Gary North

YESTERDAY'S ASSIGNMENT

Did you find out about dropping one course that is really causing you pain, so that you can do better in your other classes?

So, you can't drop that killer class. For whatever reason, you are stuck. You must sink or swim.

Swim. But not too hard.

Your time-management system had better be fine-tuned. You had better watch over your time like a mother grizzly watches over her cubs. Put very little slack in your plans.

Your first goal is to pass it with a C. Don't try to get a high grade. Just pass it. Treat it as you would treat your other courses. Don't take time from your other classes to get a grade above a C in this one. You're trying to raise your overall average. If you get a C- in this class, and you can get a B- in another, don't work to get a C+ in this one. You might drop to a C+ in the other.

If you get a grade lower than a C, take the class again in summer. (There are many ways to skin an academic cat.)

Here is my advice. Do whatever you can with the techniques I teach in this course. Apply them first to your killer course. Let this be your guide. Keep from getting less than a C in this course. As you work hard to keep your C, you will find that you begin to master the techniques of academic success. This practice will help you in your other courses.

Fear is a great motivator. If I can prove to you that my recommended study techniques and test-taking techniques work in your killer course, maybe you'll believe in them enough to apply them in your other courses. Maybe. I hope.

Panic is not a great motivator. Panic is a paralyzer.

This principle applies to every aspect of life. But it applies most obviously to academic life.

Highly motivated high school students get frantic when they think about getting high grades. Why? Because high grades supposedly will get them into a top-flight (but very expensive) college. But what is the measurable benefit of getting into a top-flight college? Social prestige, mainly. It costs parents dearly.

There is no need to panic about your high school grades or college entrance hurdles if you have a realistic plan. There are many ways to skin the academic cat. If you have read Affordable Accredited Colleges, you know this. You know it intellectually. You may not yet know it emotionally.

If you can avoid the potholes -- such as getting a D in a college-required class -- you can skin the collegiate cat.

There are ways to get around academic brick walls. I mention a few in this lesson. There are other ways that might work in your case. Other students may have faced what you're facing. Or maybe I faced it, way back when. Go ahead and ask. Someone with experience will answer. That's what my site's Q&A forum on study skills is set up to do for you. All you have to do to get answers is join this site.

Don't panic over a killer class. By the time you have completed my study habits course, you will be able to handle any class. If it's late in the semester, and you can't overcome your performance so far, then take the class in summer school. Your grade in summer school will replace your grade this term. So, make a decent showing in the class, but don't lose any sleep over it. You can overcome a D or an F next summer.

If you're looking at a D or an F, and you get a C- by following my instructions, that's a victory. If, in the meantime, you also master these study techniques well enough to raise your grades next semester by half a point above what they were last semester, that's also a victory.

Your first step is to take better notes. I'll cover this in a later lesson.

Your second step is to review class notes before the day is over. The sooner, the better.

Your third step is to make corrections in these notes, or at least to write clarifying comments and questions in the margins. Put question marks in the margins.

Your fourth step is to write each question on a 3x5 note card. Hand them to the teacher the next day. He can answer each question on the back of the card.

Your fifth step is to tear these now-corrected pages out of your spiral-bound notebook and insert them into a 3- ring notebook at home. Why? Because you might lose your school notebook. Take your note pages home and leave them at home in a notebook.

Don't leave your original notes in the notebooks that you take to school. Tear out the pages every night. You can buy one large 3-ring notebook and some dividers. Put each course's notes into its proper section. Don't take this notebook out of your home.

REVIEW

Pass the class with a C.

If you do worse than a C, take it again in summer.

Take better notes.

Review and revise your notes before the day is over.

Write questions on 3x5 cards. Hand them in.

ASSIGNMENT

Give the course a second try. Work harder. Talk to the teacher of the killer course today or tomorrow. Discuss your plan: to delay taking the course until next year or at summer school. You want to get your study habits reformed. Bring your filled-in weekly scheduler. Then schedule an appointment with a counsellor.

Don't forget to lecture to the wall: one page, one class.

PREVIEW OF TOMORROW'S LESSON: Summer vacation

Any time you want to ask me specific questions regarding your plans for college, you can find out where to contact me by clicking this link: Answers.