Best Methods To Getting All A’s in University
Studying methods that you would love
A lot of us have been through University and experienced the drag in studying for tests and exams every day, week, or end of term. To be honest, I’ve experienced a rocky road with passing exams ever since I was 8 years old with grades in the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s because I had no clue how to study and no one around me had a good idea how to.
I remembered going to my dad one day for advice
The advice my dad gave me was “when you are studying you have to read the words, close your eyes, repeat them without looking, open them and recall them from memory”
Now this wasn’t a bad idea so I decided to try it and it helped with some things but I still felt 50 pieces of the puzzle were missing so I kept on wondering and thinking “what else could there be?”
One random day, I heard a student say to my chemistry teacher from high school that he studied 15 minutes after classes by just reading over his notes when he got home. I said to myself “Hmmm that sounds like another method that could work but let me keep digging.” I didn’t follow his method immediately but I did overhear a convo from my chemistry teacher about the. She said “ X won’t stop bugging me until he has all the answers and understood the topic well. That’s a determined student and one that wants to learn.”
Hmm oh really?
A light bulb of abnormally high magnitudes dinged in my brain. “What if I act like this guy and ask my teachers about stuff I don’t understand even if they get annoyed? Better to get shamed learning than not learning at all right?”
Over the past months and years that it took in finishing high school I used this method of asking teachers questions even if it didn’t make any sense. I would visit my chemistry, biology, and physics teachers and try to discuss areas I couldn’t wrap my head around. This way helped me until the beginning of my university journey.
I decided to try the method of that student I heard the day talking to my Chemistry teacher. However, I decided to mix it with my dad’s closing eyes method with the student’s teacher asking and the 15-minute quick review method. This combination worked wonders and I achieved all A’s in my first semester!
Food, Sleep, and Supplements for the Brain
Whenever I ate breakfast before class, I would always learn better than when I was hungry. This problem got 5x worse if I went to class hungry and tired. Oh boy! There was no learning for me until I at least ate something and got a nap.
Your brain uses a lot of energy and running your tank on E will only make learning anything harder. Also, a tired brain can’t take in and register any information.
Eating some food and at least getting some sleep before class was very important, plus, I didn’t drink coffee so I had to find a way around it. Also, the issue I find is that there seems to be limited time to study, do assignments, then wake up in the morning and have breakfast.
The best solution I found to this problem was to pack my bag with biscuits or buttered bread and fill my thermos with hot tea. In the middle of class, I could be munching on a biscuit and sipping my thermos quietly without anyone noticing.
Also, lack of sleep slowed down my ability to learn in the classroom. I often felt lousy and drowsy and fought just to stay awake when that energy could’ve been used to listen. So, getting sleep before classes is a must.
In addition to food and sleep, supplements such as B-12, Omega 3, Vitamin D (especially in winter), and Ginkgo Biloba are the way to go.
B-12, Omega 3, Vitamin D (especially in winter), and Ginkgo Biloba gave me a boost in brainpower whenever I took them. B-12 and Omega 3 gave my brain a kick start in energy in the morning and Ginkgo Biloba helped with my memory. Furthermore, my brain was being used a lot to think and learn for 8–9 hours every day so it only made sense to feed it with nutrients that would make it run efficiently.
To be honest, you wouldn’t work out to gain muscle then not take the necessary protein portions to achieve such a result right? It’s the same way you need to feed your brain good food, rest, and nutrients to get it working like a beast.
Classroom Tricks
After finishing high school, I decided to try changing the way I approached learning in the classroom. From previous experience and the wisdom I learned from teachers, I realized that sitting in front of the teacher always made me learn the topics better.
Sitting at the front reduced my distractions from classmates and gave my brain a vacuum feeling where everything the teacher said I just sucked it in.
Therefore, the first thing I realized to do was to always grab the front seat because it would put me at a way higher chance of passing the class.
Take excellent notes with a pen and paper using annotated drawings with explanations and concept mapping.
By taking notes in class not only was I saving information for future reference but I was also re-enforcing concepts into my mind which in essence is studying. This allowed my mind to be ‘pre-soaked’ with information even before I began my 15-minute review after class.
Always write down the small nuances and quiet or further explanations of the general information that your instructor gives.
The little explanations that the professor gives are very valuable and help a lot when studying later for tests and exams. Plus, they most times test you on those small details rather than the general knowledge so write it down.
The 15-minute method
It has been proven scientifically that reading 15 minutes before and after classes can improve the storage of information in your brain for recollection. I have proved that taking 15 minutes to read over notes before class and 15 minutes to read over notes after class was way better than sitting down and crunching everything for hours. It helped to not only prepare myself for a pop quiz but re-enforce concepts that I could’ve forgotten about.
School’s Challenge Quiz
Asking questions in the classroom is one of the best ways to understand topics you don’t get. Many of us especially in the US pay thousands of dollars to go to University so why not put it to use? I realized that asking questions even if it seems annoying is a great way to learn and reduce studying time at home.
Also, I came up with a method known as the School’s Challenge Quiz method. This worked by challenging myself to call out answers when I knew it or even when I didn’t know it whenever instructors mentioned something of value for eg they might say “the instrument we know that cooks food is called a….” and you respond “a pot.” Even if you get it wrong, the teacher will correct you and if you get it right the teacher will tell you. It becomes better when you have classmates engaging in this method. Fun times I tell you.
By focusing on eating food before classes, sleeping, taking the best supplements, the 15-minute method, improved the classroom approach, schools challenge quiz method you will be able to get As in your university courses.