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Get a binder and notebook for each subject. When everything is made easier, it's less of a task to get your study game face on. Get rid of old papers or assignments unless you think you'll refer back to them. Have your syllabus tucked away nicely but still easily referable, and keep a pen in there for good measure! That goes for your desk and locker, too, no clutter -- really any area you use for studying and being academic. If it's intimidating to even dig through, you definitely won't be sitting down to study. You'll be spending all your time looking for some things! The more accurate statement would be "make smart, focused friends 'and make them to your advantage'." Plenty of your friends are smart, but when's the last time you sat down with them and combined mental powers? Spend your free time with them -- just watching each other study. Pick up on their better habits. If you have a class together, make time once a week or so to talk about the content -- not about your teacher's phlegm problem or that cute guy who sits in front of you. Sit with them in class, if you weren't already! When your friends' hands shoot up to answer questions, you'll be less inclined to snooze away. Along with that 4.0 group you travel with, find someone who's taken the class already. Lots of teachers recycle tests -- if the person has kept their old ones, double score. It's not cheating at all -- it's being logical. They can also tell you what the teacher is like and what you could expect. If you go in knowing their tendencies (and maybe even how to butter them up cough-cough) and how they operate, you'll have that much of a leg up even before the first class. This idea has probably been drilled into you since kindergarten. In order to squeeze the most out of your day -- to study, play basketball, practice the violin, eat right, stay hydrated and sleep (yes, those last three are important) -- you've gotta rock the time management skills. But...how? The most basic thing you can do is to create and follow a schedule. Make sure to give weight to the stuff that requires a longer amount of time or is more thought-intensive. Having your priorities in order will make that schedule simple to figure out. Be realistic. Saying you're going to study 8 hours a day isn't feasible. You'll burn out and then the next day will be spent in bed with a tub of Jell-O. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, but what does kill you... kills you. Don't procrastinate! If you have a paper that's due in two weeks, start now. If you have a test coming up, study now. Some people work well under pressure, sure -- if that's you, at least do a little now. There's no time in your schedule for freak-out sessions, unfortunately. If you're in your dorm room or bedroom, your TV risks growing a voice that keeps screaming, "WATCH ME." Instead, get out. Go somewhere else. Go to the library. Find a quiet place away from distractions. Ever read Moby Dick the entire way through, and then realize you didn't absorb a single thing; so, you have to go back and read it again? It was a waste. So take your study to the library. At the very least, make a special spot in your house that's devoted to serious studying. You don't want to go to bed every night feeling like you should have been studying! Get a table, a desk, or some common couch that you use only for studying. It'll help zone your brain once it makes the connection. Be habitual. . You know that feeling after you've slammed down a gorging breakfast and finished it off with a killer chocolate shake and a piece of pie: Yeah, a heavy stomach and a "dead" head. If you want to stay focused, energized, and feeling vigorous (and your brain working right), eat for only "one person", and healthy food. Limit the sugary, and greasy foods. You'll be much more likely to retain information, if your brain, body and stomach don't feel like mush. For breakfast before an exam, keep it light. And don't drink so much coffee you get the jitters! Have some toast and an apple or whatever you might reasonably need. But do eat breakfast. It's just harder to concentrate when you're shaky from hunger! Avoid horrors of cramming all night; it's bad for you: get enough sleep, for feeling right and for your grades! When your mental energy is running on fumes, it's hard to concentrate; you can't focus, and all that information your teachers are trying to cram into your brain is going to go in one ear and out the other. So cultivate your brain! Aim for 8 hours every night -- not much more or less. Stick to the same schedule so it's easy to get up Monday through Friday. Though you can sleep in on weekends, it'll be easier to hear that 7 AM alarm clock -- or earlier, if you stay rested up! Live joyfully, smiling, being optimistic. You've probably heard about the pressures many students all over Asia feel and about the massive student suicide rate among them. "Stay sane!" means just that. Studying until you're crazily praying for death is not a joke. It's a very crushing thing. So schedule time to go to a nice party. Catch a movie. Take an occasional nap, for your sake. The world will not come crashing down around you if you get an A-. Sure, it'll stink, but lots of things are rough. You'll still get into a good school. You'll still get a job. You'll still be worthy of love. You're not struggling with cancer or poverty or being hunted down by the mafia. It is Okay! Alright, you're on this page because you want to maintain a 4.0, right? That probably means you're smart and driven with a good head on your shoulders -- the only thing you gotta do is stay there! Keep wanting it. This 4.0 will get you a lot places, because you never slack off. You gotta make it fresh every day.
Get organized. Make smart, focused friends. Make friends who took the class. Manage your time well. Go somewhere else to study. Eat healthily Get enough rest. Stay sane. Keep up your own motivation.