Amanda's Tips and Tricks
Don’t be an idiot. Simple enough…for most of you.
Don’t show your hand the first day of class. The teacher
wants to see you improve, so leave room to do so. Know when to hold ‘em and
know when to fold ‘em.
Sit in the back. They don’t expect the back row to be
intelligent…. Now you have the element of surprise. Like “Surprise! I’m smart!”
If you’re in class, be in class. If you’re going to be
present why not be present? Why not
efficiently use the time you scheduled for that subject to learn all you can
about that particular subject; especially if you don’t want to have to re-learn
it while you’re studying for that final last minute. Learn it now or learn it
later- pick your poison.
Decide that you WANT to learn. It makes it more enjoyable
and wouldn’t that be a shame if you were on Jeopardy and that one thing you
didn’t study was the money-maker question? Being intelligent makes you
interesting. Being stupid just makes you stupid. And no one likes a stupid.
Especially a broke stupid.
People watch. Be like the students the professor likes and
don’t be like the ones they hate. Let’s call it like it is…teachers pick
favorites. Figure out how to be a favorite so when you mess up and forget an
assignment, you’ll at least get off the hook.
Learn the professor’s language. Every professor has an
inclination to use certain words over others. They also have a predisposition
to certain tones and senses of humor. Pay attention and use these things in
your essays, presentations, projects, and homework. How many times does a professor have to say "pervasive despondency" when describing the decline of the Roman Empire before you decide you should use that in your essay answer on the exam? Just sayin.
Learn to follow the professor’s train of thought and process
of mental organization. If you understand how the professor constructs ideas
and concepts of the class and can regurgitate that on your exams and papers…
you just hit the jackpot. Cha-ching. Example: one professor liked to verbally vomit information all over his students thus I did the same on his tests and he loved me for it. Another professor loved flow charts so I used those on his tests and - surprise!- he loved me for it. A's for days.
Learn your professor’s social, political, and entertainment
preferences. An obvious one but here’s an example: my philosophy professor was
a die-hard feminist so in every essay I SUBTLY (see below) took a feminist tone
and/or discussed a personal event in which I witnessed an “underestimated”
figure break their normative social role. Not necessarily a story of feminism
but gets at the underlying theme thus appealing to the professor without
completely sucking up in the most obvious way like all the amateurs. (My last ditch effort to pass that
class would’ve been to tell her my male professors were stifling my creative
genius in my other courses.) Done. Deal.
Subtly go above
and beyond by being different. Give the unexpected but smart answer. When given
A or B, choose C. But be subtle. No one
likes a kiss-ass and that’s how you get a kicked ass. Halleloo!
If you can’t gather information from observing in class,
google them. Are they published? Where have they gone to school? Do they have a
Facebook? Does it mention their interests? Basically turn into an online
stalker and give yourself the upper-hand. It’s easier than you think. And as scary as you think.
Speaking of Google, use Google, YouTube, Yahoo questions,
and maybe even a little CHACHA as a supplementary resource for the class. Don’t
understand a concept? Chances are there’s a lecture on it somewhere online.
Learn to be a proactive, curious, and independent learner. Inquire your
desires. Not like that….
Brain Ninja. In anything you turn in or any presentation you
give, the last thought you leave your audience with will be the most memorable.
That being said, the most memorable statements (to a professor) will be the
precise and concise statement that ties in the current topic of discussion with
a previous concept in the class. Connect the dots creatively, blow their minds.
Leave the professor’s in tears and the students hanging their head in jealously
and shame. I’ve literally stood in front of a class, given a half-assed presentation, and then brain ninjaed them at the end and blew them all away. A.
Prioritize. Outside of the class and even in the class,
learn to time manage, and prioritize your studying and homework habits. What
will affect your grade the most? Do that first. I mean, if you can’t figure
this out then let’s call it like it is- drop out already.
So this may all sound like more work than it’s worth but
really, it isn’t. In short, use common sense, observe patterns and pay
attention, be memorable by being unexpected (and not by being stupid), look at
the big picture, and connect the dots.
Welcome to my world. Where I write blogs instead of essays
and sleep instead of study.
This is my gift to the world. You’re welcome.
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