[Art]

To clarify, I nearly failed out of high school because I also didn't do homework. I had to go to a continuation school as a Senior to finish... I did three years of English, two years of Math and a year of science in addition to my regular course load in order to graduate. (Lots of independent study).

In college, I actually did my homework, and ended the year with a 3.4 GPA. It was only brought down by the classes I didn't attend. Any class I could actually be bothered with, I aced.

Again,

[SecretAgentRat]

Originally Posted by Ethan.Bassist.

I also fly by the seat of my pants. It's served me excellently until these last couple math classes.

I can write a decent paper no problem and also give it a kick ass title to boot! My paper on Wal-Mart a few terms ago: "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this Wal-Mart" Effin genius.
I'm blessed with good retention when it comes to liberal arts type classes. I remember stuff pretty well and learn concepts easily.

But math... not so much. I have to actually work at math. And the last couple math classes I haven't worked at it. If I applied myself I think I'd do okay, but it's a catch 22. I hate math until I understand it. So until I understand it, I don't have any motivation to try and understand it. I'll be lucky if I pass this term. I hope I apply myself better next term.

Same for me. I did so well because I never took a math or science class. Actually....I just remembered that I got a B in my Child Development class, too. I don't care about math or science very much because I've always had trouble with it. So if I'd ever taken any serious non-lib arts classes my GPA probably would have been much worse, or I would have had to learn how to be a good studying student.

[Josey Wales]

well when i was in high school i had no study habits, and i pretty much did everything on the fly.. when i entered college it actually mattered to me, so i developed study habits, and it made my grades improve as compared to high school, but for paper writing i usually put a lot into it.

[tlj009]

I had very poor study habits in high school and coasted through relatively easily. I worked through college and had no time, poor study habits, and didn't pay near the attention that I should have. But I planned well and met my own lower expectations. When I decided to do half my homework, make 80's on the tests, and pass a class with a C, that is almost always what happened. The bare minimum to get by. I may not know anything, but I have great test taking skills.

[1/2-Fast Player]

I developed good study habits starting in jr high. I was taking some pretty tough courses that demanded it. I improved them and learned a few tricks in high school, and then even more so in college. Ga Tech was extremely demanding, and if I hadn't learned how to manage my time and organize my work load and how to study rapidly and efficiently, I would've bombed. It's not just that the school was tough (and it was!!); most grading was based on class averages, and at Tech you compete against some of the best students from all over the world. If you're not at the top of your game, you'll get your butt kicked.

There are many little tricks to taking notes and studying that can really help. You have to learn to be efficient and fast.

Thankfully, I've always had top grades, and I earned really good GPAs in all three of my degrees.

The way I write papers changed a bit over the years, and now when I have to do writing at work it's a bit different still. Nevertheless, I organize things, make notes and drafts, outlines, etc. I can write well off-the-cuff, without prep, but even then I make a rapid mental outline and work to it.

In my job, I frequently have to write proposals, specifications, statements of work, plans, etc. Usually I'm writing some portions personally, and also supervising a dozen or so people who are writing other portions. It's essential that all those inputs from different authors flow together seamlessly, so that a proposal "speaks with one voice" to a customer. Making that work requires that I put effort into organization, into outlines and thematic statements, into an editing process, etc. I also define common terms and phrases that are to be used throughout a proposal.

My point is that even if you ARE able to write well without formal outlines and the like, if you end up doing writing in the workplace you'll likely find that those formal organization and planning skills are essential.

Most of the new grads I see don't write well at all, even though they think they do. There's a world of difference between writing a cute essay or a book review, and writing a formal proposal to the government to (hopefully) win a $60M contract.

Good organization, solid study habits, time management, etc., are essential if you're going to compete in the workforce later, even if you can scrape by in school without them.

[Ben Toast]

When I entered college, I realized I suck at college.

[tlj009]

In my job, I frequently have to write proposals, specifications, statements of work, plans, etc. Usually I'm writing some portions personally, and also supervising a dozen or so people who are writing other portions. It's essential that all those inputs from different authors flow together seamlessly, so that a proposal "speaks with one voice" to a customer. Making that work requires that I put effort into organization, into outlines and thematic statements, into an editing process, etc. I also define common terms and phrases that are to be used throughout a proposal.

Common terms and phrases that MUST be used throughout a proposal. That is one of the strangest things that I have noticed. It doesn't really matter how good the writing is but there are certain keywords that must be in the proposal. Also, you must be able to repeat the same things a dozen times using different wording. It is very irritating to have a proposal rejected because you used a synonym to a keyword that they were looking for.....and no one tells you what these keywords are.

[Almost Enough]

According to most teachers and fellow students I have horrible study habits. Quite frankly, I don't study in a common form. I do worse on tests when I attempt to dissect and memorize individual facts and numbers. I listen in class, and attempt to understand the concept as a whole. If I can do that, then the class is a breeze. I'm finding as time goes on and I spend more time learning an understanding in other areas in my life ( job, church, family, technology, and music ), grasping the overall idea of a concept or class becomes easier. Of course there is the need to remember specifics, such as names and elements and components, but I don't think it's near as substantial to memorize that ad it is to grasp the subject in it's entirety.

[DaGeek]

Wow, thank you for all of the responses, everyone! This'll help me flesh out this paper really well!

As a token of my appreciation, here's a picture related to broccoli:

[Chrysostom]

Yes / Undeveloped / Mixed. As a philosophy major, I didn't need study habits for most of my classes, since we were graded on big ideas tested two or three times per semester. But in some of my other classes, developing study habits helped -- for instance, history and astronomy. Some disciplines were themselves mixed, like Religious Studies and languages (I did French and Greek); more diligent studying helped in some particular classes, not in others.

[1/2-Fast Player]

Originally Posted by tlj009

Common terms and phrases that MUST be used throughout a proposal. That is one of the strangest things that I have noticed. It doesn't really matter how good the writing is but there are certain keywords that must be in the proposal. Also, you must be able to repeat the same things a dozen times using different wording. It is very irritating to have a proposal rejected because you used a synonym to a keyword that they were looking for.....and no one tells you what these keywords are.

I understood that better after I was on the receiving end a time or two. Often there's a large team evaluating proposals from many bidders. The proposals, which may be hundreds of pages each, get divided up among the reviewers. Maybe one guy is reviewing the write-up on aerodynamics, another is reviewing the contracts section, another is reviewing the past-performance section, etc.

There are certain key selling points that you want to make sure every reveiwer sees. Also, reviewers may search for keywords to find material that they should review. Authors try to use those as hooks, to get the right expert reading the right material and becoming convinced that you have the best idea.

There are big differences between writing a proposal, writing a spec, writing a contract SOW, and so on. It's important to know and understand those differences and be able to tailor your writing as needed.

[TheRealAriel]

I never had to study in high school so I found when I got to college I had no idea how. I also found that with engineering it's a lot harder to keep up with straight A status without studying. I've struck an okay balance now, I can study for like an hour, maybe a little more, and do well.

As far as writing goes I haven't ever really had problems. My biggest issue is having journalism classes and business writing classes at the same time and trying to keep straight in my head the rules for each. Once you know the basic tools of writing, though, it comes fairly naturally. For me, everything after that has been master bs-ing