“A students know they get graded on performance.
C students think they get graded based on effort.”
- Dr Marc Dussault
Archive for the 'Better Grades' Category
If you dread exams, you’re not alone. I don’t know anyone who likes exams, but there are people who get very anxious and dread midterms and finals.
Chances are, you dread exams because you’re not prepared – or more likely you don’t “feel” like you’re sufficiently or adequately prepared.
We’ve all been there at some point – taking an exam knowing we didn’t study enough. We’ve also all been sitting there thinking “I am going to ace this exam!”
The challenge we all have as students is to be able to gauge how much preparation is enough. In my study book – Get The Best Grades With The Least Amount Of Effort, I explain several tips on how to learn HOW you learn.
When you acquire that skill, you can quickly and easily apply it to exam preparation and then exam execution.
Preparing for an exam is NOT the same as taking an exam. In my study book, I highlight exam taking strategies that can relieve a lot of the anxiety and stress you might have.
I get a lot of emails from all over the world on an on-going basis. I had never heard of this technique to reduce stress for students who are under pressure to get better grades. I have no idea if it works.
Since it can’t hurt, if you feel stressed about school or upcoming exams or tests, I’d like to suggest that you give it a try and let me know if it works for you.
You just never know where the next breakthrough will come from. Since I’m not stressed, I can’t really be an objective test subject.
This would be ideal if you’re under severe stress or have anxiety about tests and exams. From what is described, it takes time for it to “work”, so start now and see if it prevents the next anxiety attack.
Try it and let me know by placing a comment below!
The Cortices Technique Video Demonstration
According to Dr. John Veltheim who demonstrates why and how to do the technique in the video above, the brain is the core of the human body it controls the way the body communicates with all it’s various parts. This in turn controls our amazing healing abilities. When the brains function is compromised the Body cannot properly heal.
The Cortices Technique allows for increased brain function and connectivity between all the parts of the Body. Since the body communicates using electricity and quantum energy this technique has an amazing effect on the body by allowing the body to reconnect broken or overloaded circuits.
The technique is has been demonstrated by EMS Response teams to bring trauma patients out of shock when at the scene of accidents. The basic idea is to hold the point of injury and to preform the technique on the patient. This has the effect of allowing the body to address the injury and to do what is necessary. In the case of a trauma victim they could be bleeding to death and the brain is so overloaded that it doesn’t send the healing instructions to clot the blood. The victim then dies due to the fact that the body can’t respond. By preforming the Cortices Technique on the patient the Brain is able to address the problem and allow the body to re-engage in the healing crisis and to clot the blood. If you ask any EMS worker they will tell you that the first thing they need to do is to address shock in a patient. You can use this Technique in any situation mental or physical.
Dr. Veltheim recommends that in the day and age where we have so much electromagnetic radiation. That this technique can be preformed twice a day for 2 or 3 months as a general maintenance routine. The person preforming the technique will notice many changes in their body due the increased ability of the brain to deal with the daily stresses of student life.
Taking notes is so 20th Century now that we’ve discovered the incredible power of Mind Mapping. Even though it’s been around for several decades, only a very select few use it to become ‘super learners’.
The primary reason is that when asked, most people don’t think they are artistically gifted or talented.
Therein lies the #1 obstacle to effective MindMapping – thinking you need to create a masterpiece.
You don’t.
All you need to do is create VISUAL CUES for your mind to capture the relationships of the elements of the Mind Map. The more vivid and colourful, the better – BUT artistic prowess has NOTHING to do with your ability to recall it on your next exam or test.
For example, as a BASIC MINIMUM, if all you did was go through your notes (in your lined note book) and highlighted, underlined and/or circled the important elements you want to remember, I guarantee you you WILL remember more.
That is the starting point. Eventually, you want to get rid of the lines and MindMap on blank white paper.
Take a look at these student note taking samples to see how you can start the process.
But y’know what” there’s nothing like seeing it to believe it.
Have a look at this short YouTube video below to see what I mean.
Today’s post is what I call antimimeticisomorphism in action Making something hard to read means it is more likely to be remembered!
A PARADOX of education is that presenting information in a way that looks easy to learn often has the opposite effect.
Numerous studies have demonstrated that when people are forced to think hard about what they are shown they remember it better, so it is worth looking at ways this can be done.
A piece of research about to be published in Cognition, by Daniel Oppenheimer, a psychologist at Princeton University and his colleagues, suggests a simple one: make the text conveying the information harder to read.
Dr Oppenheimer recruited 28 volunteers aged between 18 and 40 and asked them to learn, from written descriptions, about three “species” of extraterrestrial alien, each of which had seven features. This task was meant to be similar to learning about animal species in a biology lesson. It used aliens in place of actual species to be certain that the participants could not draw on prior knowledge.
Half of the volunteers were presented with the information in difficult-to-read fonts (12-point Comic Sans MS 75% greyscale and 12-point Bodoni MT 75% greyscale). The other half saw it in 16-point Arial pure-black font, which tests have shown is one of the easiest to read.
Participants were given 90 seconds to memorise the information in the lists. They were then distracted with unrelated tasks for a quarter of an hour or so, before being asked questions about the aliens, such as “What is the diet of the Pangerish?” and “What colour eyes does the Norgletti have?” The upshot was that those reading the Arial font got the answers right 72.8% of the time, on average. Those forced to read the more difficult fonts answered correctly 86.5% of the time.
The question was, would this result translate from the controlled circumstances of the laboratory to the unruly environment of the classroom?
It did.
When the researchers asked teachers to use the technique in high-school lessons on chemistry, physics, English and history, they got similar results. The lesson, then, is to make text books harder to read, not easier.
I think you should watch this video, it’s only 3 minutes long and explains…
How and why my study techniques work
Today’s post is quick and to the point because The Economist Magazine recently reported that 75% of student time is used for socialising, recreation and sleeping and only 7% for studying.
It’s no mystery why so many students are struggling to get good grades.
Stop reading this and get back to your books!!!!
One of the ironies of the world is that in under developed countries, young people are dying to get to school – in some cases that’s literally true. I don’t want to get on a political soap box because that’s not what this blog is about. Others can do a much better job of promoting that agenda than I can.
I, however, can change the world one student at a time.
If you’re frustrated with school, ask yourself why. I mean really ask yourself the question honestly. Is it because you’re lazy? Tired? Bored? Scared (being bullied)? Not doing as well as you’d like? Not in the popular crowd/group?
Ask yourself the question until YOU KNOW the real reason.
When you do know the absolute real REASON, deal with it.
Deal with it because it’s what’s preventing you from getting the RESULTS you want and dream about.
We’re REASON or we’re RESULTS.
It’s as simple as that.
It’s as complicated as that.
Complicated because UNLESS you’re honest with yourself, you’ll never deal with the #1 obstacle in your path. That means you’ll never achieve your true/ultimate destiny.
That’s enough for you to think about for today, or not.
Most people won’t give much thought, but then again most people (as many as 80% of 8 out 10) end up unhappy in their lives as adults, with regrets.
Regrets that go all the way back to their school days when they KNOW they could have made a shift that would have changed their lives forever.
If only they had know then what they know now.
Well guess what?
You are young enough NOW to make the change.
Make it and I guarantee you that in 20 years from now, you’ll remember this blog post when you meet someone who has regrets and is unhappy. You’ll realise that YOU made the effort when it counted… RIGHT NOW.
And they didn’t.
Don’t be that person — I know too many of them.
Lives lost and ruined because of lack of discipline, self esteem and self worth.
But also pure, sheer laziness and lack of will.
You can achieve ANYTHING you want in life (or school), you just need to WANT IT BAD ENOUGH and then do WHATEVER it takes to make it happen.
I know -
- I have 5 university degrees, including an Engineering degree, MBA, Law and PhD degrees.
- I can solve a Rubik’s cube in less than 4 minutes
- I am a top 20 world-ranked squash player
- I speak 2 languages fluently and understand a 3rd conversationally
- I retired from the rat race at age 42
- I’ve been to 36 different countries
- I’ve had 6 BMWs, 2 of them convertibles
- I’ve been in the same committed relationship for more than 27 years
- I haven’t had a sick day in more than 20 years
- I can speed read 1,800+ words/minute
I’m not superman – I just have great strategies, but most important of all, I have passion and drive to make things happen.
Have a look at our testimonials page – I guarantee you it’ll motivate you to improve your study habits. So many of the students are not native English speakers – so if English is your primary or ONLY language – imagine how hard it is for someone to learn in a foreign language… And yet they do!
Simply amazing – click here -> to read a few inspirational student stories.
Peter sent me these… What do YOU think of them?
I’ll give my feedback once I get yours first
Give us your feedback by leaving a comment below.
Note Taking - Sample #1 - Chapter 1 Summary
How do your class notes look compared to these?
Note Taking - Sample #2 - MindMap Diagram
What suggestions do you have for Peter to improve his note taking?
Note Taking - Sample #3 - Use Of Colour
I recently posted a funny blog post on sleep reading. This is a follow up to that… I couldn’t resist.
I don’t want this blog to just be serious, I want you to have fun improving your grades, otherwise what’s the point?!?!
There is a dialogue in the comments to a recent blog post I wanted to draw your attention to… Click on the hyperlink to read the thread. You can add to the discussion!
http://www.get-better-grades.com/blog/being-smart-can-make-you-stupid/
Here is another student with two great questions. One of the answers might just surprise you.
We receive emails from all 4 corners of the world, testimonials and stories that reflect the wide appeal my study book, accelerated learning and speed reading courses are having on students of all ages.
Hello Marc!
I’m a 16 year old boy from Norway. I have some questions for you, which I hope you can answer.
There are two things that have been bothering me a lot. I am not that good in English, so please excuse me if there are some mistakes in this comment. (Note – I edited a few mistakes, but not many more than most native English speakers would make!)
1) The first question is how I can become better in Math?
Sometimes I’m doing good in this subject. Other times I’m doing bad. It is always up and down. It is weird. Sometimes I can understand a thing and do all the hard “questions”, but the next day I can end up failing on the same questions if there is a test. I feel really embarrassed. I’m going to high school soon and I’m worried about having problems.
2) The second question is how can I improve my English? I want to talk English fluently. Like I want to learn advanced English, if you know what I mean? I’m planning to study abroad when I get older, so I have to improve my English.
I hope you understand what I mean…
THANKS
Afraseyab
How To Improve In Math
Without seeing your math test results, I would guess that you’re memorising math without really understanding the core principles.
The fastest and easiest way to verify if this is true is to find a friend who is not as good as you are in math and teach him or her what you think you know. If he/she understands what you’re saying, then it’s something else. If not, you’ll quickly realise what you don’t know you don’t know.
How To Improve In English
What a lot of people don’t know about me is that French is my mother tongue, native language. I only learned to speak English when I was 7 years of age when my family moved from Montreal, Quebec, Canada to Jamaica. I had no choice, I had to learn English “instantly” – there were no French schools in Jamaica.
That’s when I made a pact with my brother and sister – to NEVER speak French to them and only speak French to our parents (who are both fluently bilingual). To this day, 40+ years later, we STILL don’t speak French to each other – only speaking French to our parents. This is even the case when we’re just family members in the room.
It takes discipline, but it works. You might not be able to do it with your family, but you could find a friend and make that your own pact. The KEY IS TO NEVER BREAK THE CODE. You have to find words and not speak in your native language.
The other way is to use an English spellchecker that will correct your grammar and typographical mistakes. For example, I is always capitalised, never in lower case (i)…
When you get older, you might want to learn OTHER languages since it’s been shown that when you are multi-lingual, learning new languages gets easier. It’s always the first new (second language after your mother tongue) that is the hardest.
Three last suggestions to improve your English skills.
- You should try to find English movies with subtitles in English. They are hard to find these days, but are ideal.
- You should read as many English books as you can – especially fiction novels since they are much easier to read and conversational in nature. I would STOP reading all fiction books in your native language. At your age, you do enough of that for school.
- Learn speed reading. By speed reading, you will acquire a much wider vocabulary and by NOT vocalising the words, you will start to THINK in English instead of translating the words and THEN trying to say them. You can’t be fluent in a language if you are trying to translate WHILE speaking. That takes time and speed reading DECREASES that time by orders of magnitude.
We all have bad habits, but bad study habits can kill your grades faster than anything else. I could go on and on, but you know what I’m talking about.
- Procrastinating, putting things off until the last minute.
- Not paying attention in class.
- Not doing the reading (at all let alone BEFORE the lecture).
- Trying to learn everything on your own without a MasterMind Group.
- Not taking enough notes.
- Reading slowly when you know you could learn speed reading.
- Getting stressed during exams and tests.
Perfect Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance.
Get your hands on my bestselling study book – it’s been sold to thousands of students from more than 29 countries and has been translated into 4 languages. Proven and guaranteed to work, you have 8 full weeks to make sure the study strategies and tips I will reveal to you work, or you’ll get your money back, no questions asked.
Get Better Grades THIS Semester
When you buy my study book… In chapter 1, I am going to show you HOW you learn so that you can INSTANTLY improve your grades as of your next test, quiz or exam.
With a 100% Money-Back-Guarantee, you have nothing to lose except the A or B on your next test or exam.
I’d like to make it harder and more complicated, but the reality is that it’s quite simple and straightforward – When you know WHAT to do and HOW to do it. It’s all revealed in my study book.
I am not into labels – I think they are a self-fulfilling prophecy. I know too many people who claim to be the World’s Worst (Best?) Procrastinator and buy ‘owning’ that label, they are reinforcing the very behaviour they actually want to avoid.
With ADHD it’s often the same thing, but that is a discussion for another day.
If you think you have ADD or ADHD, let me show you how you can USE your so-called affliction and HELP you get BETTER GRADES.
Watch the video below and you’ll see if you can keep up. If you can’t you certainly don’t have ADD or ADHD.
If you can keep up – FANTASTIC. It doesn’t mean you have or don’t have ADD or ADHD, it just means you can read really, really fast.
Chances are if you think you’re ADHD or ADD, you simply lack the discipline to FOCUS, when Speed Reading – YOU HAVE TO FOCUS, you have NO CHOICE.
Give it a go buy the Speed Reading Video Program <- by clicking here and see how you go!
Simply stated, most students struggle in school because they don’t know how they learn, In Chapter 1 of my worldwide bestselling study book, I explain step-by-step how you can determine what learning style you have so you can stop wasting countless hours staring at your books, frustrated because nothing’s making sense and you can’t remember anything you tried to memorise the previous day.
If you don’t know HOW you learn, you’ll keep struggling in school. Knowing your learning style can be a life-changing revelation.
Let me put it this way – if you’re one of these styles and you don’t know it, chances are, if you’ve just started high school, you probably won’t make it to college.
If you do get to college, you’ll get kicked out within the first year.
Not because you’re dumb, but because you weren’t smart enough to learn HOW you learn.
I know how harsh this sounds, but it’s better that I tell you the truth NOW when you have a chance to fix the problem once and for all.
A lot of people have asked me what the top 5 best study tips are, here they are, in order.
- Learning your cognitive learning style (Chapter 1 of my study book)
- Speed Reading (click on the hyperlink for my speed reading course)
- MindMapping (click on the hyperlink to access my new program with visual artist Paul Telling)
- Exponential note taking (Chapter 4 of my study book called “How to write down everything the teacher says!)
- Reading before going to class (explained in my speed learning video program)
I would focus on acquiring these skills in this numerical order so that as you start to walk, you’ll be able to run by the time you get to #5.
Getting better grades is not hard, in fact it’s quite easy – when you know what to do and how to do it!
A parent recently bought my study book for her 15 year old son. Despite his high IQ 120 (which actually could be as high as 143) he struggles with being “ADD non hyperactive”. She explains that it rears its head in the typical way, lack of focus, organisation, etc. His weakest areas are working memory, visual memory, sequencing and auditory processing. Skills like targeting sports, math and science CONCEPTS are learned easily. His superior reasoning skills are in the 95th percentile and work well for him except when the topic has many details, rules and/or he is not interested in learning them.
Because he learns concepts quickly, he is overly confident (wrongly) thinking that he has learned it all, so he takes few notes.
He also has a writing deficiency, which combined with poor working memory makes it difficult to take notes and keep up with what’s being presented. As a result, details fall to the wayside and no longer exist as something that he must know. So he is convinced that
he knows the material and does not need to study. He used to do OK in earlier grades that required less detail retention and recall,but now he is failing courses that intellectually he should have no problem with.
The question the mother asked was:
“How can he apply the 80/20 concept when he doesn’t think there is a 20 percent that he doesn’t know and thinks he has it 100 percent down?”
One word – MindMapping.
Click on the hyperlink above and have a look around at a new program that I created with Visual artist – Paul Telling.
MindMapping will help him:
- Focus on concepts without being distracted with details.
- Get around any writing deficiencies since the elements are all graphical.
- Peak his interest because drawing is always a challenge – it never gets dull.
- It’s easy to start with simple lines and arrows.
- It’s progressive, meaning he’ll improve quickly as he masters the steps.
- Because the information is visually stored, retention and recall should be greatly improved.
- Since the process is FAST, that will deal with the short attention span associated with ADD.
Pre Med Student Tance asks some great questions about how to get better grades while holding down a job.
Hello Dr. Dussault,
As a matter a fact I have read your book twice already. It is truly insightful and I am truly glad I purchased it. The only dilemma I have and I hope you can help me with this – I am currently in college, in premed, and I work a full time schedule and the only shift I can work is the midnight shift. There are many nights I feel exhausted and sometimes can’t concentrate on my studies. I need the job to support me and my wife.
The only good part is my job gives me quite a bit of money to pay for school. But do you have any suggestions as far as how I can study better with this schedule?
Thank you so much.
Tance
This is a common issue students grapple with, combining work and study. In my study book, I explain in chapter 4 a 5-step system to get everything done effortlessly. So the first suggestion is go back to that chapter and re-read the suggestions. Once that’s done, I think your challenge has more to do with stamina and endurance than time management. Continue reading ‘PreMed Student Work-School Balance Tip’
