When it comes to grades, most students think you either have it in you or you don’t. You’re either a top student or you’re not.
But, that’s far from the truth. It’s not a genetic disposition. It’s simply a process that must be cracked down and repeated, day in and day out.
In fact, getting a 4.0 GPA says nothing about your understanding of the subject matter or your sophistication as a student. It only speaks to your work ethic and punctual demeanor.
All of that is to say: ANYBODY CAN DO IT. Literally.
However, I will say that getting and maintaining a 4.0 GPA is almost entirely based on hard work (plus strategic and intentional practices like the ones below).
Friendly reminder: “It doesn’t matter how smart you are or aren’t, you need to make up in hard work what you lack in experience, skill, intelligence, or innate ability.” – Darren Hardy, The Compound Effect
So, if you are here looking for the “quick fix,” “hacks,” or “how-to-cheat-the-system,” you will not be pleased with what you will read.
I cannot promise you a 4.0 GPA if I do not give you solid, tried-and-true principles.
Therefore, do not be discouraged by how much you will need to do or how methodically you need to think. Take it one by one, and implement each tip on its own before you attempt to use all of them at once.
Disclaimer: Some of the links in this article are affiliate, meaning at no additional cost to you, I will earn a small commission if you make a purchase through the link.
- Plan Everything in Advance
This is #1 on the list for a reason, folks. Planning is the backbone of success in anything. You need to plan, plan, plan, and oh- did I say plan?
Whenever you hear about an upcoming test, a new assignment, or an event, write it down! I don’t care how little or unimportant it is, if it affects you in any way, then plan it out in advance.
Why? Because you will be much more prepared and actually do quality work if you’ve given it a lot of time and thought.
That means you must develop an organized system of reminders and notices. Last minute work is not 4.0-GPA-student work. Cramming for exams is not effective or efficient.
Figure out your style of planning. Are you a digital planner person? If so, here’s a free digital planner you can use.
If you are a pencil-and-paper person, like myself, here’s the planner I’m currently using and that works wonders for me (this is my school planner- I use multiple). I’m all about giving you the knowledge, but also free and affordable ways to implement it.
2. Analyze Your Syllabus
I’ve included this tip in a previous article and I’ll include it again. Yes, it’s that important.
How do you expect yourself to succeed if you don’t know what that has to look like? It’s just not logical. And most students skip over this step and think it trivial…
Every class is different. Every teacher grades differently. Thus, you gotta sit your bum down and absorb these nuances.
Which category counts the most towards your overall grade? Summative assessments? Formative assessments? Class work? What’s the late-work policy? What percentage of the points would be discounted if you turned your homework late?
Why do I need to know that?
Because sometimes you just don’t have time to do EVERYTHING. So, you have to wisely focus your energy on the task that weighs the most towards your desired results.
Most likely, the bulk of the overall grade will come from major projects and assessments not classwork or homework (readings, notes, lectures, etc.). So, if you’re in a time crunch, you should focus more on the former. And that’s the beauty of knowing your syllabus like the back of your hand.
3. Engage in Class Discussions
Why? Because it forces you to know what you’re talking about. You have to understand the topic well to engage in the conversation.
Another beautiful thing about class discussions is that you get to hear everybody else’s take on the matter and look at things from different perspectives.
This is especially essential for history/social sciences/language arts classes. Unlike mathematics and the life/physical sciences, the content of these courses is interpretive in nature.
That means, your unique spoken rendition of the topic is imperative for any deep understanding to occur.
When there are multiple contributions from other students as well, you get a certain cohesion. You see the inter-relatedness of ideas, interpretations, and propositions, which then enforces the information previously learned and produces solidarity.
4. Take Notes Based on Essential Ideas Not Facts
You know what’s better than being a robot that can word-vomit 100 years of world history in 5 minutes? Being a human being who understands the implications of those events: what they meant for the world back then and what they mean for us today and in the future.
As a student, you have to forge meaning and relevance out of every detail you learn.
Why do I care who Henry David Thoreau was or what his theory on transcendentalism states? Unless I know its significance– what it did to 19th century America and how it impacted the modern social reform movement- then it will be another boring fact that I write down and don’t give a rip about after a test.
Why do I care how the conservation of momentum affects a liquid’s viscosity?! Because that single piece of knowledge is necessary to be able to analyze people’s DNA & capillary blood, identify disease biomarkers, and save some lives! That’s how important that little relationship is!
But no physics or microfluidics professor is going to tell you that. You have to determine the relevance and significance of the information you learn on your own.
Why does it matter who Robert Boyle was? Why do I care that pressure times volume always equals a constant?
It’s not enough to write PV=k.
How, then, would I take notes on this biochemical equation? Good question.
Draw a balloon. Place many gas particles inside of it that keep crashing into the elastic surface of the balloon. Then put an equal sign followed by another balloon of lesser volume. But, this one is going to have more crashes from the gas particles into the outer surface of the balloon.
Just like that you have understood the relationship between volume and pressure without writing down an equation that is so conceptual, distant, and irrelevant to your little “couldn’t-care-less” brain.
If you use one tip from this article, let it be this: forge meaning out of boring facts, personalize every bit of knowledge, be subjective about what you’re learning, and interpret and apply the information to your life and the world. Otherwise, all of education would be pointless.
“Knowledge isn’t power- applied knowledge is.” – Phillip E. Rosner, Knowledge Isn’t POWER…Until It Is Applied
5. Use Spaced Repetition
When you are studying, you better not cram. Although some students manage to get good grades with crammed studying, it is not effective for the long term.
Instead, I urge you to use spaced-repetition. This is a style of learning wherein you take the information you need to learn and try to remember it in intervals. The pieces of information that you retain easily get spaced out farther, while the difficult ones get repeated in more frequent intervals.
If you’ve ever used flashcards or Quizlet to study, then you have used this method.
What are the best types of information to learn using this method? Well, spaced-repetition is effective for a wide range of subjects, including: language learning, literature vocabulary, science and math equations, and historical dates/events/names.
My favorite free apps to use are: Anki, Brainscape, Quizlet, Chegg Prep, and IDoRecall.
6. Study in the Same Manner You Will Be Tested
If you have a multiple choice exam coming up, it will not do you any good to sit down and read over notes you’ve written weeks prior.
If you have some kind of free-response (writing-based) exam, it will not benefit you in any way to practice answering questions or solving problems you’ve encountered previously.
You need to practice in the same exact style you will be tested. Afterall, if you are a Renaissance whiz at the end of AP Euro unit 2, but can’t write out an LEQ for your test, then good luck with the 4.0 GPA.
If you know you have an LEQ for your unit 2 exam, then you need to be writing those essays every week on a different prompt from the unit like your life depends on it. It’s simple, but not easy. I know it’s time-consuming, but you’re also not asking for little.
7. Be Extra
This is the most defining characteristic of all students who excel academically: being extremely extra.
They always do unnecessary work, study more, and just do a tad bit more than they are required.
They are the kind of people that spend 10 minutes choosing a font for a presentation and who write an additional paragraph in the essay elaborating on their opinion.
Quite honestly, I don’t think your GPA depends on this tip, as there is no scientific correlation that I can point to…just my own observations.
You know what does depend on this tip, though? Your character as a person, the amount of knowledge you absorb, and the results of your labor, which, according to the Law of Harvest, will be equal to the labor itself.
So, if you made it this far in this very long and info-dense article, then I’m not too worried about you not going as far in other areas of your life. Congratulations on being a seeker of knowledge. Now, go apply it and feed on its power.