Want Straight “A”s?
. . . Do This

That means I have to create assignments that test actual knowledge of the material. You (all the students in the audience) are really good at memorizing info and then taking standardized tests. You have become experts at eliminating a few choices and then placing an educated guess. That’s why my class has an oral final. That’s right, an oral final. There are no notes allowed. It’s just you and me for 15 minutes. You have to know your stuff and it’s impossible to cheat. It is so easy for me to assign grades after that test. Students slot themselves by their performance. I test knowledge, not the ability to memorize. If you get an A in my class, you’ve earned it. But, more importantly, you will be more fluent in law and ethics than your peers. This will serve you well throughout your life and career. In my classes, grades follow knowledge.

My colleagues think this is pretty cool and many have copied the idea of an oral final. Others are tightening up their assessments too. So now, you actually have to know stuff to get good grades. That’s as it should be.

So . . . strive to actually learn the stuff in class and you will perform better. Pretend you have an oral final in every class. No more shortcuts to a good grade. Let lesser students do that. This applies even in a class where you could get an A without learning anything. Those exist, I know, but have different, more lofty goals for your education.

Let me guess, you do the same thing, right? I know; I see it every day from my students. The problem is that this approach hinders you from learning very much from your assignments. You many “finish your homework,” but what benefits are you reaping from the time spent? You can speed read through 100 pages a day and still know very little about the topic. To be blunt, you are wasting your time!

So, here’s a pro tip on reading anything: Read a few pages / stop / think about why the author included that information / repeat. The stopping and thinking are key to learning and being able to work with difficult information. Note: this will take longer. But, at least you’re study time will be productive. And, you will now be more informed in lecture, be able to ask better questions, astonishingly answer questions more effectively, and fare better on the exams.

Here’s a test. How are you reading this blog post right now? Are you zooming through just to get to your next Facebook post? This isn’t a scholarly article, to be sure. But, you’re still taking the wrong approach. There is some good advice here and there is a better way to lodge it in your brain. Read each of these tips slowly, stop, and then ask how you can incorporate this advice into your educational journey. Then move on.

Never forget to read slowly and think deliberately about the material.

In the same vein (ok, perhaps it’s a little different vein), you can sit in a classroom four days a week for an entire year then wind up clueless about the material. I did this in college with my required science classes and my foreign language series. What a waste! For example, I spent an entire year in Italian classes. And, until last year (I’m 20 years removed from college), I could barely speak a sentence of Italian. Now that’s vergognoso (shameful).

With a different approach, I could have begun to master a foreign language. And, I should have because I chose to sit in that classroom four days a week for an entire year!! Hindsight is always 20/20. But, if you heed this advice, you won’t make the same mistakes I made.

Second, my advice is to go home and talk about this stuff with your friends and family. Read the news, find something related to your classes and talk about it over a meal. This is the only way to really learn how something works. In fact, that was the best part of law school for me. We would leave class and then talk about Constitutional Law for the rest of the day. Nerdy . . . yes. Effective . . . absolutely. And, you’re paying for it, right?!

I can count on one hand the number of students who keep in touch with me one year after their class with me ends. I have six classes a year. That means about 25 student-mentees work with me every year. They are great kids, and this is one of my favorite parts of the job. They also get something important out of this arrangement. They now have a meaningful relationship with a college professor who can talk to them about law school or life in general. And, I am happy to write these students letters of recommendation. These letters, from an ethics professor at a prestigious university, look really good to a hiring / admissions committee. I am proud to help get them into law school or advance their careers after college.

It’s important to keep in mind that I won’t write letters for students who have not kept in touch with me over time. In fact, I don’t really even want to have one 15-minute meeting with that person. I will likely never see that person again and it’s a poor use of my time.

Consider the cost / benefit analysis here. The pros far outweight the cons. So, go be one of the 25! Strive to form meaningful, long-term relationships with your best teachers.

I remember the students who say, “Thank You!” I also really enjoy students who are grateful for their opportunity to learn. In fact, fair or not, I am far more likely to curve-up the grade of a student who acts this way. Alas, these grateful students are like the Javan Rhino or the Ploughshare Tortoise . . . rare! I encourage you to be one of them.

This is the easiest tip of the bunch. Just walk up to your good teachers after your next class and say thank you. It takes no more than 15 seconds. Multiply that by the entire semester and you’re at, what, five minutes of your life? And, there will likely be no one else up there acting grateful, so you have the stage all to yourself.

I am a better teacher when my students say, “Thank You.” And, it’s just the right / ethical thing to do. I put a lot of time into my lectures and it’s nice to feel appreciated. Practice this tip this week. You won’t regret it.

Put your electronic gear away every time you step into a classroom and plug-in to the session. Studies show that you will score one letter grade higher just because you started to listen instead of scrolling Pinterest. Duh! I don’t need a scientific study to tell me that.

Get your money’s worth out of your classes – even if the teacher is boring. School is not a circus and your teacher is not there to entertain you for two hours. Note: your teachers should not be mind-numbingly boring, but that’s a seprate post for them and not you. Get your head into the lecture / discussion and learn something. If you absolutely have to take notes on your laptop (and I am skeptical that you do), then turn off the Internet and just take notes.

You wouldn’t take a Chemistry class just to memorize Chemistry for a semester. That’s obviously going to suck. So, don’t look at it that way. Instead, take a Chemistry class to learn how to think and solve problems like a Chemist. Then, take an English class to learn to write like a successful author. Take a History class to learn to read like a Historian. Take my law class to learn to reason like an attorney. That’s why you go to college – to learn how to think like the most successful people in those fields think. Look at it this way and you will have an easier time getting through even the boring classes.

Also, never let a boring teacher hinder you from learning. Keep in mind that your teacher alreday has a job and you need one. Your boring teacher won’t be afftected one way or the other if you don’t learn. But, you surely will. So, strive to learn regardless of whether the teacher is boring. Just remember to practice thinking like experts in your boring teacher’s field think.

Henry Ford said, “Whether you think you can or you think you can’t – you’re right.” My advice is to walk into every classroom or exam thinking that you can and have learned this stuff. Believe that you will do well, exceed expectations. This will be much easier if you put in the time before class to read and study like I described in Tip #2.

Powerscore is a test prep comoany for the ACT. They wrote this on their website:

“After working with thousands of students, we are convinced that a positive mental approach is one of the most important elements of ACT success. Students who think positively about the test and have confidence in their abilities ultimately do well, while those who dread the experience and make self-deprecating statements usually meet their own expectations and perform poorly. Despite providing our students with every tool needed to master this test, we still hear the occasional “I hate the ACT,” and “I’m terrible at math,” and “I’m going to bomb this thing.” In all likelihood, these students do not achieve the scores they want because they don’t believe that they can.”

The same is true as you walk into a lecture or take a final examination. Never neglect the power of positive thinking.

Your ability to perform on a test has very little to do with how long you spend studying. Here’s a lame statement I’m tried of hearing: “I spent twenty hours studying for this test, Professor C and I should have done better.” Well, I respond, was it twenty hours with the TV on, where you were interrupted by text messages / phone calls constantly, or where you were otherwise distracted? How deeply did you read and study? Did you just transcribe the reading to your notes or did you actually think about the material for twenty hours? These fruitless study habits suck up time and produce very little in terms of knowledge retention. So . . . you think you studied hard, but you just studied long (and wrong).

Stop linking the time you spend studying with the grade you think you deserve from that effort. I could spend hours upon hours practicing my jump shot in my backyard. But, my efforts would be fruitless because I don’t even have a basketball hoop out there! I would be wasting my time shooting into thin air. That certainly wouldn’t indicate that the time I spent shooting out back means I now deserve to make jump shots. After spending all that time, I would be the same shooter I’ve always been. Why? Because I practice poorly. So, stop shooting without a hoop when it comes to how you study. Do it right. Turn everything off and focus your attention on the material and WHY it matters! Seeking answers to the why question is the fuel source powering skyrocketing grades.

No matter how boring or worthless you believe a class to be . . . there is still something latent (sort of dormant) to the classroom experience that matters to your future. Remember, it’s mimicking the ability to think like experts in that field that makes all the difference. Honing your thinking skills as often as possible is key to every class you take. Why?

The world is run by Thinkers. Memorizers work for thinkers. Thinkers work smart. Memorizers work hard. Thinkers move up the ladder. Memorizers tend to stagnate. This is just the reality of life. Which camp do you prefer? In which camp do you currently reside?

Now that you better understand why you’re in these classes – to think, write, and read like these experts and not to memorize stuff – hopefully you will look at your education differently. Becoming wise is an acquired skill and practice makes perfect.

In this venture, I wish you the Best of Success!

Sincerely,

Prof. C (and every other teacher with your best interests at heart)