Gary North

[Print out this lesson if you have a printer. If you don't have a printer, then forward this lesson and all subsequent lessons to someone who does, and have your friend print it out. You will need to review all of my lessons. Review on paper, not on a screen.]

Do you really want to raise your grades? I mean, do you want it enough to read this introduction? (You would be amazed at how few people are willing to do this. "What? Read several pages? There aren't even any pictures here. I mean, like, are you crazy?")

Here is the wrong answer: "Yes. That would be great."

Here is the correct answer:

"If you will teach me study techniques that will let me learn new material faster, remember it better, and understand it, that's what I want. My grades will rise. I'll be able to get into college and graduate. That's what I want. Give me the tools. I will put them to good use."

If this is your attitude, I will show you how to achieve these goals. As part of this process, your grades will rise.

THE FOUNDATION OF SUCCESS

Success in high school, college, and life rests on self-discipline. You must be willing to pay the price of whatever goals you have set for yourself. Be sure about your goals. Then pay the price.

If you aren't willing to pay the price -- and I don't mean money -- then my study habits course will not help you very much. A little, maybe, but not much.

I am not offering magic here. I am giving you a step-by-step 30-day program that will teach you what you can do to raise your grades.

But will you do what I say? That's the question.

My course is sent free of charge by automated e-mail, but what I will teach you will not be easy to implement in your life. My course requires considerable self-discipline -- more than most adults have, let alone high school students. This is the price of every path to success. There are no free lunches in life.

You must change your study habits. Productive new practices take about 30 days to become habits. Sadly, unproductive ones are usually quite easy to implement.

COLLEGE

Unless you already have very good study habits, your refusal to adopt the changes that I recommend will make your college years far more difficult. Over half of the freshmen who start college fail to earn a degree. Click here for the evidence:

College is an expensive, high-risk venture. It costs over $10,000 a year to attend most tax-funded universities and $25,000 a year to attend most private universities. If you flunk out or quit, this money is wasted.

There are ways to cut these costs dramatically. It's possible to earn a bachelor's degree from an accredited university for under $15,000, total. I've written a manual on how to do this. But 99% of students who sign up as college freshmen don't know about most of them these loopholes and don't take advantage of most of them. They or their families pay far more than is necessary.

Whether you go to college my way or the conventional high-cost way, it will pay you to master the study techniques I present in this course. You have taken the crucial first two steps. I'm asking you to complete the 30-day journey.

I assume that you plan to attend college. If you do, consider the following.

First, academic success in college requires serious personal commitment and self-discipline on your part. My course is designed to provide you with the study skills that will enable you to graduate from any college that will admit you.

Unless you internalize what I will show you, by disciplining yourself to do each of the daily assignments that I assign (which are really not difficult, intellectually speaking), my course will not help you much. A little, maybe, but not much.

The key to success in everything in life is this: self-discipline. If you don't have it, get it. If you do have it, exercise it. Self-discipline is like a muscle. It needs exercise.

Second, the improvement in your grades that this course will enable you to achieve will increase the number of colleges that will admit you.

Third, if you finish this course, you will be in a position to do an end run around the conventional collegiate system, earn an accredited degree for pennies on the dollar, and graduate at least one year early.

Here is my commitment to you. . . .

WHAT I WILL DO FOR YOU

I'm here to remind you of facts that you already know are true. You just haven't systematically done what you know to be true. I'll help you do these things.

I'll also give you information that you haven't even considered, but which will instantly be believable because it's so simple.

From 1930 to 1950, a man known as George Orwell (Eric Blair) was one of the world's most important journalists and novelists ("Animal Farm," "Nineteen Eighty-Four"). He made a wise observation:

"To see what is in front of one's nose needs a constant struggle."

My job here is to call attention to things that are right in front of your nose. In fact, as you read my lessons, you'll probably think, "I already knew that." Yes, you probably did. But then you forgot about it. I'm here to remind you. I'm here to help you remember, and, once you remember, show you how put it to good use.

Lesson by lesson, I'll write some simple things, show you some simple techniques -- simple to describe, anyway -- and then review what I have just told you. I'll also give you a real-world assignment for the next day.

The next day, I'll remind you of yesterday's assignment. I'll tell you not to read today's lesson until you complete yesterday's assignment.

Will you then complete (or even begin) yesterday's assignment? Maybe. Maybe not.

Will you read today's lesson even if you didn't complete yesterday's assignment? Maybe. Maybe not.

This is a real-world course. Hardly anyone will do everything that I recommend, but I hope that you will make those changes where you are really weak academically, which are causing you your biggest problems academically.

There is one thing that you MUST do to maximize the benefit of this course. I will present it in Lesson #2: a memory-building technique that will completely change the way you learn difficult or unfamiliar new material.

This course is sequential. The lessons and the daily assignments are laid out with a purpose in mind: to help you change your study habits and thereby raise your grades.

These lessons add up over time. So do the habits they foster. The sum of the whole course is equal to its parts, but the usefulness of the whole course is greater than its parts. If you skip anything, you're cheating yourself. If you skip the daily assignments, you are really cheating yourself.

It is now time to make official your personal commitment to you. . . .

WHAT YOU SHOULD DO FOR YOU

The "secret" of success in any field is the same: finish what you start. This takes self-discipline. So, if you start my course, finish it.

You have not yet started it. You have only walked up to the edge of the water and put your big toe in to see how cold the water is. It is time to take the plunge.

Will you finish this course if you start it? That's entirely up to you. Sticking with it will be solely your decision, day by day. So, I want you to commit now to finishing it -- not to me, not to your parents, but to yourself.

I am serious about the following requirement. I can't enforce it, but you should.

I don't want you to sign up for this course and then give up. I don't want you to sign up thinking, "I'll give this a try. If it doesn't work in two or three days, I'll quit." You don't need a failure.

Sign up only on this basis. "I am going to finish what I start. I'm going to give this man a chance to prove his claim. I'm also going to give myself a chance to prove that I can do what he says I can do."

I assure you, you are intellectually capable of doing what I say you can. You can raise your grades half a grade point in one semester. The question is this: "Are you mature enough to complete what you start?" It's not about brains. It's about commitment.

Get out a pen and a piece of paper and write down the following personal commitment. I don't mean print this page out and sign it. That would be too easy. I mean write it down. Then sign it. It's your promise to yourself. Put the signed statement in a file. When you're finished with this course, meaning you have done exactly what the course asks you to do, you will get out the paper and write "Completed as assigned" at the bottom, and date it. (Note: if you skip a single exercise, you have not completed the course as assigned. Don't lie to yourself about this.)

I hereby commit to myself that I will finish Dr. North's study habits course, even if this takes me longer than 30 days. I am determined to improve my study habits because I know I can do much better if someone will show me how. If I really can do better, then I should begin now. I will offer no more excuses, especially to myself. I will complete this course.

I assure you that you are intellectually capable of getting through my course and raising your grades by half a point in one full semester. But you may not be emotionally ready. It will take self-discipline. It will take maturity. Do you have this?

Please drop this course immediately unless you are willing to finish what you start. Wait until you're emotionally ready to commit.

THREE REFERRALS

There is another commitment that I ask you to make. If, at any point in this course, you become convinced that it really is helping you, you will tell at least three other students about my course. They need not be students at your high school, but they probably will be unless you are part of an internet discussion forum.

If you tell others that you are taking my course, you will be far more likely to complete it. If you know that others will be watching to see if your performance really does improve, you will work harder to make sure that it does improve.

There is something else: you will be helping other students to get out of their academic ruts -- the same rut that you may be in today. Don't be like Golem in "Lord of the Rings." Don't hold onto the "ring" to keep it exclusively for yourself.

I'm not asking you to do this immediately. I'm asking you to do this whenever you become convinced that your academic work is improving because of my course.

If you are now ready to commit, create a new folder in your e-mail program: "Grades." Put this lesson into it. Do the same with all of the lessons in this course.

Print out each lesson and read it with a yellow highlighter in your hand. Mark whatever you think is important. This is a basic study technique. It's time for you to adopt it.

Keep the printed, highlighted chapters in a hanging file or in a 3-hole notebook.

Warning: Reading these lessons without implementing any of my recommendations is like reading a diet book without changing your eating habits. It won't do you any good.

IF THE LESSONS EVER STOP COMING

Most students sign up for this course through email. The lessons are sent out one per day. Sometimes there are foul-ups in the software that mails out the daily emails. It just stops sending out the lessons. Why, I don't know. If you miss one, just return to my Web site: www.GaryNorth.com. Every lesson is posted under Grades.

Eat this elephant one bite at a time. Read each lesson every work day. Do what it advises, day by day. Your grades will go up if you do.

For graduating from college, your high school grades are probably the most important single indicator of your future academic success . . . or failure.

James Rosenbaum, writing in "The American Educator" (Spring 2004), a publication of the American Federation of Teachers, has issued this warning to high school students:

Let's start by getting the cold, hard truth out in the open: Less than 40 percent of students who plan to go to college actually earn a two- or four-year degree within 10 years of graduating from high school.

This means that college is a high-risk venture. It ends in frustration and a sense of failure for millions of high school graduates who start college. You had better decide today -- not tomorrow -- that you're not going to be one if these people. Rosenbaum continues:

Do you know what it takes to succeed in college? The simple answer is that if you take hard classes, do all of your homework, and get good grades in high school, you will be ready.

I am going to show you how to achieve all three of these goals. This doesn't mean that you will achieve them. That will depend on your willingness to follow my instructions. But if you do what I recommend, you will dramatically reduce the likelihood of not graduating from college. Rosenbaum warns:

GRADES MATTER. Your high school grade point average is a great predictor of whether or not you will earn a college degree. . . . Less than 14 percent of students with C averages or lower in high school earned a two- or four-year college degree.

Got that? Less than 14%. This means that 86% of students with C averages or lower in high school earned no college-level degree of any kind. You can get better odds in Las Vegas, where the games openly are rigged against you.

Even worse, 52 percent of college students who had a C average (or lower) in high school didn't earn even one college credit! What are they doing while they are "in college"? They are spending time and money on remedial classes that repeat high school work and earn no college credit.

Earning a two-year college degree or higher depends a lot on what your high school GPA is.

HOW MUCH DO YOU WANT ACADEMIC SUCCESS?

Unless you're a genius, you are going to have to work hard for every grade above a C. A high school grade of C will not do you much good. It's an indicator that you're going to have big trouble in college. A C-average in high school is a drop-out indicator in 86% of the cases.

But . . . if there is evidence in your transcript of improvement -- rising grades -- then your earlier grade point average doesn't matter nearly so much. If a college entrance committee can see your improvement, it is much more likely to grant you entrance.

College is very expensive. The average state university cost over $9,800 a year in 2003: tuition, room, and board. A private college cost about $24,000. It's higher today.

Then add textbooks ($100 per textbook per course), cell phone, travel, etc. These are after-tax dollars.

Most college students today take more than four years to graduate. That runs up the bill even higher.

If you make a really bad decision and sign up for a credit card -- which, at age 18, you are legally allowed to do -- and then run up a huge bill, you could be stuck with a large debt and a high interest rate (18% or more) for years after graduation.

Most people who use a credit card don't know that if they miss just one payment to any creditor, anywhere, for any reason, this fact is reported to a credit reporting service, which notifies the bank that issued the card. The bank can then legally hike the card's interest rate permanently. Read the contract's fine print before you sign the contract. Better yet, don't sign the contract.

Credit cards are unwise. But you will need a card in order to buy things, especially on-line. Get a debit card. A debit card allows you to buy whatever is sold by credit card, but you don't go into debt. Instead, you deposit money in the card's account. You can spend only what you have deposited into this account. You must budget your purchases accordingly. Better to learn this crucial skill early rather than late.

A debit card is available at your bank. You should probably get one now. Get used to budgeting now. Don't wait until you arrive at college and then get sucked into applying for a credit card. Stick with a debit card for the rest of your life. Avoid debt for consumer goods.

To read more about the advantages of a student debit card and how you can get one, click this link:

http://usa.visa.com/personal/student/debit_cards.html

Who's going to pay for all this if you don't win a major scholarship? But if you're not a straight-A student or a top athlete, you're not going to win a major scholarship.

Now what?

You've got to get your grades up. But even if you move from straight-Cs to straight-Bs, you or your family will have to come up with the money.

But what if I can show you a way to get through college without going into debt, without asking your parents to sacrifice for you, and without getting a poor education?

What if a B-average can get you into any of several accredited universities that have good academic reputations? What if your ability to get a B-average in high school is sufficient to get you through the rigors of college classrooms?

If I can show you how to get through college without worrying about money, are you willing to do whatever it takes in high school, beginning today, to get your study habits up to par?

If the main barrier between you and a college degree is not monetary but academic, are you willing to commit to getting your grades up?

Are you? Really?

BUT WHAT IF YOU DON'T GO TO COLLEGE?

Most students who send for my study habits course are planning to go to college, but you may be an exception. It doesn't matter. Higher grades are very important as indicators of economic success without a college degree. Rosenbaum writes:

Even if you don't go to college, your high school grade point average is still important because it predicts future income. High-school grades do not predict income right after high school, but they do strongly predict long-term income. If you don't go to college, an increase of one letter grade (from C to B) in your high school grade-point average typically increases income by 13 percent by age 28!

This may not sound like a lot. After all, what's 13%? Amazingly, it just about equals the difference in earning power between someone with a college degree and someone without one. Rosenbaum adds this astounding bit of information:

(Compared to people who haven't gone to college, a four year degree typically increases income by about 14 percent.)

Do you understand what this means? As far as your income is concerned at age 28, getting your grades from Cs to Bs in high school is equal in earning-power potential to graduating from college!

So even if you don't go to college, improving your high school grades from Cs to Bs improves the chances that you will be able to support a family.

WHY ARE GRADES SO IMPORTANT?

They aren't. Grades are merely numerical evidence of what really is important: an individual's habits of self- discipline and hard work. It's the person's commitment to academic success that makes higher grades possible, which in turn make economic success possible.

Your commitment to academic success in turn relies on your long-term goals: what you want to accomplish; the difference you want to make. Raising your grades is an indicator of your commitment to excellence. Your commitment to excellence is what counts.

What makes the crucial difference is your willingness to sacrifice less important things -- parties, television, ball games, telephone chatter -- for more important things: reading time, review time, class preparation in advance, and time-management in general.

Grades are indicators of a person's internal abilities -- not a person's intelligence alone, but the personal habits that put intelligence to productive uses. A person's grade point average is a numerical indicator of inner commitment.

How committed are you internally? Is the number-one nagger in your life your own conscience? It had better be, because in college, nobody else will nag you. Your professors won't care. I used to be a college professor. Trust me. Most of them don't care. No one pays them to care.

You have to become self-motivated. You have to set your own schedule and then follow it.

Are you ready to do this?

FIRST THINGS FIRST

In scheduling your time, don't play off your school assignments against your household chores, except during academic emergencies -- and even here, get permission from the parent in charge. You owe your family before you owe the school or an employer.

Life is all about cutting corners. We are not supermen. We can't do everything perfectly. There are trade-offs in life.

Quit your after-school job before you try to trade off your grades with your household chores, unless half or more of your wages goes to your family. Quit the sports team or extra-curricular activities. You owe your family first.

You must allocate your time, one way or another. If you do what I recommend in this course, you will find enough wasted time to do your homework, do your household chores, and hold a part-time job. The smarter you are, the more easily you can attain all this.

Learn to work smarter. Begin learning how to work smarter with your household chores.

Do what you're told when you're told to do it. Stop making excuses. This is the uphill path to adulthood.

CONCLUSION

When it comes to grades, you should regard good grades as a means to an end. If your end is merely making good grades, then you have your priorities mixed up. There are many things that are more important than making good grades. Making average grades without cheating is far more important than making good grades by cheating.

I can help you raise your grades. If you do what I say for the next month, you will get higher grades. But to do this, you will have to change your study habits. You will have to identify wasted time that you can apply to study. In other words, nothing of value comes free of charge. Somebody has to pay. The older you get, that somebody is you.

You can face this fact now and gain maturity, or you can postpone that day of acceptance and remain a child for a bit longer. But if you decide to remain a child, don't expect to be treated as an adult.

ASSIGNMENT

Print out a copy of this lesson for your parents. Let them know what you have begun.

Please do this. This is a legal issue. Your parents are legally responsible for you. I am not trying to sneak something by them. Also, I don't want them complaining to your principal about my course. Please, ask a parent to read this first lesson.

If you get parental approval, stick with my course. If you don't get approval, unsubscribe. (E-mail subscribers: You can unsubcribe at any time by using the "cancel" link at the end of each e-mail lesson.) You live in their house at their expense. Do what they say until (1) you're 18 and (2) you're no longer being supported by them.