I am summarizing an Medium article that I wrote for my son that nobody read. Maybe it will help more people here!
How To do Well in College
This is a pragmatic approach to getting good grades and getting your work done on time. “College” in my definition is a 4 year liberal arts institution. Majors range from Electrical Engineering to Art to Music to Psychology. You can apply these techniques to any project, not just college education.
To Get Good Grades:
- Plan Your Work Backwards
- Manage Your Schedule on a Calendar
- Use Active Reading
- Turn the paper in (the end)
- Editing round 2: 2 hours
- Editing round 1: 2 hours
- Rough Draft writing: 5 hours
- Research: 5 hours
- Outline & plan: 2 hours
- Start Brainstorming: 1 hour (start)
- Take the test (end)
- Final study: 2 hours
- Active reading process (see below): 6–10 hours
- Study group(s): 4 hours
- Initial review: 3 hours (start)
1. Plan Your Work Backwards
Get your due dates and assignments from the Syllabus. Then see what you will need to do to meet the objective. Everyone’s pace is different: adjust for your strengths. If you have questions, check with your professor early and often to make sure that you are on track.
10 page paper backwards planning example:
You will need 17 hours of time spread across 4 days.
Midterm backward planning example:
You will need between 15 and 19 hours spread out over 3 weeks.
