How to Become a Straight-A Student: The Unconventional Strategies Real College Students Use to Score High While Studying Less

The bigger problem here is that most students don’t even realize that they’re pseudo-working.

If you can answer all the questions, then you understand all the big ideas.

Whether it’s philosophy or calculus, the most effective way to imprint a concept is to first review it and then try to explain it, unaided, in your own words.

hether it’s philosophy or calculus, the most effective way to imprint a concept is to first review it and then try to explain it, unaided, in your own words.

Don’t try to organize and study in the same day

1. Match the lecture to the problem set that covers the same material.

2. Copy sample problems from these lecture notes onto a blank sheet of paper. You don’t have to copy the steps or the answers, just the questions.

3. Label the blank sheet of paper with the date of the lecture. This will help you later figure out where these problems came from (and more important, where their answers can be found).

4. Fasten this sheet with a paper clip to the problem set you matched it to in step one

For a nontechnical course, once you find out which lectures and reading assignments are fair game for the exam, print out the corresponding notes that you’ve typed up or gather the pages you’ve written on (don’t be afraid to deconstruct your notebook). Cluster these pages into piles, separated by general topic. Clearly label each of these piles with its topic and fasten them together with a paper clip so you can easily transport them without mixing up the pages.

recording all your notes in a Question/Evidence/Conclusion format.

The key to doing well in these courses is straightforward: Identify the big ideas

Exams in nontechnical courses focus entirely on big ideas—they require you to explain them, contrast them, and reevaluate them in the light of new evidence. If you are aware of, and understand, all of the big ideas presented in the course, these tasks are not so difficult, and strong grades will follow.