How to utilize class time most effectively in order to make good grades

How to make the most out of class time to improve your grades

One of our greatest opportunities to learn, ask questions, and prepare yourself to ace your exams. Yes, thats right. I am talking about class time. Now I’m sure you are thinking that this is obvious, all you have to do is show up and take notes right? Well I think theres a right and a wrong way to show up to class. And making these changes can help you get a lot more out of your class time. The amount of students I have seen making these mistakes is staggering. And if you can take atleast one or two of my tips about this then I am sure you will find yourself getting a lot more use out of your time in the class room!

Here are SIX ways you can make the most out of class time and improve your grades: 

– Read and study ahead before coming to class

– Come to class with the intention to focus and pay close attention

– Get rid of all distractions

– Start asking questions

– Start taking notes the right way

– Make sure you always come to class!

Read and study ahead before coming to class: This is really important and will help you so much when you are actually in class. Especially when the material is hard. You want to do this so that you familiarize yourself with the topics and it won’t be the first time you ever heard of it when you are in the class. This is helpful because it helps you keep up with the lecture and not fall behind. And thats really important because if you have no clue whats going on in the class then its really hard to benefit from being there. You only need to skim through and just get the general gist of it, not hard studying. Just try to get an understanding of the basics and concepts. So make sure you start reading, checking the powerpoint, etc. BEFORE coming to class.

 
Come to class with the intention to focus and pay close attention: This is a mindset shift. Its probably the most important tip out of all the ones I’m going to give you. The best advice are the ones that help you be a better student and this is one of them. Theres something about class where most people just go into zombie or robot mode and kind of just get into a rhythm of write whatever the professor does on the board, copy the powerpoints (Make sure you check out this article about why doing that is the worst thing you can do), and then wait until the teacher writes on the board again to just copy it down. People seem to just think that is all there is to class time. Teacher says something, write it down. Or teacher wrote something on board, just write it down. But that is the wrong mindset. You need to come there and question everything the teacher is doing and spend your focus on learning while in class instead of making notes to study for later.

Get rid of all distractions: This is something that I see so many students doing wrong. All around the class room people are on their cell phones texting and there even people who are on their laptop surfing the web! It is crazy! Not only that but it is distracting to those who are trying to pay attention. Why even come to class if you are not going to pay attention. Obviously if you are distracted with your phone or technology then you are not learning anything from the lecture. You can use your phone or laptop after class. This is an easy change to make. So make it.

Start asking questions: This is one of the main benefits of being in class, that you can literally ask questions about what you are learning while learning it. You have your teacher’s time (the person who is making your tests and who’s job it is to prepare you for it) to get answers to anything you are unsure about. This is the main benefit to being in class versus just being at home studying the powerpoints. This is a big deal and can make a giant difference in your confidence in the material. Also you don’t have to ask in front of the class, you can wait until class is over and ask him/her any questions you had from lecture. Its very helpful to clarify things.

Start taking notes the right way: I wrote an in depth article on the best note taking methods you can do, so check it out here. But taking notes in a way that helps you actually learn is extremely beneficial to how well you learn the material and how you study for the test. There definitely is a right and wrong way to take notes, so make sure you’re not making those mistakes and check out my other article for clarification. Improving your note taking is a game changer and will improve how you use your class time.

Don’t skip class!: This sounds like a no brainer but there are so many students who just simply skip class. This is a huge no no. Its a big mistake. First of all you are paying for school why waste your money or your parent’s money by not even showing up. Whats even the point of going to college if you don’t even utilize the resources it provides you. Who would want to hire someone who never actually attended their lectures? But also by missing the classes you miss out on both learning from the professor directly and also you miss out on the little tips and bonuses you get from coming to class. There have been so many times that just because I came to class and so many students didn’t , the people who did come to class got free bonus points on a test or something. Also professor’s only mention some things in class and if you don’t attend you will never find out, and next thing you know there was a homework due that you didn’t know about or a pop quiz. Don’t let that happen. Come to class.

Let me know in the comments down below what your best advice are for making the most out of class time! I would love to hear them! And I hope these tips helped you! I have a ton more I want to share with you! I am going to lay out exactly how I have been able to maintain a high GPA in a tough pre-med program. Make sure to subscribe to our newsletter to get free access to all our exclusive premedical advice! Don’t forget to comment below and let me and all the other pre-meds know what you think.