete assignments earlier than their due dates to allow for extra time in case of difficulties.
What is the significance of using Rate My Professors according to Joanne?
-Rate My Professors is a useful resource that allows students to see ratings and reviews of professors by previous students, which can help in choosing a teacher who is likely to contribute positively to their academic success.
What does Joanne recommend for studying and getting answers?
-Joanne recommends using Quizlet, which is a great resource for studying and getting answers that can help in learning the material.
Why is reading the syllabus important according to Joanne?
-Reading the syllabus is important because it provides crucial information about the course, including assignment due dates, grading policies, late work policies, and opportunities for extra credit, which can help in planning and managing expectations.
What does Joanne suggest about attending class?
-Joanne suggests that attending class is essential as it helps students get into a study routine, ask questions immediately, and receive information that may not be available in textbooks.
How does Joanne feel about paying attention in class?
-Joanne emphasizes the importance of actively learning in class by participating and asking questions. She believes that the classroom time should be used to focus and grasp as much information as possible.
What does Joanne advise regarding seeking help with academic challenges?
-Joanne advises seeking help early on in the semester rather than waiting until just before finals to address problems that arose much earlier in the course.
Why is doing the work important for achieving a 4.0 GPA?
-Doing the work is important because turning in assignments on time and completing all required tasks are key components of achieving a high GPA. Joanne has never missed an assignment, which she attributes significantly to her 4.0 GPA.
How does Joanne suggest students determine their best study methods?
-Joanne suggests that students should figure out their preferred learning style and be open to adapting their study methods to the material they are learning.
What are evidence-based study techniques that Joanne mentions?
-Joanne mentions techniques such as the Pomodoro technique, using algorithmic flashcards, and active learning strategies like synthesizing information into one's own words and teaching the material to others.
What is Joanne's final advice regarding priorities and the focus on understanding the material?
-Joanne's final advice is to have one's priorities straight, understanding the importance of grades in relation to other life commitments, and to focus more on understanding the material rather than just achieving a high grade.
Outlines
📘 Planning Ahead for Academic Success
Joanne, a public health major, emphasizes the importance of planning ahead to achieve a 4.0 GPA. She shares personal experiences and suggests using a planner to stay organized and accountable. Joanne also advises completing assignments ahead of deadlines to allow time for understanding and seeking help if needed.
📚 Utilizing Resources and Reading Syllabus
The second tip focuses on leveraging resources such as Rate My Professors and Quizlet to enhance learning and study efficiency. Joanne also stresses the importance of thoroughly reading the syllabus, which provides crucial information on grading, policies, and assignment due dates, and planning accordingly.
🎓 Attending Class and Engaging Actively
Joanne advises attending classes regularly as it helps maintain a study schedule and allows for immediate clarification of doubts. She also encourages active participation in class, which can lead to a deeper understanding of the material and better retention of information.
🤔 Seeking Help Early and Doing the Work
The fourth and fifth tips involve addressing academic difficulties promptly to prevent them from escalating and ensuring that all assignments are completed on time. Joanne highlights the significance of not procrastinating on seeking help and the necessity of turning in all work to maintain a high GPA.
🧠 Understanding Personal Study Styles
Joanne discusses the importance of knowing one's most effective study methods and adapting study techniques to suit different subjects. She also emphasizes using evidence-based study techniques, such as the Pomodoro technique and active learning, to enhance comprehension and retention.
🎯 Prioritizing and Starting Strong
The final tips include maintaining clear priorities, such as recognizing the importance of grades and balancing work and school commitments without compromising academic performance. Joanne also suggests starting the semester strong to create a buffer for any potential setbacks and focusing on understanding the material rather than just achieving high grades.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡4.0 GPA
💡Public Health
💡Planning Ahead
💡Resources
💡Syllabus
💡Attendance
💡Active Learning
💡Seeking Help
💡Completing Assignments
💡Study Techniques
💡Prioritization
Highlights
Joanne shares her tips on how to achieve a 4.0 GPA in college
She emphasizes the importance of planning ahead and using a planner to stay organized
Joanne recommends using resources like Rate My Professors and Quizlet to study effectively
Reading the syllabus carefully is crucial to understanding the grading policies and expectations
Attending class regularly helps with staying on track and getting clarification on course material
Actively participating and asking questions during class can enhance learning
Seeking help early on for any difficulties can prevent problems from snowballing later in the semester
Completing all assignments on time is key to maintaining a high GPA
Joanne emphasizes the importance of understanding the material rather than just focusing on grades
Finding the study methods that work best for you is essential for effective learning
Using evidence-based study techniques like the Pomodoro method and active learning can improve retention
Prioritizing schoolwork and maintaining a strong start to the semester can help achieve a 4.0 GPA
Joanne shares her personal experience of how she was able to achieve a 4.0 GPA in multiple semesters
She acknowledges that external factors like the pandemic, work, and family responsibilities can impact academic performance
Joanne provides a realistic perspective that achieving a 4.0 is not always possible and it's okay to have a lower GPA under certain circumstances
The workload and difficulty can vary significantly depending on the major, so comparing GPAs across different fields may not be fair
Transcripts
hi everyone welcome to my channel my
name is joanne and i
am a third year undergrad student i'm
majoring in public health and today i'm
going to give you my guide on how to get
a 4.0
i've gone through five semesters of
college and i was able to get a 4.0 in
about three or four of them and i wanted
to kind of share
my tips on how i did it and things that
i think that could help you
maybe if you're entering into college or
maybe you're struggling in college right
now
if you like this video while you're
watching make sure to give it a thumbs
up make sure to subscribe as well and
leave a comment
if you can and before i start this video
i do want to practice this by saying
given our current climate
with the coronavirus cloven 19 pandemic
school has become very difficult it's
not easy what students have to go
through during this pandemic it wasn't
even easy in the first place and then
adding a pandemic
people are going through things so if
your grades are struggling just
understand that given the circumstances
you're doing what you can and if you
can't get a 4.0
that is totally okay as well also i do
want to say that getting a 4.0 is
dependent on a lot of things
it could depend on your extenuating
circumstances maybe you're working
full-time
maybe you have little siblings you have
to take care of maybe you're
involved in extracurricular activities
that kind of require
more attention which leaves less
attention for school
also your major has a lot to do with it
someone who's majoring in engineering
for someone who's majoring in general
studies the workload is going to be a
lot different there are
majors that are notoriously very very
very difficult and so
if you can get a 3.7 as an engineering
major or a bio major
to me that's like a 4.0 so just make
sure to keep all of this in mind
all right so we're just gonna jump right
into the video so the first tip i have
to getting a 4.0 is to plan ahead so we
see
how unexpected life is even with this
pandemic
but there are also a lot of things that
you can go through aside from the
pandemic like the daily hassles you have
a lot of things can get in the way so
you want to make sure that you are
planning ahead something that i
recommend to everyone is to get a
planner this is my planner right here i
got this from target it cost
maybe 11 i live by this planner i don't
think i could get a 4.0 without a
planner honestly because
this is something that holds you
accountable and it allows you to plan
ahead
so this planner book has a monthly
planner also has
daily planners and weekly planners and
it also has
to-do lists things you shouldn't forget
things you have to do
it it includes a lot that helps me stay
on top of stuff and allows me to plan
ahead
so i get stuff done also in terms of
planning ahead a lot of the times if you
think that you're on schedule
more times than not you're probably
going to run behind
so if you know that you have something
due on friday instead of doing it
on thursday or wednesday try to finish
it on
tuesday this gives you cushion let's say
if you
don't understand something or you need
extra help you have the time to do it
instead of trying to email your teacher
on thursday night trying to figure out
how to do this assignment
not only that but it gives you a lot
more time to do other stuff towards the
end of the weekend these are just
examples of how you can think to plan
ahead all right so now we're going to
start focusing on the actual semester
itself my second tip to getting a 4.0 is
to use your resources
most especially i'm going to say rate my
professors is one of the most
useful resources that i've used in
college great my professors allows you
to search up professors in your school
and allows you to see what previous
students say about that specific teacher
if the teacher is bad you're going to
know they're going to have a very low
rating and they're going to have a very
high rating of difficulty i will never
ever register for a course if i know
that the teacher has a low rating
that can make the difference between a
4.0 and a 3.5 if your teachers
make your life miserable or they have
the hardest exams
you can get all of that information from
my professors another resource that you
can use
is quizlet quizlet is a great resource
for studying
it's a great resource for getting
answers as well that can help you in
learning the material
another resource you can use is to maybe
ask your teachers for a previous test
that she's given to other students
in her previous classes if you can see
the way that your teacher
asks questions on a test you'll better
be able to
gauge how you should study of course you
can study the textbook and the lecture
slides
but if you don't know how the question
is going to be asked it's going to be a
little bit harder to know how
you should study other resources you can
use are office hours
if you're struggling on something make
sure to go to your teacher's office
hours if
he or she has that available to you the
third tip i have to getting a 4.0
is to read your syllabus your syllabus
is going to be your best friend during
the semester so this is a rule of thumb
in the beginning of the semester
when you're getting your syllabi make
sure to go through and look at all the
assignments that are due
and make sure to record them into your
planner for the entire semester
so this is my planner for the month of
september and i did this all throughout
the
months of september october november and
december
all of this was written way before the
semester even started and as the days go
by i know what assignments i have to do
what to do in the coming weeks and then
as i get them done i can cross them off
your syllabus will also tell you how
your teacher likes to grade
some teachers consider a 94
in a some teachers consider a 93 an a
which is all information that's given
inside the syllabus
the teacher also includes information
like their late policy
whether they will accept late work or
whether they have extensions
they will also include whether they will
provide extra credit
so all of this information kind of helps
you to know like okay is this a teacher
that i can be a little more chill around
or is this something that i really have
to be on top of all the time
so the fourth tip i have to getting a
4.0 is
to go to class this may seem like a
given to a lot of people
but a lot of people don't go to class
maybe because the class is too early and
they're too lazy or
whatever reason it would be but i think
that going to class
i feel like it helps you get into that
schedule and the classroom setting helps
you get into the study mood
it helps you when you're learning not
only that but if you have questions
and you're in a class you can ask them
right then and there i think going to
class is also helpful because sometimes
teachers will give
information in class that you won't see
in the textbook
sometimes they'll drop little gems like
oh make sure to focus on this for the
test
so that is all stuff that you can miss
if you don't show up to class all right
so my fifth tip to getting a 4.0 is not
only to show up to class but to actually
pay attention in class
you should be actively trying to learn
in class by participating and
asking questions if you don't understand
something actually try to use that
designated 40 minutes to an
hour or two hours to strictly focus on
that subject i think we have a lot of
free time outside
of the classroom that you can use to
zone off or
go to sleep or use your phone but when
you're in class i think you should take
that very seriously
try to grasp as much as you can inside
the classroom setting
because when you go home you're gonna be
alone you're not gonna have the
resources there to help you all right so
my sixth tip to getting a 4.0
is to make sure to get help early on in
the semester
it serves you nothing to wait until
a week before the finals to try to
address something that was
a problem in the second week of the
semester if you're having a problem with
something
address it then and there don't wait
until the material shows up later
because nine times out of ten it's gonna
show up later i
did this to myself i remember in organic
chemistry we were learning resonance
structures
and i could not get it for the life of
me and i was like you know what
i don't care because after this unit
we're not gonna need this anymore
i was very mistaken because resident
structures showed up for the rest of the
semester
and i was trying to catch up with
resonance structures
while trying to learn the new stuff so i
think in order to mitigate those
stresses that can
show up later in the semester make sure
that you 100
grasp the information while it's
while you're working on it in class
don't wait till a week or two later
to finally get help seek help as early
as you can all right so my seventh tip
to getting a 4.0 is to actually
do the work it's funny because in high
school i would do my work sometimes and
then other times i wouldn't and i would
be so shocked when my grade dropped like
yeah if you're turning in your homework
late or you're turning an assignment
late or not turning them at all
your grade is gonna drop you're not
gonna get an a if you have missing
assignments i've actually been in class
for three years and i've never
missed one assignment and i can
attribute a lot of my 4.0 to
me never missing an assignment so you
want to make sure that you actually
do your assignments your homework your
study sets whatever it is that will help
you prepare
especially if it's graded you want to
make sure that you do it
try to do beyond that because getting a
4.0 it's not something that
you can get if you do the minimum so you
want to go above and beyond
you want to do extra practice problems
when you can you want to study the book
in and out so you actually want to
actually put in the work to get what you
want so my eighth tip to getting a 4.0
is to learn
how you study best i can't tell you how
much this is so important because
everyone is different nobody exists in a
vacuum
and because of that one way that i could
that could help me study so well
probably wouldn't help you because
you're not me and i'm not you
a lot of my friends can study by
constantly rewriting stuff i don't know
how people do that i actually have to
try
different ways i'm not really a visual
learner i'm more of an
auditory learner so figure out what
works best in your case and always be
willing to adopt the way that you learn
to the material
you're learning so the way that you
study in chemistry probably won't be the
same way you study
in anatomy because chemistry is more
math focused when you're using formulas
whereas in anatomy you're using more
visual learning and you're using more
clinically applicable skills
so my nine tip that kind of ties along
with what i just said
is to make sure that you're using
evidence-based study techniques
evidence-based study techniques are
techniques that have been proven to work
through research
examples of this could be the pomodoro
technique using
algorithmic flashcards that you make on
your own
using active learning and active
studying skills like synthesizing
information
into your own words and into a way that
you understand
a lot of the time when we're in class or
when we're watching lectures we kind of
take what the teacher is saying
and we write it down and then we try to
memorize that how about instead
trying to take what the teacher says put
it into your own words
synthesize the information into a way
that you understand it
another thing you can do is try to teach
other people your material
and if you're able to effectively teach
someone else what you're studying and
what you're learning
that probably means that you know the
material so for example if you're taking
biology 101 if you need to know the
krebs cycle
try to explain the krebs cycle to your
mom or your brother or your sister or
your boyfriend or your husband whatever
and if you can adequately and
efficiently explain
what the krebs cycle is how it works
that probably means you know it
if you are struggling to explain it or
you can't
really put the words together that
probably means that you need more help
with that and that's a way that you can
use active learning to your advantage
don't just rewrite stuff try to recite
it if it's possible try to rehearse it
always visit the information these are
all
evidence-based study techniques that you
can use that will help you in the
classroom
so my 10th tip to getting a 4.0 is to
have your priority straight
so you have to know how important your
grades are and how much you want in 4.0
from
the beginning of the semester and you
have to keep that in mind throughout the
entire semester
when you have your priorities straight
you know that okay if i have a test
tomorrow and my boyfriend wants to go
out with me tonight
he's gonna have to wait don't compromise
your priorities for
pleasure because at the end of the day
if you want a 4.0 you should be willing
to put in the work to get that 4.0
another example of straightening out
your priorities is let's say
you're working a part-time job in order
to pay bills for school
and your apartment all right so this is
something that's a necessity you need
this job and you need school
so you need to figure out how to put
those two together without compromising
either of them if you are working for
leisurely or you're working for
pocket money or you don't really need to
be working and you know that your school
is way more important
if work is affecting school how about
quitting your job or taking a leave of
absence
because you know your priorities like
okay school is most important to me to
me i work full-time and then i volunteer
part-time school is the most important
thing to me
if my grades start dropping i swear on
everything i'm quitting my job like i'm
not going to compromise
my grades for money if something were to
start getting compromised
i would drop anything that doesn't have
to do with school just because my
priority is school
my next piece of advice to getting a 4.0
is to start off strong
it's better to start off strong in the
beginning to give yourself
room to mess up later in the semester
than to
bomb your first exam or your first quiz
it's easier trying to maintain a good
grade than trying to work your way from
the bottom
after you failed and i feel like this is
a given but
you also want to make sure that you're
implementing a plan
so that you start off strong your first
test you don't know
what is going to show up on that test so
you need to go into
overdrive when you're studying you need
to study over and above what you need to
know
to ace the exam all right and my last
tip
and my guide to getting a 4.0 is just
remembering
that getting good grades is not as
important as
understanding the material a lot of the
times they work hand in hand
but instead of focusing on the grade try
to focus more on
actually understanding what you're
learning and once you understand as much
as you can
when you're faced with that information
on a test or a quiz
you're able to ace it because you
understand it so instead of focusing on
the grade
try to focus more on the content alright
guys thank you so much for watching my
video i know this was a long one i'm
sorry
um i i can't thank you guys enough for
watching if you made it this far make
sure to give it a thumbs up and leave a
comment
and i wish you the best in your spring
2021 semester
and i will see you guys in the next
video bye
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