Customer Reviews

Professors' Guide to Getting Good Grades in College

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I am torn between three and four stars for this book but Amazon won't give me a 3.5 option. I have taught at the university level for the past five years and certainly most students can benefit from what is in this book. I want to encourage students to buy (and read) this book. The mythbusting that the authors engage in is certainly worth the price of the book. You can pay now with a little cash or pay later with a low grade to find out the truth about grading. Almost every chapter has good information. I especially liked Chapters 2, 4, 5, and 9.

I also enjoyed how they disparage B's as grades -- what does a B prove to anyone? An A indicates excellence in a course and a C indicates trouble but a B is essentially worthless as a predictor or indicator of anything. As the authors say, not even professors get excited about B's.

However, I do have some complaints.

First, and most important to students is that the authors treat grading opportunities as singular events. This prevents students from treating grades strategically. My advice to students about achieving the best grades possible is for them to strive to earn an A on the first exam of each course they take. Because the material on the first exam is usually much easier than on the Final Exam, holding a grade up is easier than pulling one up. The authors touch on the lack of time to study properly for all of the Finals at the end of the term but don't really offer a solution to the time crunch. By learning early in the semester where they stand in each course, students can allot their time better. An early A enables them to focus their efforts on the courses that they have a shot at pulling up or on those that they can hold -- particularly when they know they gave the first test their best shot. Why spend your limited time on writing a paper or studying for an exam for a course where you have a low B when that time would be better spent pulling up a C or holding an A?

I also do not like how the authors treat a university as a whole rather than as separate parts. They teach at much larger schools than I have (I have never had a Teaching Assistant grade anything for me) so they should know better. For instance, in their discussion of grade inflation they talk about universities as a whole when they must know that within each university are colleges or departments where there can be a large disparity in grading. At my previous school, over 50% of the grades in one department/college were A's while in mine the number was closer to 20%. In fact if I awarded over 60% A's and B's I would receive a nastygram from my boss asking how over half of my students could be Above Average! Students should not assume that good grades are inevitable if they just pick the right university. The same disparity is true of different departments' use of TA's as instructors/lecturers rather than full-time faculty (particularly at the undergraduate level). It may take a little more research to discover the information but students may rest assured that potential employers have done THEIR homework!

My other complaints are more from a faculty standpoint. First the authors give the most superficial explanation of curving grades possible. They take the most extreme examples they have heard of and declare them representative of the thinking of all professors who do curve exams. For the record, I curve exams in case I ask an exam question in an awkward or confusing way or if I failed to teach a point as thoroughly as I perhaps did a previous semester (when, as the authors point out in a different discussion, I may have created the exam question). Why should students be penalized for MY errors?

My last complaint about the book is that it makes grades the end all and be all of a college career. Perhaps that is inevitable considering the topic of this book. I know that the authors don't believe that because they do encourage some behavior that is contrary to maximizing your grades. I just wish they had encouraged students to be more adventurous in the choosing of classes. By declaring grades to be "the currency of college" they discourage students from broadening their horizons. Most professors have seen Straight A students who they know to be ill-prepared for the big wide world because they stuck to a narrowly tailored academic regimen of courses they would do well in. You can get away with this in college. Unfortunately, this is usually self-defeating in life because most employers and citizens have higher expectations of people with college diplomas than just a trade school mentality.

In conclusion, I encourage students to buy this book despite my complaints here. Certainly in my own life I have used material from what I thought at the time were "throw-away" courses or from professors who were tough graders. I doubt that I am alone in this experience. Pursuing good grades is an important part of the college experience, but by no means is it the only part. This book will help students to achieve better grades and that is the reason they should buy it and read it.

Why didn't anybody think of this before? There are dozens of guides on how to get into college, but the publishing world has left millions marooned there once they get in. And it can be quite bewildering. Finally, these two extremely well informed and clear-headed professors have demystified the art of staying in college and doing well there. Once, such advice was available only to a lucky and privileged few with personal or family ties to faculty members. Too many bright and capable students figure out how to do well over four years--they only learn the ropes by the time it's too late. Their overall college record suffers unnecessarily because nobody bothers to tell them what this book finally makes clear is so simple and straightforward. In particular, this book's advice on writing papers will give its readers a huge advantage, and get them on track to success in college right from the start. The authors know all the tricks of the trade and explain them clearly without any intimidating jargon or preaching. They want you to do well and lay out the path toward doing well step by step. You could not spend your money more wisely at the start of your college career than on this book--I only wish it had been available earlier. I have been teaching college at a major state university for l4 years--I will recommend this book to my students, which will save them-- and me--a lot of time and unnecessary grief.

Perfect for those already in college, those getting ready to attend a university, or even teens who are beginning to think about which college they'd like to attend, the PROFESSORS' GUIDE TO GETTING GOOD GRADES IN COLLEGE is a must-have! This is a book filled not just with advice, but with actual facts on how to take good notes during a lecture, how
professors grade papers, and even how to prepare for tests and exams.

The book is broken down into five parts, with additional chapters in each:

Part 1: The Start--10 Common Myths About Grades in College; How Do Professors Grade, Anyway?; and FAQs About Picking Courses with an Eye to Grades.

Part 2: The Class--Your Action Plan for the First Week of Class; Top 10 Tips for Taking Excellent Lecture Notes; and Why Prepare? Why Attend? Why Participate?

Part 3: The Exam--13 Best Ideas for A+ Test-Preparation; Acing Exams by Adjusting Your Attitudes; and The Hidden Value in Going Over Your Test.

Part 4 The Paper--Understanding the Assignment; Doing the Analysis, Doing the Research; Do's and Don't's for Going to See the Professor; and Top 10 Tips for Constructing the Perfect Paper.

Part 5: The Last Month--The 4 Hazards of the Last Month of the Semester; and 17 Strategies for Acing the Final.

With great mini-quizzes, notes from visiting professors, and checklists to keep track of your strategies, this is a book perfect for any older teen. If everyone had a copy of the PROFESSORS' GUIDE TO GETTING GOOD GRADES IN COLLEGE before setting off for that first semester, college would be a whole lot less stressful!

Reviewed by: Jennifer Wardrip, aka "The Genius"

This book is one I wish all my students would read. This isn't paternalism, but rather self-interest, at work. I'd be reading higher-quality work, and wouldn't be dogged as much with the suspicion that my students are not working to anywhere near their potential. The book is clearly written, transparently organized, and thoroughly engaging--it moves along briskly and efficiently, is dotted with numbered tips and illustrative anecdotes; its tone is light but not frivolous, prescriptive but not preachy. There's nothing in it that a reasonably serious and observant student blessed with a generous helping of common sense couldn't arrive at by the end of her or his senior year in college--in other words, too late to put into practice. For those who'd like to know how to get good grades while they're still in college, the book is a great guide. Through its thorough and systematic treatment of such topics as lecture attendance and participation, notetaking, test taking, doing research and writing papers, and strategies for that crucial last part of the course, it encourages students to adopt a thoughtful and methodical approach to their coursework. This is not a book with shortcuts for achieving educational results, and grades, without doing all the work. Instead, it encourages students to maximize their learning, and shows them exactly how to go about achieving this goal, which has the attendant benefit of boosting the GPA. If they put the program of this book into practice, they won't work any less hard, but they'll work smart. This is a great graduation gift to any college-bound high school seniors or an any-occasion gift to students in college, and it's a gift that keeps on giving, since the professors and teaching assistants with whom these students will study will also greatly, if indirectly, benefit. (I said it was self-interest at work.)

The Professor's Guide to Getting Good Grades in College, by Jacobs and Hyman, is a book that has been needed in college classrooms for a very long time. The book follows the student through the course of a normal semester and gives them advice and tips on just about every aspect of academic life, covering everything from how to select courses through how to handle the major hurdles of the semester. In the course of their advice, one major theme rings particularly clear: the value of communication. This one single idea appears numerous times throughout the work and is perhaps the most useful thing that an inexperienced college student can learn about how to make their grades better.
But don't get me wrong: Getting Good Grades in College isn't just about that one idea. There are many good ideas and pieces of advice in this book. I have taught college for almost 15 years and I can easily see how many of my students' difficulties could have been avoided by reading this book. Mostly Jacobs and Hyman talk common sense... but then they are talking common sense formed from years and years of experience in a environment that tends to intimidate most college freshmen.
The book is written in a very readable tone that I think students would appreciate. The authors use humor and anecdotes effectively and never come across as stuffy or condescending. It presents its material narratively, as well as employing lists to help focus readers' attention.
There are a few things about the book that did not seem as effective as I would have liked, but most of those can be written off to philosophical or discipline differences. For example, their definition of the grades seems a little inflated to me and as an English teacher I would have liked a little more on composition and research papers.... but these are minor problems at most. My biggest philosophical difference with the book is that I think it places too much emphasis on grades rather than on getting the most out an education... but then grades are the focus of this work.
Getting Good Grades in College is a book that would work at larger universities and colleges just as well as it will work at the small community college where I teach. It is a much needed survival manual for the college student and starting this Fall I will be mentioning it in all of my classes as a suggested read.

I bought this book approximately two weeks before I started college and read it in one day. I am a non-traditional student returning to college while working for the Federal Government, and my major GPA and Cum GPA both INCREASED 1.5 letter grades because of this book! In fact, I've been inducted into a number of honor societies and have earned several thousands of dollars in merit scholarship funds because of Lynn and Jeremy's advice. ALL of their ideas are highly relevant to both traditional and non-traditional students, and you will have a great deal of academic success if you consistently apply their tips. For example, they describe how to "decode an instructor's syllabus". Because of their advice, half of my professors from my classes (I still keep in touch with them to this day) have become my mentors. The bottom line here: CONSISTENCY, PERSEVERANCE, and use this as your "daily bible" for all of your college courses.

I bought this book last year when I started college. At 50, it had been awhile since I was in school and it holds some good ideas about how to study as I'm not sure I ever knew.

A good idea I really like is when taking notes during a lecture to only write on one side of your paper. Although wasteful, when studying notes it's so much easier to study from one side of the paper instead of flipping the page over to see what's on the back.

There are a lot of good ideas in this book and it was worth the money I paid for it and I still use it.

Today because more people have college diplomas, obtaining a college diploma is not enough. College students face extremely competitive job markets and graduate school admissions criteria. Excellent college grades matter and are crucial. In this enjoyable, easy-to-read, first book to reveal insider secrets about how college professors grade, Jacobs (PhD, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University; Department Chair and Associate Professor, Art History, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville) and Hyman (Project Manager, Professors' Guide LLC; [...]), who between them have taught over 10,000 college students at a total of eight universities, offer authoritative, practical tips, techniques, strategies, and methods for succeeding at each of the five grade-bearing moments in a college semester: the start, the class, the exam, the paper, and the last month. In fifteen chapters, organized chronologically according to the major grade-bearing moments of the semester, they discuss every aspect of college grading, not limited to common myths about grades, how professors grade, picking courses, determining an action plan for the first week, taking excellent lecture notes, preparing for, attending, and participating in class, studying for exams, going over exams, writing college papers, visiting the professor, and acing the final. Fast-paced, each chapter, which is started with an concise introduction and ended by a complete review section, is interspersed with value-added sidebars, such as top ten lists, do's and don'ts tables, instructional boxes, professors' perspectives, remembrances, opinions, extra pointers, case notes, and more. Serving as a significant how-to guidebook as well as a useful reference resource, this publication may be read from cover-to-cover or consulted by chapter as needed. While it may be most relevant for college students who will be taking a significant number of courses in the humanities and social sciences, this must-read by insider experts should be required reading for those aspiring to attain a college degree or degrees in any major. It also will be of interest to high school students planning to go to college and lifelong learners returning to school. Highly recommended for large, public and undergraduate, academic libraries as well as for school media center collections.

Myths about grades. How do professors grade? Taking notes. Test preparation. Adjusting your attitudes about what you should expect from college (you mean college is not there to coddle you!?). How to understand the assignment, prepare and research. Talking with your professor. And much more. For those considering this book, the Table of Contents and Index are invaluable - primarily since they will be referred to often again and again by the serious student who wants to get good grades in college. Written by professors in order to move your grades up. I'm recommending parents with high school seniors and college sons and daughters read this book. There's a huge difference between high school and college and the expectations of professors as well. The student who becomes aware of this sooner and with fewer hard-knock-lessons will be better off.

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The collaborative effort of Lyn F. Jacobs (Associate Professor of Art History, University of Arkansas) and academician Jeremy s. Hyman (who manages 'Professors' Guide' projects), "Professors' Guide To Getting Good Grades In College" shows college and university students on how to pick courses with an eye to good grades; ten tips on effectively taking lecture notes; successful test-preparation and test-taking strategies; strategies and tactics for staying academically motivated; and perhaps most importantly - how to get the most from classroom and seminar professors. Of special note is the section on 'The 4 Hazards of the Last Month of the Semester". Especially recommended for students new to college, as well as university students needing to improve their scholastic performance, "Professors' Guide To Getting Good Grades In College" is thoroughly 'user friendly' and an invaluable self-help manual for securing a successful academic performance.