The recipe for great grades

After a really fantastic meal, I once asked my aunt if she had taught her children to cook. “I taught them to read,” she quipped. She was implying that anyone who can read a recipe can cook a great meal.

It’s hard, however, to cook up great meals—or grades—without a recipe. A student planner, including a calendar and a to-do list, is an academic cookbook. It helps you find a recipe for success.

Take some time to sit down with a calendar and your class schedules. Mark down all your test dates, holidays, friend birthdays, etc. on the calendar. Then plan for those dates.

For example, you might mark down “Send Mom a Valentine” four or five days BEFORE Valentine’s Day. Warning: Do not do this if your mother has any health conditions...she might not survive the shock. Do the same for tests and papers, creating a series of steps, each with its own due date: come up with thesis, find books, read books, write two pages, write two more pages, do bibliography, type final copy, etc.

Now look at what’s on the calendar for next week, and make a to-do list for the week. Rank these to-do list items from the most to least important, and check off a few each day. Next week, make a new to-do list.

Now you have a recipe for academic success! Follow it consistently, and you won’t end up trying to cook up a good grade the night before the final exam.

—Walter Bradley, professor emeritus of mechanical engineering at Texas A&M University and CEO of Success4Students.com.

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