Making the Grade at a University

As a full-time lecturer at a University for the last 15 years, I have seen students struggle with how to manage the freedom that attending college often brings them while still maintaining a good grade point average.

Students who did well in high school, even those who graduated in the top 5 to 10 percent of their high school classes, often struggle to maintain a C average in college. They become frustrated because they were "good students who made A's" in high school but can't seem to break the C or "average" grade mark in college.

Further, students who may have been only "average" or "C" students in high school, often find themselves struggling to pass their courses in college. These students often get discouraged with classes and simply stop attending the class and often don't return to college after the first semester, or transfer to another college because they don't feel like they are smart enough to make it or they feel like they aren't living up to their family's expectations.

Unfortunately, this struggle with grades that all students face is not always a sign of intellectual capability or lack thereof.

Based on my teaching experience, I would like to offer some tips and perspective about how to make the grade at the university level.

The biggest reason many first-year college students don't do well in their courses is because they don't attend class. However, attending class--just showing up that is--is not enough. Just because you do attend class doesn't mean you will get good grades.

Instead of just attending, actively attend class. In other words, invest in the class. Be an active member of the class by showing up every time the class meets, by showing up on time, and by showing up prepared.

If you don't attend class, you can't participate in the class, and many instructors do factor in class participation as a small percentage of your overall grade, especially if the class is not a lecture class, but rather a smaller discussion oriented class, which many first-year core curriculum courses like Composition, Psychology, or History, for example, tend to be.

Actively attending class (participating in class) means more than just showing up and sitting in class. It means contributing to the discussions for the class period and asking questions. And to actively participate you have to be prepared for the course, which means developing effective study habits.

Everyone studies a bit differently because everyone has their own learning style. Some of us are visual learners where illustrations, images, and pictures help us retain information better than just the written word does. However, there are some basic study habits that students should develop regardless of their learning style.

Just as you should actively attend class, you should actively study. Studying should not be a passive activity where you simply take notes during a lecture or read the required material and be done with it. Most people don't retain information as well by just taking notes or just reading. However, taking notes and reading should be part of your study habits. The key is how you take notes and how you read.

Take notes: Always take notes in class, even if your professor provides handouts with lecture notes on them, uses overhead transparencies, or makes lecture notes available online.

Keep in mind that when a professor passes out handouts, lectures from a set of transparancies, or makes lecture notes (sometimes done as PowerPoint presentations) available online, these are typically only the highlights or the key points of the lecture. Most professors fill in many more specific details and examples as they are talking or as a class discussion is occurring. So, you should always take your own notes by either making notations on the handouts you are given or on separate paper of your own.

Devise a method for taking and organizing your notes. One effective way to take notes is to divide your paper into three columns. In the left most column (or your left margin), include key words and/or a summary for a particular section of notes. In the middle (and usually largest) column, include the actual notes. And in the right most column (or your right margin), include your reflections on the material as well as any questions you have about the material. (See the image below for an example.)

Another method for organizing your notes, which is useful when reviewing notes, is to use mapping (sometimes called explosion maps) in which you place the main idea in the center of the page and then draw lines out to related or support ideas. This method of organizing notes is especially useful when organizing and writing essays or research papers. (See the image below for an example of note mapping.)

Read actively: Just as you should actively take notes, you need to learn to read actively. Reading a textbook should never be a passive activity. Don't just underline or highlight passages that you, as reader think are important.

Instead of just highlighting, take notes as you read. Many students don't want to take notes in their textbooks because they want to be able to resell those expensive books back at the bookstore at the end of the semester. If you don't want to take notes in the margins of your textbooks, at least take reading notes in a notebook or on notepaper.

When you are taking reading notes, "talk back" to the book. Ask questions. Make connections between the chapters. Make connections between the materials in other classes. For instance, in your sociology class, you might be studying gender roles in the media and in your first-year composition class you might be talking about gendered language or avoiding sexist language. Ask yourself how you can make a connection between these two issues.

If your reading assignment is an argumentative piece or an opinion piece, evaluate the author's argument. Is the argument well supported? Does the author look at more than one aspect of the issue? What kind of evidence does the author provide? What biases might influence the author's opinions or perspective?

Think of reading not as an activity in which you passively sit and absorb what someone else has said but instead as a conversation between you and the author (or your class and the author).

Most universities provide a variety of resources to help students. Often, first-year students are required to take an orientation like class, such as a study skills class or a first-year experience class. This class should familiarize them with resources available to them as well as help them develop time management and study skills. Even if you are not required to take such a course, consider taking it if you are concerned about your study skills and time management habits.

Most univeristies also provide tutorial support for students through Student Learning Centers, Student Success Centers, English as a Second Language Centers, University Writing Centers, or tutoring sessions offered through specific departments. Take advantage of these resources.

Many students, for instance, are hesitant to go a a Writing Center because they think that only the students who are bad at English go there. Or they are hesistant to make use of other tutoring centers/sessions because they think that only the students who aren't smart go there. But, really, it's the students who want to do their best who make the most use of these resources.

A University Writing Center, for instance, is typically staffed by graduate students, lecturers, and professors who teach writing at the university level. These writing center tutors make themselves available to give you, as the writer of a paper, feedback on your writing. They won't edit your paper for you or correct spelling mistakes, but they will read your paper and offer you advice on issues like development, organization, and focus. And often, because we as writers are so close to what we write, someone else's eyes or a reader, can give us another perspective and help us make sure that what makes sense to us on paper does indeed make sense to an actual audience.

So, take the time to get to know all of the resources made available to you through your university. Find out where these resources are located and their hours. And then go use them.