Don't Be Well Rounded

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The classic concept of a good student is kind of a cliché. I'm sure you can imagine the average “good student's” grades in some pretty clear details. The “good student” is the kind of student that gets above average grades in every subject. I'm sure you've met at least a few of these people in your life but what about you?

Are you a good student? Do you thrive equally in all of your classes?

Sure, there are a few good students reading this article but the vast majority of people reading this aren't that easy to define as good students. If you're like most people, you're a great student in some subjects but there are other areas that you struggle to get through. This is natural.

In typical schooling children are taught that it's wrong to be deficient in some areas and strong in other areas. No matter how strong a student is in English, they'll never graduate high school if they don't figure out math. This just trains people to stop training the areas they're experts in and focus on training what they're bad at.

Most schools focus on trying to make all students into these typical “good students.”

While you can learn to work in that framework, be sure to understand the problems that come with it.

Exceptional Gets Appreciated

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People who are equally good at everything are in a really tough spot in life. Schools are trained to make students like this. That means, the competition is quite fierce. If you're going to go into any academically strong college around the world, you're going to find tons of people that were above average at every subject. They're not special.

The only people who get jobs from exceptionally well-rounded grades are those students that can get better grades than 95% of their competition. Those are the students that get recruited to big positions in life. Every other well-rounded student is still stuck trying to compete for normal jobs. There is a major problem with that though.

Being equally good in multiple fields of study means you need to sacrifice expertise in specific fields of study. Students that don't get those exceptional opportunities for being one of the best suddenly have to compete with students that are exceptionally good at specific fields of study. If you're a company recruiting for an important job, you don't necessarily care if the person you're hiring is good at some unrelated subject. You certainly care that the person hired is great at one particular subject.

While the best opportunities go to the people that are great at everything, the competition is ridiculous. The next best (and sometimes better) opportunities tend to go to people exceptionally good at specific things. The competition is also much less intense. The students that fail to become exceptional because they tried too hard to be well-rounded end up losing out.

Unless you're exceptionally gifted, do not try and compete in exceptional well-roundedness.

This is life advice. It's not necessarily for all school opportunities...

School Loves Average

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While all this is great for everyday life. School isn't so simple.

School is not a natural environment.

No matter how good you get at one particular subject, you'll never be allowed to move forward in schooling without propelling in the other subjects. This can make it challenging because no two people have the same strengths.

Not only does school encourage a lack of focus for your education. It downright requires it. That means, unfortunately, you must find the appropriate compromise for yourself to continue to move forward in school.

You may love writing more than anything else in the world but you must be willing to leave that behind to keep learning other subjects. To understand the true horror of this situation, consider the fact that most students are so dominant in one particular subject that they virtually can't spend any of their time on that one subject they actually care about because they're so occupied by keeping up in other subjects. (That's a long sentence but it's making an important point.)

In the writing example, that would mean you can't spend any more than the minimum time writing because you need to spend all of your free time worrying about other subject you don't really care about.

Is this bad? Yes. Definitely. That being said, don't live in the negatives. By acknowledging the problem you are in the perfect position to find the solution.

Focus On Exceptional

In school, you're forced to maintain some minimal grade in every subject. You are not required to excel in them. (That being said, most people can be above average academically with just a little time and a few good decisions that's what this site is all about. Fundamentally though, remember that you're making your decisions. You're the one in control.)

There is a loophole with school's educational plan that you need to be aware of though. You don't actually have to be good at a subject to get a good grade in that subject. And, no, I'm not referring to cheating. I'm referring to learning a few key, subject independent strategies that can increase your grades dramatically without needing more time invested. That being said, many of these strategies don't really increase your competency in the subject.

I have hundreds of examples of this throughout my old blog posts but to get you started, here are a few ideas:

By properly understanding and adjusting to your syllabus in a course, you can easily focus your energy on only the areas that provide a major impact on your grades. For example, if homework is 85% of your grade then be sure to do it. If tests are 85% of your grade then homework might be worth skipping.

By using last minute short-term memory study strategies, you can remember large amounts of information for a test while investing less than 20 minutes into studying. That can instantly prop up your grade while studying less.

Most school require certain amounts of attendance to class. One easy way to not invest more time is to actually use the time in class to pay attention. I know it's hard. You don't have to if you don't want to but you can certainly save yourself time outside of class if you pay attention.

You can even learn to read faster. Most people can consciously increase their reading speeds by huge amounts with hardly any practice. This increased reading speed can even help comprehension because you're a whole lot less bored while reading.

Strategies like these ones allow you to become an exceptional student. You're not exceptional because you learn what they want you to learn well. You're exceptional because you know how to play the game they're forcing you into.

Once you learn to use strategies like these, you'll have plenty of time to focus on doing the things that really make you happy. These are the subjects that you can become exceptional at.

When you become exceptional at something, the world will treat you well. Sure, you may not know enough to master any other subject but the truth is, you'll never have to.

While in school, it can help to look like a good student but in life, don't be a good student. Be damn good at something.

If you want to know the secrets to learning faster than ever, be sure to check out some of the old articles on this blog. Also follow this blog because there are some massive tips coming soon that you won't want to miss.

Why You Should Be Giving Up (Sometimes)

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Bad things are going to happen in school. There are going to be tests that you bomb. (Okay... Considering my typical reader, bomb might mean a B but you get my point.) There are going to be teachers that you hate. There are going to be whole subjects that you dread. Heck, you're going to have plenty of personal problems to screw up your school work too.

One of the major differences between a successful student and a failure is that successful students learn to handle that negative stuff more effectively. No one gets through school without suffering from at least a few major problems. Some students suffer from a major setback and let it hold them back for life. Other students regroup and get themselves back into a new rhythm.

That's kind of a cliché but I think it's worth looking into a little because despite the classic iterations of this cliché in school it works a little differently. Many teachers will tell you to not give up after you make a mistake but in the real world, it's not that simple.

Quitters Sometimes Prosper

Just imagine how much hate I get from society for writing things like this. Sometimes, it's okay to give up. In fact, sometimes, you're better off giving up. (And I'm saying it to impressionable students! OH NO!)

Giving up is not always a negative.

There is a difference between giving up on an achievable and important task and giving up on an unachievable and irrelevant one. Giving up on an achievable and important task is usually stupid. Not giving up on an unachievable and irrelevant task is even more stupid. Of course, virtually everything falls somewhere in-between these extremes.

Too many students try to continuously attack their own weaknesses instead of focusing on building their strengths. Think of the classic nerd on television that sucks at physical education. Guess what? NO ONE CARES EXCEPT YOUR PE TEACHER! Sure, if you're competing for a super exclusive college, it may help a little but it won't help nearly as much as blowing all the skills your good at off the charts.

Does that mean never work on things you're bad at?

Of course not. Balancing it out a little is key. You can't be good at everything. You're not some super magical alien that's somehow capable of ignoring all the classic conventions of being human. I'm sorry to inform you but, unfortunately, you're one of the humans. (Well... Probably.)

Sometimes, it's okay to lay off the accelerator and see what other options you have.

World Class

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Outside of school, virtually everything I tell you in this article would be completely uncontroversial. Relating it to school is what scares a lot of people. A lot of people feel like students are incapable of understanding the complexity of regular life. I think those people are idiots. (Yes. That's a little harsh but if you agree with them you can always stop reading.) This is something you already know but it's something you might be scared to admit to yourself.

No one can be great at everything. I like to think about Michael Jordan as the perfect example of this. Michael Jordan was one of the greatest basketball players in history. When I was young I remember him moving from basketball to try playing baseball instead.

There he was, the greatest in the world, switching to a completely different sport. My natural instinct was telling me, he's going to be good. I really wanted to believe it but, as those with experience in the real world suggested, it didn't work out.

Everything is like that. It is very difficult to be one of the best in the world in two ultra competitive fields. In Michael Jordan's case, that's pro-basketball and pro-baseball.

In your case, that might be Math and English. If you're really good at one thing then, to continue to compete with the best, other things will have to suffer. When you fight this, you usually will end up feeling like you're a failure. That, unfortunately, will make you suffer in every aspect of your life.

When To Give Up

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The first key to knowing when it's appropriate to quit is figuring out how to set your priorities. If you set them right then this step becomes a whole lot easier. Be sure to check out my old articles for more on that if you need some help.

When you put in more (well-thought out) effort, and the results aren't blatantly obvious. It's time to start considering giving up. That being said, you usually shouldn't have to give up in the traditional sense.

Most of the time giving up should consist of giving up on your current strategy. If you're trying to improve your grade in Math and reading the textbook is getting you nowhere, STOP READING THE TEXTBOOK. Give up that original plan and move onto a new one. Maybe sit in the front of the class to focus better. Maybe ask the teacher for help. Maybe hire a tutor. Just be damn sure to STOP READING THE TEXTBOOK IF IT DOESN'T HELP YOU.

If it's something that you've already decided is low on your priority list then you should consider giving up the extra suffering you're investing in the problem completely. Maybe it's alright to get a B in Art class. Maybe you don't need to excel in the subjects you don't care about.

Once you figure this out it can dramatically improve every aspect of your studying (ironically, that often includes the subject you're “giving up” on.) In life, giving up is not never doing something again. It's stepping back, taking a breather, and approaching a different solution.

Don't get caught up in the old story they tell you about never giving up. It's a wild oversimplification of a very complicated subject.

Getting amazing grades is not impossible. In fact, it's easily possible. Yes... You read that right. Easily possible. That is, when you learn the right way to approach it. That's what this blog is about. Good grades can come from long and hard work or they can come from smart work. Smart work is what this blog is all about. Be sure to follow this blog and check out it's archive to get better grades than ever with less work than ever.

You Don't Know How To Study

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Yes. I'm talking to you.

You have no idea how to study most effectively. Don't worry regular blog read readers. I don't either.

Wait... That's somehow not comforting... Can you imagine, a guy constantly giving advice about studying saying that he doesn't know the way to study most effectively? Well... I guess you don't have to imagine because I'm humbling myself to that level.

What's my point?

When you run a study blog (or when you just frequent them,) one thing becomes abundantly clear. Everyone knows the “best” way to study, and unfortunately, the “best” way to study is rarely said to be the same thing. Virtually no one can agree on the best study strategies available.

(Wild tangent: So I was listening to this professor that studies studying. (Yea... you read that right.) It was almost like listening to a stuffy version of my blog. Many of the studies agreeing with my strategy are studies that I'd never even heard of. I guess my years of working on this stuff paid off. While I usually don't take much pride from agreeing with professors but this guy seemed smart. That or I just like stroking my own ego. Now please forgive me as I turn the tangential train around and bring it back into the station. CHOO CHOO!)

With all this disagreement on study strategies, this becomes blatantly obvious.

Simple Answers Don't Exist

Most people don't waste their time arguing about gravity. Why is that?

I know this sounds a little ridiculous but play along. Planes are flying in the sky above us. I can lift objects off the ground. Sometimes it can seem like dust is floating forever. Scientists have even created crafts that hover. Certainly, there must be someone willing to argue with the fundamental premises of gravity. Maybe one person somewhere? Well... I've never met that person and I have a theory why I haven't.

People don't argue about things that are measurable, relatively consistent, and objective. People can measure gravity. People can prove gravity. Gravity appears not to have changed in any significant way since it's discovery.

Study habits are not that simple.

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You cannot measure studying in any really objective environment. Sure, good experiments are possible but the definitive experiment is still way beyond what we're capable of. There are technological limitations that prevent equal people from learning the same thing in two different ways without the two things interfering with each other. All experiments require multiple people that are wildly different in hundreds of thousands of ways.

Study habits sure can't be considered consistent either. For most of history, studying was a niche activity for the super rich of their time. The only studying the average person would do would be practicing in a trade. “School” is a relatively recent concept. Schools started with children of all ages in a single room learning with each other. For the last 100 years it looks pretty consistent but remember, this is 100 years out of thousands total. Even now computers are changing everything. This is definitely too early to call it consistent.

Just like I mentioned before, there is no grand conclusive study experiment and we still don't even have the technology to try it. That means anything about studying is limited in it's objectivity.

Studying is a complicated subject because it has to be. Don't take my word or anyone else's as final.

You Don't Have To Be Lost

All this talk about studying being impossible to measure could easily make you feel a little lost in the wilderness. You don't have to feel that way though. Not having all of the information doesn't means that you don't have enough information to use. In fact, recent history has given us more information and more opportunity than at any time in history. (That might seem like a given but the fall of the roman empire suggests it's not. Wait... This is another tangent... Choo Choo!)

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You may not have the final objective answer to the studying problem but even a grade school education gives you all the tools you need to find your personal answer. No two people being the same makes study experiments impossible to make objective on a major scale but on a personal scale it's ideal.

Think about it this way. When map makers from Europe went to North America. They had no idea what they were stepping into. The process had to be completely objective for their own sake. No one had maps so it was uncharted wilderness.

What about the natives already living on the land? Did they have maps? Did they need maps? Of course not. They LIVED THERE. They could get the map and it would be a virtually useless sheet of paper for them. They've seen the landmarks. They know the area. It's the same thing with your brain.

Scientists can't yet explore your brain but you've lived in it your whole life. You know more about the best way to study for you better than anyone else. Not only that though, you're probably lucky enough to be familiar with the tool that can help you know your brain even better.

The Scientific Method

If there is one thing that you learn from my piles and piles of articles loaded onto this site it should be this. Your life is worth experimenting with. Using the scientific method, you can discover the most efficient ways for you to study.

Sure, no scientist is going to take your results as objective but who cares? If you put the slightest bit of rigor into your methodology they're going to be mostly true for you. Yes. You. That is the key difference between all the pointless study experiments and your personal study experiments. You are wildly different than other people. Who cares if someone else studies better hanging upside-down while humming Waltzing Matilda? Unless it works for you too, it means nothing. Personal experiments mean everything.

Given no personal experience, take advice but never lose sight of what's really important. You know what's best for yourself.

I give pages of advice on this blog. I've developed this advice from my own personal experiments but don't take them as more true than your own personal experiments.

Do you want to know how to study faster than your teachers leaving on a Friday night? (Maybe you never noticed because you leave so fast.) Well... Be sure to look at some of the articles in this blog. Also, please share this article to help spread the message.

How To Stop Studying Too Much

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If you're reading this and thinking, “studying too much? is this guy crazy? No one studies too much! People don't study enough,” then you're probably not going to get too much from this article. Now, this article is awesome (I would know. I wrote it,) but it's kind of like giving a medical student the ability to write prescriptions for Adderall. It's asking for trouble.

If you're not a regular reader of this blog then I recommend you start with one of these more introductory articles:

Why You Suck At Studying

15 Lazy Ways To Improve Your Grades

That being said, if you're wild and crazy enough, well, smart enough, too have started implementing some of efficiency focused study strategies, then this article is for you.

When teaching people these study strategies, I find that the most common problem they have is the problem I suffered through at first too. After years of studying long hours for tests, it's hard to get comfortable not spending those hours studying. It's very likely that you'll feel like you're slacking off and that you might even fail because of that “slacking.”

This feeling alone is a problem.

Extra stress will increase the chances that you will end up failing your test. Stress is one of the most important things you're trying to eliminate when you eliminate excess studying. If you're going to stress out about it (consistently), you might as well just be studying.

It gets even worse though. That stress can lead you to start to study at the last minute to try and save yourself. That study time will be virtually useless because it will be rushed and highly stressed studying. When you screw up the test, you're going to be thinking, “OH NO!! WHY WAS I STUPID ENOUGH TO NOT STUDY FOR HOURS!” That will just help you bury yourself deeper into your ineffective study habits.

If you're trying to reduce your studying to improve your grades you need to be able to break your habit fast.

Remember Efficiency

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This is something you already know but it's something you're going to need to remind yourself every time you cut your studying short.

How much you work isn't what's important. The important part is the results you get. You can be the hardest working person in the world but that won't help you succeed if you don't have the right tools.

Efficiency is what you're really looking for. Imagine the difference between mowing a lawn with a lawn mower or a pair of scissors. No matter how hard the person with the scissors works, they're still going to find it impossible to keep up with the lawn mower. Don't be the guy with the pair of scissors trying to mow his lawn. (For some reason, I picture him like he works at a beauty salon with a comb in his hand. I bet he speaks with an accent too.)

Screw working hard! Working hard is easy. Anyone can do it. It has its place but school is where you're supposed to be becoming intelligent. Studying less increases your efficiency. Study after study has shown this. Once you get your planned out minimalist style study session finished. Close the textbook.

Discipline Through Entertainment

It can be tough to close the textbook when you have a history of studying way too much. But this is where you can have a little bit of fun with it. If you get the urge to study when you're not supposed to be studying, get disciplined and have some fun.

When you're first getting into the habit of reducing studying, don't reduce studying just so you can be more productive. For example, don't give up study time to put in extra hours at work or in the gym. After you get in the habit you can increase your productivity but while you're first developing the habit just have fun.

Find an interest other than studying to focus your time on. If you enjoy videogames, play videogames. If you enjoy watching hungarian dance videos, watch hungarian dance videos. If you like trying to bake your own Cheese puffs, well, good luck to you and don't start a fire. Use the things you enjoy to do to help you escape your bad study habits.

Track Everything

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I know that you're scared and I can't blame you. As I started to reduce my studying, I was convinced my grades would drop too. I was watching them and waiting but it never came. In fact, the opposite happened.

If you're worried then take comfort in tracking everything you score before and after you change your study strategies. Instead of looking at this like the end or beginning of your good grades, look at it like an experiment. At the very least, you're going to learn more about the way you study than at any other point in your life. This is going to allow you to maximize your grades in the future, whether you choose to follow through with the reduced study time or not.

As long as you're keeping track of your grades, you have absolutely nothing to worry about. If you see your grades slip below your comfort zone, you can always stop. That being said, I recommend you allow yourself a few point range to get used to it. I, personally, didn't see any negative change but I wouldn't count on it for the first couple weeks.

The best part about studying less is that over time, your grades will continue to improve. Many of the advantages of studying less don't come from the first couple sessions. They come after you start to adapt to studying for less time. The more you're able to intensify your sessions, the faster you'll be able to learn everything.

So, I know you want to pick up that textbook and try to improve your grade but it's the wrong thing to do. Every time you surrender to that temptation you set your brains adaptation time back even farther. It's just going to make your life harder in the long run.

If you're still struggling to get in the zone then you might need to check this article out:

Achieving Perfection In School

Don't you want to know the way that lazy looking guy with straight A's gets his studying done? Well, you've stumbled into the right place. Check out some of the other articles on this site. Maybe even pick up one of my books.

7 (Sneaky) Tricks To Starting The School Year Right

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Getting good grades doesn't require that you invest hours a night into studying. While some students can get good grades through that, it's usually the least intelligent way to get good grades. Instead of looking for better grades through more time investment, you should be looking for better grades through smarter time investments.

These 7 (Sneaky) tricks will help you do just that. They're far from the traditional “study more” advice that you'll hear from virtually every other source.

1. Syllabus Plot And Scheme

Every student needs to be plotting and scheming based on the syllabus their teacher provides. What do I mean by that?

Lets say your teacher hands out a syllabus that states 10% of your grade is based on your homework scores and 90% of your grade is based on test scores. Now consider how hard the tests are and how common the homework is. You need to be able to look at that information and figure out where you need to be investing your time.

Let's make this example even more obvious. Lets say there are only 4 tests through the year and there is a half hour of homework every single night with that same point allocation.

What is the smart thing to do as a student?

SCREW THE HOMEWORK!

You can get a 90 in the course by just studying well for the tests. Investing a half hour every night is wasting significantly more time to see barely any improvement in your results. You only have so much time in your day. Do you really want to use it fighting for a few points when you can use it to get a ton of points?

That being said, by screw the homework, I don't mean never do it. I mean, consider not doing it when you really don't need or want to do it. An extra few points can help. They're just not worth sacrificing too much of your time for. Some homework can also help you prepare for the test. In those cases, maybe it will be smart to do it. Just don't consider the homework essential based on this syllabus.

With virtually every class you can use a similar method make powerful changes in your study strategies. Every class is different so you need to do the plotting and scheming on your own.

2. Get A Head Start

What is the easiest part of the year? Usually it's the first month or two. Take advantage of that.

Getting good grades early on is easy. It might seem like overkill to go for great grades early on but it's worth it. In most classes, the perfect score you get at the beginning of the year is just as important to your final grade as a perfect score you get at the end of the year. Considering that early perfect grade is significantly easier to get, those are the grades you're going to want to be fighting for, if any.

I get it if you don't think it's worth the investment but if you're planning on fighting for a higher grade, early in the year is the perfect time to get a head start. It lets you relax during the harder parts of the year.

3. Teacher's Alliance

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Do not make enemies with your teacher.

As far as you should be portraying, they are smarter than you. They care about you more than you do. They are perfect while you are a dog to be trained. I know, none of that is necessarily true but as long as you're subjecting yourself to class, this is the way to get ahead easier.

You don't need to be a suck up but in any confrontation you have with your teachers, you will lose. I wrote a whole article on this that's probably worth reading.

In the best case scenario, you want your teacher rooting you on. The way you make that happen is to act like you're a good student. Students that act like good students virtually never get failed. They also tend to get treated softly in the grading process. Use that to your advantage.

4. Irritating Perfectionist

The following is a strategy I've used only a couple times myself. I read it from another book. The part I love about this piece of advice is not that it's unbelievably powerful. (It's useful just not fantastic.) The part I love is that it takes number 3 in this list and puts it in perspective.

After receiving your first low grade in the school year, go up to your teacher and ask about every single point that you lost on the assignment. Take your sweet time in asking the questions.

The most important reason you should do this is to learn from your mistakes.

The more entertaining reason to do this is to waste your teachers time to the point that the teacher questions giving you low scores in the future. The teacher is required to help struggling students. They can't afford to spend an hour with you discussing every low grade they give you. Spending this time shows them that with every low grade they give, they might have to.

Consider this the important takeaway: Teachers are tools for you to get good grades. They're not there to help you. They're there to get a paycheck. You're their tool to their paycheck. (Imagine they stopped getting paid, how long do you think they'd keep teaching the irritating students in your classroom?) You're not there to make them happy either. You're there to learn a lot and prove it with your scores.

5. Drop Drama

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People will always be trying to drag you into their own personal drama.

Don't let it happen. You can deal with drama in television shows. Most of the drama other people try to drag you into has absolutely nothing that you can help with. You'll have plenty of drama of your own in life. Every ounce of emotional energy that you invest in someone else's problems makes your life worse.

It also makes your grades worse.

6. Don't Bomb

This should be obvious but some students completely miss it.

At no point in the year should you let yourself completely bomb anything (unintentionally.) One single outlying low score can drag your grade down fast. Just don't let it happen in the first place.

Hand in all your assignments. Remember that a 50 is way better than a 0. (And from my experience working with other students, complete crap can get a 50 when it should get a 0. Hand stuff in!)

7. Sleep It Off And Up And Over And Out

The start of a new school year is stressful. There isn't a more important time to focus on getting however much sleep you need to thrive. It's also a common time that students lose track of their time and stop prioritizing sleep.

One of the sad truth's about the school year is that you're not going to have as much time to do the things you love. Don't stay up late trying to make up for that lost time. It will just make your school year harder in the long run.

Using these 7 sneaky tricks you can bring your grades into the stratosphere (maybe even the mesosphere if you're lucky.)

Great grades don't come from lots of studying. They come from smart studying. This site can help you with that. Check out our archives. Maybe you should even consider buying one of our books.

7 Tricks To Hate Math Class A Little Less

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I know what it's like to absolutely dread math class. For a while, every math class I took just seemed to make me hate it more and more. Honestly, to this day, I find it to be one of my more unpleasant courses to take but despite that, I've learned some tricks to make it a little bit less hate-worthy.

One of the most important factors in learning anything is your own motivation to learn it. If you're not deeply curious about a subject then you'll always be learning at a slower pace than if you love the subject. That's why you need to learn to put a more positive spin on the courses you hate. Here are some ideas that can help you make that happen in math.

1. Love It For What It Is

There are many classes where all of your right or wrong answers are highly subjective. Math is the exception to that rule. There is no course that is more objective than mathematics because you're always going to be right or wrong. Sure, some teachers may give partial credit for being on track but essentially, you're wrong if you don't have the right answer.

This can be painful for someone that loves the subjective as much as me but over time you can learn to enjoy it.

Your success or failure has virtually nothing to do with how much the teacher likes you, how much you study, or how much effort you put in. Your success or failure depends mostly on your ability to follow a specific methodology. Keep that in mind as you're in math class. If you can understand the methodology well enough, you need virtually no studying to succeed.

2. Don't Read It

Many students that struggle in math class are trying to learn math in one of the least effective ways possible. If you need to go home and read the textbook to understand how to do the problems then you're probably doing it wrong.

Unless you're naturally strong in math, learning math from a textbook is insanely difficult. Textbooks are written to be perfectly accurate, not perfectly understandable. On top of that, very few students have the discipline to go through the problems listed step-by-step precisely enough to get the advantages of just listening and watching it in class.

Pay attention in class.

I know. I wish there was a way around it too but this is one of the few classes that non-mathematically gifted students need to follow along in. Following along with the teacher gives most students the best chance of understanding the material fast and without the suffering through the textbook.

Tutoring is also an option. In my opinion there is no better class to get tutored in. The expertise throughout the problem solving process in essential.

3. Catch Up

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One of the biggest problems students have in math is falling behind. Most of mathematics is built up upon everything you should have learned before. That means, if you miss something early on, you're always going to be struggling to understand the stuff you're trying to learn now.

What's the lesson to learn from this?

Don't fall behind!

I know. That's easier said than done but remember that the next time you start zoning out in class.

If you already get the feeling you're behind then be honest about it and catch up. The hardest part about most struggling student's situation is that very few students know what they don't understand. They just occasionally can't figure certain things out. Catching up in math is a whole lot harder than keeping up so expect to invest a lot of time trying to catch what you don't understand but it changes the way you look at the course in the future. Eventually, it becomes much easier to follow.

Getting a tutor is one solution. Spending an hour with a good tutor will provide way more value than spending the hour in class. Another option is specifically testing yourself with textbooks and finding out what you suck at. If you suck at it then you probably should invest some time into figuring out why.

The funniest part is this; once you figure out what you suck at, you've virtually solved the problem you're having.

4. Relate It To What You Love

The idea of keeping track of the interaction between two different numbers probably doesn't float your boat (that is, if you're not already a fan of math.) You shouldn't spend your time thinking about mathematics in the same way a mathematician would. Mathematicians find numbers fascinating. It could take years to develop even close to the same love for mathematics as someone naturally gifted in math.

That being said, find why YOU can love mathematics. Everyone has there own interests. Which one of yours has anything to do with math?

I personally love the idea of working with businesses and money. To make mathematics more enjoyable, I just act like I'm trying to solve some kind of a business problem.

Maybe you like sports. Instead of working with numbers, imagine you're working with statistics or salary caps or the angle of the swing of a baseball bat. Heck, imagine there are color commentators in the background while you're doing homework.

5. Learn The Story

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Math class is all about the methodology. If that really doesn't interest you, it may be just because you don't understand the context of the methods. Try spending a little time looking into the history of mathematics. While later math doesn't have too much context, much of the early math was used to solve real life problems that people were having.

You may not immediately be curious about the Pythagorean theorem but aren't you a little curious why anyone spent their time figuring it out and what it actually meant for society. These people weren't (all) just crazy masochists.

6. Future Prospects

There are very few careers that are as certain and positive as the ones you can get into with a mathematics background.

Engineering is the first one on my mind. If you hate math then this may not be your ideal choice but learning to apply math effectively will give you this option. The unspoken secret behind this is that as an engineer, you don't really need to use math all that much. You just need to understand how it works. Most of the job is just communication.

Engineering isn't the only career that math can help with though. Virtually every secure career around today is strongly based on your ability to follow a very specific methodology. The skills you're learning will definitely apply to your future (even if it's not the specific equations that matter.)

While it may not be fun, mathematics can set you up very well for your future.

7. Change It Up

The most important part of this article isn't any particular idea listed. It's something that you need to focus on. You will probably never start to enjoy math if you don't make an effort to find a reason why. That's not a bad thing. Not everyone needs to understand math deeply. That being said, you need to suffer the consequences and challenges that come from whatever decision you make.

If you want to start hating math a little bit less, you need to be willing to change the way you think about it dramatically. If one of these ideas doesn't work for you then you need to try another. If none of these ideas work for you then you need to keep trying to find a way. The solution definitely isn't going to come from you doing the exact same thing as you did last year or the year before that. You need to be willing to change.

I don't expect anyone to reach there arms in the air screaming “Hallelujah!' as they suddenly learn to love mathematics but I hope this makes those of you struggling to enjoy math a little more comfortable with it. You don't have to love a subject to learn to be good at it but the more you're able to get interested in it, the better off you'll be.

Do you want to know how you can regularly score in the 90's without putting in hours of work a night? (In fact, you only have to put in 15 minutes.) Be sure to check out the previous articles of this blog and maybe even one of the ebooks from the sidebar.

Why You Should Treat Your Teacher Like A Noble King (Even If They Are An Evil Tyrant)

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I was having a conversation with a reader the other day. He said something that caught my attention. As much as I'm a fan of stroking my own ego, I'm actually going to be posting this to get to an important point. (I'm paraphrasing it to hide some details.)

It's funny how your blog is the only one that seems to hold teachers at all accountable. It's great to finally see someone allowing the possibility that a teacher is crap. I had this one teacher that would always get mad for me talking back to him. It screwed with grades in all my classes because I'd get so angry and stressed.

This comment left me feeling pretty good at first. One of the things I try to do with this blog is break down that force field that teachers have that protect them from any honest criticism. That forcefield tends to protect bad teachers from ever leaving teaching, or becoming a better teacher. Worse, in my humble opinion, it prevents good teachers from ever getting the feedback needed to become great teachers.

As I thought about this reader's comment I noticed something that I should have noticed earlier.

I am very harsh on teachers in this blog but there is a very important point students need to try and remember.

At The Mercy

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It doesn't matter how good or bad your teacher is, you're at the mercy of that teacher's opinion of you. While the following is not always completely true, I want you to read it as if it is. That's because 95% of the time it is true. (Despite that 95% of the time being true, you'll repeatedly be shown the opposite of this on television shows about school.)

If your teacher doesn't like you, your grades will suffer. No, don't believe the television shows that show a genius getting great grades but having the teacher's hate him or her. With some students, I've seen full grade differences based on how well their teachers liked them. A teacher that doesn't like you will force you to do even better to get the same grade as a well liked student.

This is something that most teachers will try and deny but remember the following. They are human beings. They are not transient beings from a better species than our own. Just like you couldn't grade your teachers fairly, they can't grade you fairly.

On top of that, if your teacher gives you an unfair grade, administration will always side with the teacher. It doesn't matter how little the administration respects a teacher, they will always respect a teacher more than a student. The teacher will get the benefit of the doubt. Remember, that administration deals with crappy and irritating students all day (thats most of their job.) They deal with crappy and irritating teachers every once in a while. They're biased too.

Play The Fool

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As much as I would like all teachers to get honest feedback from their students, I don't think you should put your personal life on the line to do it. You're not responsible for teaching your teacher a lesson. If you're in class, you need to keep your eye on the prize. I'm going to assume the prize is your grade for the sake of this article. (If it's actually that blonde a few desks away from you then just pretend we're talking about them.)

To be well liked by your teacher isn't simple. You can't just suck up to your teacher and hope for the best. (No one likes a suck up.) One way you can be well-liked is to share a hobby or interest. If your teacher likes a sport and you like it too, milk that. Ask them their opinion on stuff and act like you care about it. Usually if you're actually interested in it, you will care about it anyway. That is ideal.

Another way to be well-liked is to play into the noble teacher fantasy. Don't talk in class. Keep your eyes on the teacher when they're lecturing even if you're thinking about something else. Try to not stare off into space. Be mildly friendly. Maybe even go to the teacher and ask for help when you aren't understanding something. Yes, this makes most students want to throw up in their own mouth but it's one of the most powerful ways you can be well-liked by a teacher. Teacher's do notice this. They think you care and that helps your grades immensely. (Heck, pretending you care sometimes helps you care more anyway.)

Bad Situations

Consider yourself lucky if you get through school without a few really bad teacher's that you have to suffer through. In most cases, there is absolutely nothing you can do about it. In the best case scenario, switch out of their classes fast. In the worst case scenario, you may never be liked by the teacher but at the very least you can try to not make them your enemy.

Based on my experience working with students, and working with myself, a single bad teacher can drag down more than just the grade for a single class. The stress caused a that bad teacher can easily carry on throughout the whole school year. Do your best not to let that happen.

Try a few things to solve it. If those things you try to solve it with don't work then stop worrying about it and accept you're at the mercy of that teacher. Don't fight it. Fighting it is where most of the stress comes from. You may suffer in that class but that's just the straw you drew. You can't win them all.

Don't get in the habit of treating any teacher like an evil tyrant (even if they are one.) That's the kind of thing that can accidentally turn into some really bad habits.

Now I need to get back to the original conversation I was having with the reader of this blog.

No matter how bad your teacher is, do not talk back to them. Every time you seem to attack your teacher you're forcing yourself to be that much better to get the same grade. Play the teacher's game and accept it. It's no fun but it's the only good option you're given.

No, I don't like that anymore than you do. What's more important to you, your ego or your grade?

Do you want to know how to study less and score more? Be sure to follow this blog and check out some of our archived articles.