Category Archives: College in Four Years GradeUP! Challenge

GradeUP! Challenge #26: Make Every Semester Count

College in Four Years GradeUP! Challenge,

Grade Up Logo - jpeg-revThis is the final post for this semester’s GradeUp! Challenge. Congratulations to all of you who used the information in GradeUP! to improve your performance this semester. Keep using the tips, tactics and information I’ve shared to get better grades in less time by working smarter, not harder. The goal is to empower you on your way to graduating on time with good job prospects. The GradeUP! posts will remain on my website for a few more weeks so you can read or re-read them.

I want to stay in touch with all of you so please use this link to sign up for my email list. You can reach me by leaving comments or using the contact form on the website or, you can email at gsawyerauthor@creativecache.biz, follow me on Twitter @ProfGMS or through Facebook at GranvilleSawyerAuthor.

I wish you the best of luck this semester and remember to make every semester count.

GradeUP Challenge #25: College Success is a Team Effort

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Teamwork © by Kim S on Flickr
Teamwork © by Kim S on Flickr

Well, here we are at the end of the semester and the last week of the GradeUP! Challenge. I going to use this post to talk about building your Success Team. All of the information I shared with you throughout the Challenge was geared to help you learn to create and effectively use your College Success Team because no successful person gets through college, or life, on their own. You need a team to support you as well as strategies to manage your team effectively. Let’s look at who’s on your team:

  • Your teachers
  • Your advisors
  • School administration like the registrar, departments heads, financial aid, or anyone who can help you with important decisions
  • Your peers
  • People who support you outside of the academic setting (your family and other stakeholders).

While all of these people can help you, you are the coach, the one calling the plays. It is up to you to use the members of your team effectively for success in college. Even though it takes a team to help you, ultimately YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOU.

Below I’ve grouped the GradeUP! Challenges posted over the last 12 weeks based on how they help you make the most of your Success Team. Refer back to the Challenges to see how you can apply the tactics I shared with you throughout the semester to make strategic decisions that will involve your success team and direct them on how they can support you throughout your college career.

GradeUP! Challenge #24: When You Study – the How is More Important Than the What

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examsIn Challenge #23 I talked about the importance of diet, rest and exercise in preparing for your final exams. In this post – we get down to work. The first thing you should know is that how you study is more important than what you study. You know what was covered in your classes and what you need to know for your finals – at least you should if you’ve been taking the GradeUP! Challenge this semester! Now you’ve got a semester of material to study and the challenge is knowing how to study all it all to be ready for your tests. Here’s how you do this successfully:

  • Give yourself enough time to study. I put this first because many students are doing more than just going to school – you may be working one or more jobs and taking a full load this semester. You have to carve out more time at the end of the semester to study for your tests and this means making some tough decisions about how to balance work, school and your personal life. Put school first at this critical time in the semester, you can rebalance your schedule when finals are over.
  • Organize, organize, organize – spend time pulling together everything you need to study and organizing it so you’ve got what you need when the time comes. Two o’clock in the morning is not the time to find out you don’t have what you need to study for a test the next day.
  • Start out studying for understanding – not memory. Read and study to thoroughly understand what you’re responsible for. It’s much easier to remember material and concepts you really understand instead of unrelated facts, figures and formulas. The concepts you understand are the ones that stick with you after class is over. When you leave college and seek employment based on what you learned in college, this is what you’ll have to show for the time, effort and money spent in class this semester.
  • Use the study tips in GradeUP! Challenges #5, #6, #7 , #8 and #15 to make your study time count so, when you see test questions and problems based on what you studied, you’ll be able to recognize them and come up with the right answers.

All previous GradeUP! Challenges are available on the GradeUP! Challenge Week-by-Week page.

Be sure to take advantage of the free eBook giveaway of College in Four Years through Friday, April 24. You’ll find details on the eBook Giveaway here.

GradeUP! Challenge #23: Three Secrets For Successful Studying

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Good diet, adequate rest and regular exercise are as important to your performance in class as studying and understanding course material. Numerous studies tell us that you can’t think of these practices separately – like a three-legged stool, they support each other and you. Lack of rest robs you of the ability to process and understand what you’re studying and the ability to recall during tests. So, pulling that all-nighter won’t help you, it can only hurt you.

I learned this the hard way, I once stayed up until three in the morning studying for a math exam. I was alert the whole time pumped up on adrenalin and caffeine, but I wasn’t learning anything. I got a seventy-six on my exam. I could have gone to bed at ten thirty and done that!

Staying up late wasn’t the only mistake I made.The sugar and caffeine I consumed kept me awake alright but they also caused me to “crash” later, just about the time I was taking my exam. The tiredness and fatigue came over me so quickly, I almost fell asleep in the test. This is definitely not the way to go. You’ve got to put the right foods in your body to work for you or you’ll  pay the price at the worst possible time.

The last critical piece here is exercise. As little as fifteen minutes a day can help keep you refreshed and ready to study productively. An uninterrupted cycle of study and work with no chance to stretch your muscles and get your blood flowing  wears on you down. Every hour you keeping going becomes less productive; you accomplish less, learn less and are less prepared to use what you once knew on your tests. Taking time for brief period of exercise is time well spent.

Here are a few tips to help you get the most out of your study time now and in the future:

  • Plan your preparation for final exams now so you have enough time to study and stay healthy – be honest with yourself about what you can do, not what you hope you can do.
  • Schedule in study breaks so you have time to eat a healthy meal and walk around a bit to loosen up your muscles and refresh your mind – you will learn and retain more of what you study.
  • Remember, you can’t study or work all day and all night and expect to be successful at either – that’s just wishful thinking.
  • Use the study techniques I shared with you throughout the GradeUP! Challenge – they’re all available on the GradeUP! Challenge Week-by-Week page.

A Special Thank You

To thank you for your participation in The College in Four Years GradeUP! Challenge, I am offering a free E-book version of College in Four Years: Making Every Semester Count, from Wednesday, April 22 through Friday, April 24. Click this link or simply log onto Amazon.com, search College in Four Years by Granville Sawyer and download the kindle edition for free.

I’d like to know what you thought about what I’ve shared from the book during the GradeUP! Challenge. Be it good or not so good, I’d greatly appreciate your leaving a review on Amazon, and if you’re a member, Goodreads. To leave a review on Amazon just click the customer reviews hyperlink just under the book title and that will take you to a page where you can leave your review. For Goodreads just access your profile, list College in Four Years as Read and leave me a review.

Thank you in advance for your review and for your participation in the GradeUP! Challenge. If you would like information and intermittent news about my upcoming events, giveaways, webinars, new resources or books, I invite you to join my Email List.

GradeUP! Challenge #22: The Gut Check

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©Jenn and Tony Bot on flickr
©Jenn and Tony Bot on flickr

The final series of GradeUP! posts are to get you ready for your final exams. I’m going to start with a way to test your understanding and readiness for any test, any subject, anywhere, anytime. I call it the “Gut Check” because it’s all about what you feel and not what you know. This may sound like an unusual  approach to test prep but trust me – there is no better way – the gut always knows, let me explain.When it’s time to be tested on what you know, you want to believe you’re ready, but how do you know? You’re probably thinking; study, take the test, get my grade, then I’ll know. Don’t rely on just want you think about your level of preparation, you need to know how you “feel” about it, that’s the Gut Check. Here’s how it works:

  • Once you think you have prepared well for a test, find a quiet place where you can sit comfortably and close your eyes.
  • See yourself in the moment of the test with the exam in front of you.
  • See your hand come down and write your name on the test.
  • Don’t think – just feel.
  • Does your heart start to race?
  • Do your palms get sweaty?
  • Does your butt pucker up a little?

All of these responses are triggered by the same emotion – fear.  Whether you want to know it or not, your heart and your gut are telling you the truth: you are not ready. You can’t think your way around fear. If you don’t work harder to get ready for your tests, you will go into your exams unprepared, nervous and unable to use what you do know. Be honest with yourself and use the Gut Check to know you’re ready for your finals and all tests in the future. If you want the truth, ask your heart and your gut because they will always be honest with you.

Look through the GradeUP! Challenges for information on how to prepare for a test if your Gut Check says you’re not ready. All previous GradeUP! Challenges are available on the GradeUP! Challenge Week-by-Week page.

GradeUP! Challenge #21: What to Ask When You Ask the Professionals

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Elsa Ruiz/Asia Society on Flickr
Elsa Ruiz/Asia Society on Flickr

Over the past few GradeUP! Challenges we’ve been talking about the view from where you are to where you want to be – better known as planning. I started with what’s closest on your horizon – this semester (Challenge #19) and then what’s in your longer view – next semester and beyond (Challenge #20). Before I finish up the GradeUP! Challenge blog series with advice on preparing for finals, I want to share some information with you on how to take advantage of a unique opportunity that will help with your plans for your longer-term future – the after college future.

The college setting is one of the few places where you have the ongoing opportunity to talk with professionals from the private and public sectors. Take advantage of every opportunity to attend a talk when speakers come to campus; learn from their experience and use the information these professionals share to help your future plans. Too often students only hear these visitors say the equivalent of, “This is who I am and this is what I do and if you work hard you can do it too.” That’s because most students rely on the speaker to deliver information that will resonate with them. To get more than a recent version of the speakers resume, you have to ask the questions that you want answers to. You have to be proactive in getting the information that you can use to launch and build your career from the foundation that college provides.

Here are some questions designed to help you get the most out of your exposure and engagement with a professional. As soon as the speaker ends their presentation with, “Are there any questions?” throw your hand up, stand and ask these questions:

  • Did you have a plan for success after college?
  • If you did, what was it?
  • Did it work?
  • If it did, why did it work?
  • How much of what you did can I use today?
  • What do you think I need to do to be successful in the current business environment?
  • Will you help me make my plan as you did?

Use the answers you get to these questions to help you set long-range and short-range goals. Start with your long-range goals and then work your way back to the short-range goals achieving all of your goals, step by step.

Go to www.granvillesawyer.com/resources/ to get your own set of interview and planning sheets. Click on “Ask The Professionals: What Was Your Post-College Plan For Success?” and “Key Questions: What Is My Plan To Succeed In College?” You can also find more detailed resources along with the questions above in Chapter 10 in College in Four Years; Making Every Semester Count.

If you don’t have a copy of College in Four Years, I’ve made the book available at $14.99, a 25% discount from the regular retail price of $19.00. This special pricing is only available during the GradeUP! Challenge and expires May 3, 2015. Click the link above or on the cover of the book to the right, then scroll to the “Special Pricing” section on the page.

All previous GradeUP! Challenges are available on the GradeUP! Challenge Week by Week page.

GradeUP! Challenge #20: Take the Long View – For Now and the Future

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By Joshua Sortino
By Joshua Sortino

In GradeUP! Challenge #19: Plan For a Big Finish I gave some advice on planning for a strong finish this semester. However, unless your graduating this semester (if you are, congratulations), there’s more than a semester to plan for. So, I’m taking off my professor hat and putting on my academic advisor hat and we are shifting our focus to the long view.

It is time to preregister for next semester. Here’s a step-by-step checklist that takes the long view by planning for the upcoming semester and the rest of your time in college:

  • First, you need to know where you are right now so get whatever documents you need from the registrar or on-line system to see what you’ve taken, the grades you’ve earned and what courses you have left to take;
  • If there are any errors (what you have verses what’s on file with the registrar) or there’s something you don’t understand, deal with it right now – don’t assume it’s a “glitch” in the system, it’s not;
  • Use the information on file with the registrar to plan courses you’ll take next semester and every semester all the way to graduation;
  • Make sure that when you’re scheduling courses, you plan to take them when they’re offered and that you’ll have completed any prerequisite courses you need to take;
  • Take this plan to your advisor to confirm you did it correctly and then register for next semester – don’t put it off, classes fill up;
  • Update your plan anytime something requires rescheduling of courses and be sure to check on how a change in one semester effects your plans for later semesters – keep your plan current all the way to graduation.

Following these steps means you’ll never say, “I didn’t know I had to take that course,” or “I didn’t know this course wasn’t offered this semester. I need it go graduate!” Or, my favorite, “OMG the curriculum changed – didn’t it?!!”

By taking the long view of your college career, you’ll know where you’re going, how you’re going to get there and when you’ll arrive. You’ll also know:

  • When you’re graduating so you can let others know well ahead of time; and
  • How many courses you have left to take and how much money you’ll need to take them.

Don’t let things you do today based on poor planning or no planning come back to haunt you in future and, cost you time, effort and money. Plan for now and the future – that’s the long view, the smart way to finish your degree.

All previous GradeUP! Challenges are available on the GradeUP! Challenge Week-by-Week page.

You can learn more about planning your college career in Chapter 8 of College in Four Years; Making Every Semester Count.

GradeUP! Challenge #19: Plan For A Big Finish

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Calendar © Mike Hyde on flickr
Calendar © Mike Hyde on flickr

Midterms are finished – you’re over half way to the end of the semester. It is time to update your plan for success this semester to ensure you finish strong in every class. In GradeUP! Challenge #2, I talked about using the syllabus to develop your game plan to be successful in each class. Now use that same syllabus as the basis to update your plan for a strong finish in every class. Follow these steps:

  • Look at your syllabus again to make sure that it is still correct and up-to-date including dates for remaining assignments and tests, especially when the final exam will be given. By this time in the semester, dates and assignments could have changed;
  • Check to see if there are any study/review sessions you can attend and/or if there are extra credit assignments you can do to improve your grade if you need to – don’t wait until a week before the semester ends;
  • Use the worksheets I discussed in GradeUP! Challenge #11 to update the grades you need on tests and remaining assignments to get the final grades you want;
  • Write your plan down with a list of things to do and dates to have them done – this does not have to be a long document – it may be just a few sentences or bullet points or notes on your syllabus – enough so you know what to do when and how well you need to do it. Writing down your plan builds commitment to it;
  • Stick to your plan and check your progress every day/week – don’t put what you wrote away and not look at it again – check it every day if you need to – every time you complete something in your plan, confidence in your success will grow and your grades will improve!

Update your game plan for a strong finish in all your courses.  You still have time to make it happen in all your classes!

All previous GradeUP! Challenges are available on the GradeUP! Challenge Week by Week page. You can learn more about getting the help you need to do better in your classes in Chapter 6 of College in Four Years; Making Every Semester Count.

GradeUP! Challenge #18: There Are No Shortcuts to Success

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© Stephen Coles on flickr
© Stephen Coles on flickr

Every achievement in college isn’t academic. Throughout your college career you are also being evaluated on your success as a person and that evaluation is just as important as your academic performance. Every day you interact with people and in the process you are creating your personal reputation; how you manage yourself and your life establishes your level of integrity and forms a lasting impression of the person you are. You never know when someone’s opinion of you will help or hinder your success in college and in life. Once you show people who you are it is very difficult to change their minds so don’t put your integrity or honesty on the line by trying to cut corners, finesse or cheat your way to success. That behavior rarely, if ever, works to your advantage. Even when you think you’ve gamed the system, one way or the other, you lose.

Donna, a former student of mine, learned this important lesson in a computer programming class. Several of her classmates hired a developer to write a particularly difficult programming assignment for them and asked her if she wanted join them in purchasing the program and turning the solution in as her own. Even though she was having a difficult time with the assignment, she said no. When her classmates turned in the assignment, the instructor clearly identified the professional’s work and failed all of the students who turned it in as their work. Donna didn’t do all the programming correctly, but she was the only one who ended up passing the class!

Remember:

  • When you cut corners to get through college, you only hurt yourself.
  • You also miss gaining the knowledge you would have if you hadn’t cut corners. You can’t be sure when or if you’ll ever be presented with the opportunity to learn that critical information again.
  • Cutting corners sends a strong message to anyone who knows what you did. One seemingly small decision can make people assume that you will lie, cheat or steal to get what you want, in any situation. Trust me, someone will know  what you did and that incident will be the basis for what they believe about you and share with other people.

If anyone asks you to lie, cheat, steal or do anything you’re uncomfortable doing, don’t do it!  Don’t convince yourself that what you’re going to do isn’t really that bad. If it’s not okay then it’s not okay, okay?

All previous GradeUP! Challenges are available on the GradeUP! Challenge Week by Week page.
You can learn more about getting the help you need to do better in your classes in Chapter 6 of College in Four Years; Making Every Semester Count.

GradeUP! Challenge #17: Keep Them In The Loop

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©Patrick McGarvey on flickr
©Patrick McGarvey on flickr

Now that mid-term grades are out and you know where you stand in your classes, it’s time to let folks who have a stake in your success know too.  No student can be successful in college without help so the people who are supporting you financially and emotionally deserve to be kept in the loop. Don’t assume they will be like Eveilliene, the Wicked Witch of the West in the Wiz (see the link at the end of the post if you need a reference) who didn’t want anyone bringing her bad news.

Because these are the people that want the best for you, I’m sure expectations are high. However, no one expects you to do well all the time. You’re going to have successes and setbacks in college and folks helping you know that – so keep them in the loop. If you leave them in hanging, they can only pay and pray that you’re doing well.  Use these approaches to share the good as well as the bad news with them:

  • Share good news right away – that way, folks helping you know they are important to you and that you want them to know how you’re doing.
  • Don’t stop there, talk about how you did well and how you are going to keep up the good work.  This is just as important as the good news because it shows you have the right strategy to repeat your success.  You are demonstrating that your good performance wasn’t just luck – you have some skills.
  • When the news is not so good, share it in a timely way as well.  People supporting you will know something is wrong because you aren’t talking to them; this isn’t a secret you can keep.  They don’t know the details, but they know it’s not good – probably believing it’s worse than it really is.
  • Be ready to tell them why you didn’t do as well as you wanted and what you have done, are doing and will do to improve your performance.  When someone asks why you didn’t do as well as you wanted, the worst answer you can give is, “I don’t know.”  If you don’t know you can count on having this difficult conversation again because you don’t know how to change things.

Look at the previous GradeUP! Challenges about talking to teachers, your advisor and other people who can help you develop your strategy for improvement. What’s important is how you are going to get better in the future, not how you did in the past because you can’t change that.  Don’t walk backwards into the future, turn around, face it and plan for a more successful future.  Then, share your plans with the folks who are supporting you.

Click here for a clip from the Wiz featuring Mable King as Eveillene, the Wicked Witch of the West.

All previous GradeUP! Challenges are available on the GradeUP! Challenge Week by Week page.

You can learn more about getting the help you need to do better in your classes in Chapter 5 of College in Four Years; Making Every Semester Count.

Click on the  hyperlink to learn more about College in Four Years; Making Every Semester Count.