Input and Output, or Work and Grades

The advice in this book comes from personal experience. I want to impart what I learned about being a student: what worked and what did not. When I was in high school, for example, I quickly found that I had to do only the most minimal work for good grades in most classes. I would do homework assignments in a rush before class, and, well, very little else. Before each test I would crack open the text, cram a bit, and almost without fail would pass the class with flying colors. Chances are, if you’re like most college-bound students, the same is true for you.

When I got to college, I found that things were different—very different. In most classes, there were a few assignments sprinkled throughout the semester, but the assignments were left almost completely up to us, the students, who thus had to be self-motivated enough to actually do them. After such bad habits in high school—which worked then—it was very hard to motivate and discipline myself to actually complete the weekly work. It was so much easier to let it slide, and have fun instead.

I mistakenly believed that these assignments were like those in high school, something that I could just make happen. I more or less just assumed I could “crank out” a paper quickly the day before they were due, just as I had always done. What happened instead were several horrible experiences—all-nighters when I realized that I didn’t even know what the assignment was asking me to do. And since I hadn’t really been paying attention in class, the professor’s expectations were catching me by surprise. This was not something one could simply do in a rush—or at least not well. The following morning—the due date—was not the time to go to a professor with an absurdly basic question that would make it obvious I hadn’t even started. Several times I turned in incomplete work. Other times, I knew that what I was handing in was just plain bad—or at best far below what it should have been. This was an awful feeling, and a real wake-up call for me.

The same was true with my first-semester final exams. I figured that if I showed up to class, then I wouldn’t have a problem on the exam. Sometimes yes, sometimes no. And even when I did okay, the truth is that I didn’t really earn the grades I was given. With these experiences, I knew something was wrong. I knew I needed to change. In trying to skate, I was wrong—and you will be too. College is different from high school in that it requires more. It also puts a much higher burden on students to manage their own time and efforts. Those higher standards are also what separate those with college degrees from those without.