How can I make sure I get almost perfect grades next year?

Get as much of a head start as you can. What classes will you be taking next year that you know little to nothing about? Go to your library and take out books on the subjects and read up as much as you can.

Allow yourself time to get your work done during your school day. If possible schedule at least on study hall into your school day.

Do your homework and study. That’s usually all it takes.

Study, Study, Study.
On tests, do not risk writing down too short and too incomplete answer. Be expansive with your answers. When you want to write down an answer that runs contrary to what you have been taught in class, back it up with facts and logic. You may get extra points for that, depending on whether or not the teacher is a fool.

Keep assignments in an organized way. Find a place where you can study uninterrupted. Start any research papers the day they are assigned e.g. choosing a topic, narrowing it, beginning research and keeping note cards on facts to include and their source. Participate in discussions. If you don’t want to give answers, ask questions about the material. Look alert and interested during class. Don’t slouch down in your chair like you couldn’t care less. (In a large lecture this doesn’t matter unless you sit in the front.)

Write down your assignments and due dates in a notebook or organizer. I made the mistake of not doing that this year.

Take advantage of every resource your instructor suggests, and perhaps add some of your own. If you have any trouble keeping up, contact the instructor and get a tutor right away, don’t let yourself fall behind.

Put studying ahead of socializing.

Yaay twins! That’s my strategy for next semester ;)

STUDY HARD. Do all of your homework and hand in assignments on time. Pay attention to the teacher in class.

Be prepared to invest a significant portion of your time to school—more than whatever you’re doing now. Eat, sleep, breathe school. Know how each teacher determines your final grade. Never miss a class—physically or mentally. Read the textbook / tutorial / assigned reading (non-fiction) at least twice. Keep working on hard homework until it’s not hard. Walk into tests knowing that you know it.

Needless to say, lay off the booze/drugs. Helps nothing.

And if perchance you get an A-or a B realize that grading is an art as well as a science and all profs are human beings.

As long as you know that you’ve made the best effort you could, that’s what is most important.

However, if you did that and honestly think you weren’t graded as fairly as possible and can back it up, don’t hesitate to speak up for yourself.

But in the end, also realize that five years down the road, whether you got an A or an A- in a particular course is not going to amount to a hill of beans in the overal picture. Chances are you won’t even remember and your employer will only care about your work effort in your current job.

That doesn’t mean it’s not worth it tondo your best. It is but don’t let stress about it eat you up and ruin your feeling of accomplishment.

What’s MOST important is the effort you made and what you learned in the course, not whether a particular prof evaluated it properly. If you honestly did your best, then that’s all you can do.

Check your work. Get a tutor ASAP if you need it. Study well in advance. Take good notes. Write down assignments. When you get a test back, correct the problems you got wrong—it will help with the next test and with the final. Ask questions in class. Turn off your phone, the television and the internet when studying. Distractions torpedo studying. Every interruption takes 10 minutes to get your concentration back.

@Buttonstc ”...five years down the road, whether you got an A or an A- in a particular course is not going to amount to a hill of beans in the overall picture. Chances are you won’t even remember and your employer will only care about your work effort in your current job.”

That’s a rather cynical view of education. First, I do remember some (unfortunately not anywhere close to all) of what I studied hard for in school, lo these many decades ago. And it’s no coincidence that what best sticks with me are the very subjects in whose high school and college courses I got good grades—most of which have nothing to do with my day-to-day job as an adult worker.

More to the point: Education as a mere stepping stone to a better job, assuming people must compete for opportunity, is bogus. We learn in order to enrich the experience of being alive. It’s a lifestyle, not an event or milestone. Though, like the scarecrow in Oz, it’s nice to have a diploma to show you have a brain. Knowledge is for knowledge’s sake.

@gasman

Actually I agree with what you wrote and I think you misinterpreted the intention of my post.

Did you skip over the part where I said that what’s most important is “the effort you made and WHAT YOU LEARNED IN THE COURSE”

What I said would be forgettable five years down the road is “whether you got an A or (just) an A-” I didn’t say you’ll forget what you learned.

I seriously doubt that (without looking it up) that you recall your EXACT SPECIFIC grade for every course you took five years later.

Well, who knows? I suppose you could be some sort of a savant but the majority of people aren’t.

If you noticed in her original question she wanted to raise her grades from A- to an A.

That’s a pretty damn small increment, wouldn’t you agree?

It’s certainly not worth stressing over. That doesnt mean its not worth the effort but if a prof chooses to consider it a half grade point lower in spite of your best effort, developing an ulcer over it isnt worth it.

The EFFORT and WHAT YOU LEARN is what’s still important five years later.

Or do you honestly think any employer is going to give a crap that you only got an A- if your current job performance is great ?

On the flip side, do you honestly think any employer is going to be so stunned by your getting an A in a particular course that he’ll overlook crappy work ?

I don’t see my intent as cynical at all. As a teacher, I’m very well aware of grading not being an exact science and if a particular prof had a cold (or whatever ailment) when doing final grades, that alone could account for an A- rather than an A. That’s life and that’s reality.

My particular approach (and I was dealing with young children) was to reward effort in addition to everything else and my grading reflected that.
Other teachers had a different viewpoint and just graded arbitrarily on test scores to configure the final grade. Every teacher has their own approach to grading. When dealing with SMALL INCREMENTS like half a grade point. it is highly subjective.

All one can do is their best and learn for it’s own sake. That’s what counts five years down the road. NOT half a grade point one way or the other.