So .. suppose you're done with your classes, and you have a grade that's anything less than A+.
And suppose you tried hard, and so you wonder. can you do better ? i.e. get a better grade ?
For example, to make this simpler, we can look at just one thing: can you do better on an exam ? (as opposed to doing better in the class overall).
One thing is that after taking an exam, you usually have an idea of what to study for to pass the same exam. But before the exam, you don't know what's on the exam. So, how can you do better ?
To do better you may:
1) have to study Everything, and that's not practical.
But if you pull this off, for subjects where you need to remember things, like History, you may do good.
2) you can study selectively, which is more realistic.
i.e. in Math you can't suddenly learn everything, you have to know the basics, and build on them. Thus, you study only the things that are new to you, as you already know the basics.
3) There are some things you can't study for.
a) For example, some tools can only be picked up over time in different places as you practice. You can't really "study" them, as usually you can't pick these tools up in one sitting and use them properly.
b) Or, for some things, it's either you have it or you don't. For example these are the things when you need or lack certain inspiration or creativity or insight that's needed to do better.
4) Then there are outside the box things -- you can talk to the instructor every time you can, you can buy books on the subject and learn as much as you can from them.
5) Or you can focus only on the things that you need, and ignore the rest. However, sometimes you may be skipping over things that are needed, i.e. if by looking at those things it is immediately obvious that they are needed, when they may be needed. Even though you may not know if these things are needed or not, you can ask the instructor to clue you in. Thus, this is something you can control.
Overall though, it seems that you can control most of these things, except the ones in #3. 3a you can somehow control over time, and 3b is a bit harder to control, yet perhaps is still possible.
And so I wonder, how can you do better ?
And can you do better by trying to work on items in #3 ? And if so, how ? |
