# are you good at school



## Jess (Oct 23, 2004)

I have tried everything and I am just no good at school...all kinds of study techniques, putting in extra hours at the library, I just have all these issues with concentrating, paying attention, and i think a big part of it is actually wanting to be here...i dont really want to be here its just what i am supposed to do so im doing it.


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## WhyMe888 (Aug 22, 2005)

same, i'm sooo bad at school esp with tests. i was a pretty good student in hs, then i came to college and it was all downhill from there....

i do want to be in college but i hate my major soo much. maybe that's why i'm doing so badly....


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## soma (Nov 10, 2003)

I was a pretty bad student up until about 4 weeks into this semester. I met someone who taught me (by example) how to study. After spending some time with him, I began to learn how much work and effort really is required to do well. I started spending more and more time in the library with him, and now, it's just about all I do. I'm not saying this will work for you or anyone else, but try to find people that you can model your study habits off of. Easier said than done especially with SA, but it is possible!


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## Nyx (Nov 17, 2003)

WhyMe888 said:


> same, i'm sooo bad at school esp with tests. i was a pretty good student in hs, then i came to college and it was all downhill from there....
> 
> i do want to be in college but i hate my major soo much. maybe that's why i'm doing so badly....


:dito Wow this is me exactly...


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## michaelg (Jan 29, 2005)

I'm a pretty good student at an advance high school. I dunno, I never had to worry about study techniques. I remember in elementary/middle school when teachers would give advice on studying and it didn't make sense to me why people would have trouble with that. 

Guess it just comes naturally. My study/organization habits are pretty bad, actually, and I procrastinate a lot, but I do things well and learn well and get good grades. I'm definitely not willing to work my *** off, it just sort of.. happens.


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## Drella (Dec 4, 2004)

I'm doing fairly well in my studies. I have an A average..

It's not because I want to be in school. I'm completely unmotivated and lazy. 

You could take some online quizzes or mult. choice tests in the book. I basically just memorize all I can and b.s. my way through the essays. If I pull a bunch of crap out of thin air and mix in the information I actually know, I do better on essays.. as long as they're several paragraphs long. I don't know why.. I guess the teachers get confused or tired of reading. That's been my experience, anyway.

Another tip: If you review material right before you go to bed, your mind retains the information better.

Also, if you study in a room or situation similar to that of the test area, you can recall information easier. There are all sorts of visual or auditory signals that help you remember what you learned.


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## cakesniffer (Nov 11, 2003)

I think naturally I'm that kind of student. For some people learning and excelling comes naturally. I think over the past 4½ years I've really improved. For me, it came down to figuring out how I tick and how I work best. Procrastinating and putting things off wasn't the best option and I wasn't learning from anything I was doing. I was just doing it because I had to.

Now, some subjects I'm just hopelessly bad at, like math, sciences, and languages, but my goal was to do better in my classes for my major. I'm an English major, so I rarely see exams (so not much "studying") and do a lot more essays and research papers, so I'm probably somewhat different from most of you. I gave myself time (almost a whole month for one paper this semester) and talked to my professors if I had questions or concerns rather than just leave my questions unanswered. It made me feel more confident in what I was doing.

That's my case, but I think figuring out how you work and what method of learning is best is the way to go. This is my last semester, so I was late in discovering it. :lol


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## nitarose2 (Nov 18, 2003)

I guess you can say I am good at school. I don't read, don't do homework, probably because most of it is never turned in, don't really study that much, but I do take notes during lecture and I normally get a B or C in the in the class. I also skip class a lot because I hate school that much. Even when I come back the next day, I don't bother to find out what I missed.


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## Norske (Sep 21, 2005)

Pavlovian conditioning. Try to make yourself enjoy school work and doing said schoolwork will become easy.

When you're procrastinating try to make that procrastination as unenjoyable as possible. After awhile your mind automatically associates homework with pleasure and activities which you would normally enjoy instead of homework with suffering.

For example: In the past I oftentimes wasted a large amount of time browsing forums. If I catch myself doing this when I should be doing homework I shock myself or in some cases do something more extreme.

If I complete my goal for a given time period I reward myself with something I enjoy doing. At the same time I look at my work with an interested eye instead of seeing it as something which I *must* do.

*Summary:* Treat yourself like a dog and train yourself to do your homework as you would train a rabid dog. You must make the punishments and rewards absolute so as to be beyond manipulation. Make the alternatives to completing your work completely unacceptable or even physically painful. Afterall, a rabid undisciplined dog will likely only respond to strict and severe punishment.

At the same time make completing that work as enjoyable as you possibly can.

After awhile using these techniques is no longer required. I have enjoyed my work for awhile now and studying comes second nature - I might daresay I enjoy studying. Once in awhile I find myself slipping however and force myself through a mini-training session.

Sounds a bit crazy? Yeah. It works though. So simple yet so counterintuitive...


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## GraceLikeRain (Nov 9, 2003)

Depends on what classes I have, lol. Right now I am in an anatomy and physiology class and it's all memorization, and I cannot stand that! I know that my test scores are going to be lower than normal in that class.


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## WhyMe888 (Aug 22, 2005)

WalkbyFaith said:


> Depends on what classes I have, lol. Right now I am in an anatomy and physiology class and it's all memorization, and I cannot stand that! I know that my test scores are going to be lower than normal in that class.


my roommate has anatomy right now and she has a HUGE pile of notecards for that class. i have to take that next fall.... :afr


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## ExtremeE (Dec 11, 2005)

No, I'm not good at all.

I'm terrible actually.

I'm one of those peopel who show that they are smart but they don't want it enough.

To be quite honest, I don't study at all at home.
Can't wait to finish school


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## Jennie* (Jul 2, 2005)

I'm good at school. Most of the time my text books collect dust. I don't read the entire book, if at all. I skim through alot of things. Most of the things I get are from class, my notes are a mess because I can bearly read my own handwriting. For literature classes I never take notes, If I do then I never read them. :um so yea I have my own system of slacker/overachiver going on. If I get a B I freak...lol.


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## FailureGene (Nov 12, 2005)

I was pretty average at school. I left with a bunch of Bs and Cs, and a fat stonking A in History. I got a D in Maths, though, but nothing lower. 

But to my eternal credit, I never revised once, or even read a single page in any set material, across the curriculum. 8) I might have done better if I did. Maybe.


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## theturtle (Nov 24, 2005)

I work hard just to be average. But it isn't so much about the grade that is important. It is what you learn. cliche i know....

However i can recall the stuff i learned from last year and i got a C in that class. I can't seem for the life of me do well on test. Text anxiety is just another annoying phobia of mine.

The way i learn is by rehearsing the info overtime again and again. In many, if not most, subjects it takes months and years to learn it well. And that's the way i want to learn anyways. Know the information for the long run. This is the best way to use your education.

But screw college. If they don't know the info well, Those who do well on tests are people who have great short term memories (or working) and/or great at guessing. 

For example, I knew this student from one of my psych classes. She scored damn near all As in her tests but yet she couldn't remember a dang thing from the material of that class. She told me she had a knack of remembering what she read with details. 


One thing frustrating about psych tests though is that you study the information you think is worthwhile (something you take with you for the rest of your life)...only to find out many of the questions ask about info you don't know quite as well (usually useless info like stats). The information you know well get minimal questions. BAH! 

I swear college isn't for an SAer. You are too shy to be around people. Too shy to ask for help. Too shy to do whatever it takes to be a great student.

Bah! School sucks...i am just surviving...


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## ghostgurl (Sep 20, 2004)

> But it isn't so much about the grade that is important. It is what you learn.


 :agree If I was graded on how much I enjoyed my social psych class I would be getting an A not a C. :mum


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## theturtle (Nov 24, 2005)

Are you a psych major yourself? 8)


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## Argo (May 1, 2005)

Drella's_Rock_Follies said:


> I basically just memorize all I can and b.s. my way through the essays. If I pull a bunch of crap out of thin air and mix in the information I actually know, I do better on essays.. as long as they're several paragraphs long. I don't know why.. I guess the teachers get confused or tired of reading. That's been my experience, anyway.


I once wrote an A in-class essay on a story I didn't even read. Just quickly skimmed through the text (it was open book), picked out some choice bits, and BSed my way through. The teacher even said that my comments were "very insightful"!


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## Your Lover Scrub Ducky (Jul 26, 2004)

^hehe

In h.s. I didn't do too well. So far in college, however, Ive been doing great. 3.85 GPA and im halfway done. I'm alot more comfy with college than I was with HS


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## ghostgurl (Sep 20, 2004)

ksg said:


> Are you a psych major yourself? 8)


Nope, sociology, but I love psychology too.  I would have majored in it if I didn't have to take statistics.


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## rb27 (Jul 17, 2005)

I get good grades, I have a 3.6something GPA, but I also put a lot of unneeded pressure on myself. I'm not sure if I'll go to grad school, so there's no real reason to kill myself for good grades, yet I do. I suppose that I have such low self esteem that if I do poorly I'll just kick myself for the next few weeks. Still would be nice not to freak out over every test, though.


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