I'm also a 4.0, but I wasn't always. The biggest gap I've noticed between a 4.0 student and a 3.0 student is the willingness to forego having fun (going out with friends, TV, watching TH-cam videos) too put the needed hours in. When I went from getting 3.3-3.5s to 4.0s these last couple years one of the biggest things I noticed was an increase in discipline and a decrease in how much I left my house lol. If your a 4.0 student, can go out every weekend with your friends, and study 2-4 hours a week- your either cheating, a genius, or a business major.
Another technique that helped me get my 4.0 was using flashcards for memorization tasks. If you get the flashcard even 5% wrong, review it then put it back in the "wrong" pile. Once you've gone through all your flashcards, go through the "wrong" pile and act like you're starting over with this new group. You've finished for the session when all the cards have gone into a "right" pile. Go over the flashcards multiple times before the assignment or test and it'll help a lot. Flashcards are also a good way to write out everything by hand if that's your thing. I, personally, like to type as my writing speed is snail slow
Great advice! I would also like to add that picking the right major is the MOST important thing one can do. Pick a STEM major or a major that will more easily lead to a professional level job. I made a serious error in judgment pursuing a masters in exercise science degree, a non-professional degree. It is also important to make sure you get internships and develop your social network. I often hear, it is not what you know but who you know.
Funny or not funny how a really awesome clip on the subject studying receives just a few thumbs up, meanwhile the well dressed and "perfectly" styled TH-cam Influencer get's millions of views. What a shame. Keep up the good work and thank you.
Does where you go for undergrad really matter in med school admissions? For example would a Harvard student have a better chance of getting into a prestigious med school over a state school candidate?
It makes a difference unfortunately. A lot more goes into choosing an undergrad school than just prestige, and some med schools understand that, but a prestigious school name will nearly always impress someone more than a no-name school.
Hi Micheal Gongwer, thanks for another great video! I have a question for you. I have just started doing passages on Khan Academy I am not sure how to learn from my wrong answers. Specifically, If I make a mistake in a passage that links several chapters and different subjects from the content review book, do you recommend going through all those contents over again? ( which kind of feels like a waste of time, haha) How did you make the best out of doing passages? Thank you!
I would say only review the topics that caused you to miss the question. You'll have to use your best judgement to figure out which topics you do and don't understand!
Awesome video! Do you think you'd be able to do a video in the future that talks about the pros and cons of the laptop that you're using? I see so many pre-med and med students using iPad Pros to take notes for their classes, but I am looking for something that can act as both a laptop and tablet.
Hey! I got one question! Im just done with sophomore year and ended up having 3.6 gpa... I feel it’s a bit low for med school even though I got straight 4.0 gpas in junior and senior year. So I m thinking of having extra one year to maximize my chance of getting higher gpa. How do you think of that??
넴넴부 no need for an extra year just to boost your GPA. Medical school admissions look for an upward trend 📈 in your GPA over the course of time (freshman, sophomore, junior and senior). An increasing GPA score indicates that you have improved greatly over time. This speaks volumes over an overall cumulative GPA. You’ve got a better chance of enrolling in a masters degree 📜 program post graduation coupled with copious amounts of research and volunteering opportunities that would make you more competitive to the Medical school admissions team. Get great 👍 recommendations and a stellar personal statement to boot. Good luck as you make a decision.
Definitely do whatever you can to get it up at the end, schools really value an upward trend. It sounds like you just finished sophomore year with the slightly low GPA and haven't finished junior or senior year of college yet? If that's the case I'd say wait until you see how those go until you decide whether to take an extra year
Thank you so much for the reply! I was planning to transfer to better college in program and rank and spend 3 years there and apply to med school. Does the ranking or the prestigiousness of college matter to med school admission??
I used Kaplan but not as rigorously as a lot of people - a lot of my studying came from varied sources depending on the topic. I think either one could be fine!
Why worry about getting an A versus A- when you get 4.0 grade-points for either grade? I have some possible theories; but I want to hear other reasons as to why anyone would even bother?
@@fadumafarah3266 OK. That's interesting... The only thing for me is the psychological impact it can have on an employer WHICH brings me to my next point. I hate the fact that A+ is given out by some professors, but not all. I have virtually aced some of my courses and usually only get A. I do, however, have one A+ on my transcript. It could be that some schools routinely hand out A+ as policy (when a student does well enough?). More to the point, when an employer sees a single A+ and a multitude of A's, what will he/she be thinking...that the performance in the A courses was less than stellar - even when I did better in some of those than one in which the professor so happen to give out A+ (again; some seem to not give out any A+ grades AT ALL!)? If employers see A+ as being possible (due to seeing even a single, solitary A+ on a transcript), he-or-she might be inclined to think you are less than stellar in the courses in which you receive A (as opposed to A+). That's why I don't like it! That's why I think all schools and all professors should make the A+ grade achievable; but some don't hand out any A+ grades whatsoever - not even when the student achieves 100%! It would also be unfair since some schools might have an A+ policy (I'm not sure, though?). What I am trying to say is that some students from some schools might show a straight A+ transcript. An equally dominant student from a different school might only display straight A's (not A+'s!) through no fault of his own but only because the A+ grade isn't even on the radar of his school (or his particular professors). Any way - whom do YOU think would have the edge with employers - the straight A+ student...or an even more dominant student only displaying a straight A transcript? It's all about psychological impact with me!
Scholarly Analyst I agree with you because I had that problem with getting an A- vs an A because I would have had an even higher GPA if there were no A minuses but I guess some colleges have different grading systems it would have been easier if they didn’t.
I have a better idea. How about schools actually make the subjects more fun rather than just testing all the time. So what if you get a good grade or otherwise, the main point is to learn but also have fun.
The point of needing a high GPA, for medical school at least, is to keep it from becoming saturated. If everyone, no matter what their GPA was could go to medical school, do you think a Diagnostic Radiologist would make 400,000 a year? No. Because eventually there would be a saturation of doctors, making the salary go down less and less. The same thing is happened in Engineering and honestly all STEM degrees. 30 years ago, if you got an engineering degree you were set for life. Now there are people with engineering degrees unemployed because everyone said “STEM is the way to go”, and now to get a job as a Chemist you 99% of time need a PhD. Same thing with Biologist, same with physics, and for awhile it was like that with math too. Now people get jobs with these degree, but it wasn’t like it was 30 years ago. School being tough keeps salaries high. Is it unfortunate? Absolutely. And I really wish it could change. But the world runs on money, so it’ll most likely never ever change.
Hi MiKe! I’m second year at 4 yr institution in US and thinking of starting from a community college to get better gpa.( starting over) Do you recommend this? I am international student wishing to go TOP med school in US, I only got 3.67 GPA from current school..
You need to finish your 4 years and get your degree. Try to get a 4.0 GPA for the last two years. If you are trying to go to medical school you just have to do really well on the MCAT.
@@dusty7764 is he well rounded vs just studied 90 hours a week? how about a mother of 2 with similar stats or a person who worked 2 jobs with similar stats? harvard has 5000 book worms with ZERO social skills applying
I'm also a 4.0, but I wasn't always. The biggest gap I've noticed between a 4.0 student and a 3.0 student is the willingness to forego having fun (going out with friends, TV, watching TH-cam videos) too put the needed hours in. When I went from getting 3.3-3.5s to 4.0s these last couple years one of the biggest things I noticed was an increase in discipline and a decrease in how much I left my house lol. If your a 4.0 student, can go out every weekend with your friends, and study 2-4 hours a week- your either cheating, a genius, or a business major.
This is very true!
Damn. Marketing and finance double major here with a 3.8 plus student-athlete and club leader. That "business major" jab hits home...
business major xD lol
what's wrong with business majors lol
@@sofiatriantafyllou3925 Generally speaking they are much easier than technical/medicine majors
Another technique that helped me get my 4.0 was using flashcards for memorization tasks. If you get the flashcard even 5% wrong, review it then put it back in the "wrong" pile. Once you've gone through all your flashcards, go through the "wrong" pile and act like you're starting over with this new group. You've finished for the session when all the cards have gone into a "right" pile. Go over the flashcards multiple times before the assignment or test and it'll help a lot. Flashcards are also a good way to write out everything by hand if that's your thing. I, personally, like to type as my writing speed is snail slow
This video is underrated !! Thank you
Great advice! I would also like to add that picking the right major is the MOST important thing one can do. Pick a STEM major or a major that will more easily lead to a professional level job. I made a serious error in judgment pursuing a masters in exercise science degree, a non-professional degree. It is also important to make sure you get internships and develop your social network. I often hear, it is not what you know but who you know.
Can't you be a Personal trainer with a exercise science degree ?
@@Ονομαεπίθετο-ξ1υ LOL
@@Ονομαεπίθετο-ξ1υYou can be a PT without an exercise science degree tbh
Best study strategy video I've ever watched. Straight to the point and super informative! Thank you!
Damn this makes me feel very lucky. Many of the harder classes at my school only require a 85 or 87% for an A.
Dude love this guy, sadly he doesn’t upload anymore
Probably focusing on his career
Ultimate Hawkeye yeah probably
He’s back
@@ashwinalagendran6748 i know and Im estatic
First year grad student ❤️ my goal is to get a 4.0
Thanks for this video, it helped me a lot in college!
This guy knows what he's talking about.
Some realistic and ACTUALLY helpful tips! Wow, very helpful and informative :-) thanks! Awesome quality of the info in this video!
I agree for all of these and am surprised how much some of our strategies and thought processes behind them parallel.
Love what you said in the Real Talk section, preach that!
Hi Michael. Thanks for the videos! Would love to know more about pre-med things, like extracurriculars, recommendations, research, etc.
Thank you so much! Since your MCAT video you've given me great advice
Funny or not funny how a really awesome clip on the subject studying receives just a few thumbs up, meanwhile the well dressed and "perfectly" styled TH-cam Influencer get's millions of views. What a shame. Keep up the good work and thank you.
Your bio class required 95% for an A? My bio course was rigorous no doubt but it required 90% for an A.
That’s crazy holy🙃 here in Canada it’s 86 for an A
Every class I'm taking is a 94 for an A.
My biology class was also a 95% for an A
In my school every class requires a 95 for an A in each and every subject.
waittt what? Thats insane- it's a 97% for an A for me. :/
I wish i knew all this when i started
Man your videos are great. Thanks for putting out the great content!
Thanks for sharing your strategies.
Thank you so, so much for this!
They're practical and useful tips. Thank a lot!
Thanks Mike! This is really helpful.
YOU ARE AWSOME I WORK IN A HOSPITAL ALL YOUR VIDEOS ARE VERY INSPIRING !!!!!!!!!!!
Love you man. Thanks.
Thank you! This is really helpful
This was very well done, subscribed!
Does where you go for undergrad really matter in med school admissions? For example would a Harvard student have a better chance of getting into a prestigious med school over a state school candidate?
It makes a difference unfortunately. A lot more goes into choosing an undergrad school than just prestige, and some med schools understand that, but a prestigious school name will nearly always impress someone more than a no-name school.
I’m horrible in math and I can’t stop saying it or thinking about it on my own :( I just want help with that
Hi Micheal Gongwer, thanks for another great video! I have a question for you. I have just started doing passages on Khan Academy I am not sure how to learn from my wrong answers. Specifically, If I make a mistake in a passage that links several chapters and different subjects from the content review book, do you recommend going through all those contents over again? ( which kind of feels like a waste of time, haha) How did you make the best out of doing passages? Thank you!
I would say only review the topics that caused you to miss the question. You'll have to use your best judgement to figure out which topics you do and don't understand!
Michael Gongwer thanks ！
Awesome video! Do you think you'd be able to do a video in the future that talks about the pros and cons of the laptop that you're using? I see so many pre-med and med students using iPad Pros to take notes for their classes, but I am looking for something that can act as both a laptop and tablet.
Microsoft's surface book 2 is awesome. Especially with the new Microsoft slim pen. It's like writing on paper.
Hey! I got one question!
Im just done with sophomore year and ended up having 3.6 gpa...
I feel it’s a bit low for med school even though I got straight 4.0 gpas in junior and senior year.
So I m thinking of having extra one year to maximize my chance of getting higher gpa. How do you think of that??
넴넴부 no need for an extra year just to boost your GPA.
Medical school admissions look for an upward trend 📈 in your GPA over the course of time (freshman, sophomore, junior and senior).
An increasing GPA score indicates that you have improved greatly over time.
This speaks volumes over an overall cumulative GPA.
You’ve got a better chance of enrolling in a masters degree 📜 program post graduation coupled with copious amounts of research and volunteering opportunities that would make you more competitive to the Medical school admissions team.
Get great 👍 recommendations and a stellar personal statement to boot.
Good luck as you make a decision.
Definitely do whatever you can to get it up at the end, schools really value an upward trend. It sounds like you just finished sophomore year with the slightly low GPA and haven't finished junior or senior year of college yet? If that's the case I'd say wait until you see how those go until you decide whether to take an extra year
Thank you so much for the reply!
I was planning to transfer to better college in program and rank and spend 3 years there and apply to med school.
Does the ranking or the prestigiousness of college matter to med school admission??
How did you memorize topics? Like biology?
when are u uploading again?
What university did you go to for undergrad?
im from the UK and we require 70% for an A
Hi Michael, is there a way that I can connect with you via email or LinkedIn?
Thanks
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Did you use Kaplan or Princeton review books while studying for the mcat? Or both?
I used Kaplan but not as rigorously as a lot of people - a lot of my studying came from varied sources depending on the topic. I think either one could be fine!
Michael Gongwer also what’s the best place to find cell biology research papers and things like that to prepare for the MCAT?
you do same course as mine
What kind of laptop do you have?
💗
Why worry about getting an A versus A- when you get 4.0 grade-points for either grade? I have some possible theories; but I want to hear other reasons as to why anyone would even bother?
Scholarly Analyst My school has A minuses and if you get an A- you drop because it is not equivalent to a 4.0
@@fadumafarah3266 OK. That's interesting...
The only thing for me is the psychological impact it can have on an employer WHICH brings me to my next point.
I hate the fact that A+ is given out by some professors, but not all. I have virtually aced some of my courses and usually only get A. I do, however, have one A+ on my transcript.
It could be that some schools routinely hand out A+ as policy (when a student does well enough?). More to the point, when an employer sees a single A+ and a multitude of A's, what will he/she be thinking...that the performance in the A courses was less than stellar - even when I did better in some of those than one in which the professor so happen to give out A+ (again; some seem to not give out any A+ grades AT ALL!)?
If employers see A+ as being possible (due to seeing even a single, solitary A+ on a transcript), he-or-she might be inclined to think you are less than stellar in the courses in which you receive A (as opposed to A+).
That's why I don't like it! That's why I think all schools and all professors should make the A+ grade achievable; but some don't hand out any A+ grades whatsoever - not even when the student achieves 100%! It would also be unfair since some schools might have an A+ policy (I'm not sure, though?).
What I am trying to say is that some students from some schools might show a straight A+ transcript. An equally dominant student from a different school might only display straight A's (not A+'s!) through no fault of his own but only because the A+ grade isn't even on the radar of his school (or his particular professors).
Any way - whom do YOU think would have the edge with employers - the straight A+ student...or an even more dominant student only displaying a straight A transcript? It's all about psychological impact with me!
Scholarly Analyst I agree with you because I had that problem with getting an A- vs an A because I would have had an even higher GPA if there were no A minuses but I guess some colleges have different grading systems it would have been easier if they didn’t.
A- = 3.7 for me at Johns Hopkins 😭
@@jesstiss222 OK...interesting!
Hey Michael, are you going to med-school?
Cristhian Caleb Castaneda yep he’s going to ucla
What college did you attend?
What are some of the best question bank website and apps for college students?
I got a B in Organic Chem 1 and 2 because our professor does not give fractional grading (+/-). Should I retake it despite all A's?
nah. lots of people applying to medical school got B’s in Ochem. Unless you’re goal is to be accepted into Yale, Harvard, etc. It’s not worth it
4.0 basically means you spent more time studying
I have a better idea. How about schools actually make the subjects more fun rather than just testing all the time. So what if you get a good grade or otherwise, the main point is to learn but also have fun.
The point of needing a high GPA, for medical school at least, is to keep it from becoming saturated. If everyone, no matter what their GPA was could go to medical school, do you think a Diagnostic Radiologist would make 400,000 a year? No. Because eventually there would be a saturation of doctors, making the salary go down less and less.
The same thing is happened in Engineering and honestly all STEM degrees. 30 years ago, if you got an engineering degree you were set for life. Now there are people with engineering degrees unemployed because everyone said “STEM is the way to go”, and now to get a job as a Chemist you 99% of time need a PhD. Same thing with Biologist, same with physics, and for awhile it was like that with math too. Now people get jobs with these degree, but it wasn’t like it was 30 years ago.
School being tough keeps salaries high. Is it unfortunate? Absolutely. And I really wish it could change. But the world runs on money, so it’ll most likely never ever change.
Hi MiKe!
I’m second year at 4 yr institution in US and thinking of starting from a community college to get better gpa.( starting over)
Do you recommend this?
I am international student wishing to go TOP med school in US, I only got 3.67 GPA from current school..
You need to finish your 4 years and get your degree. Try to get a 4.0 GPA for the last two years. If you are trying to go to medical school you just have to do really well on the MCAT.
Which laptop?
Sushil Panda Microsoft Surface book 2
4.0 and 527 on the MCAT and Harvard did not even interview you?! Wow!
Probably bc he was white. Smh
^^maybe...but it also just goes to show how completely random med school admissions can be sometimes
@@samlee6152 Grammatical errors in his application that they couldn't overlook maybe. Smart guy though.
Harvard do not only consider student with big MCAT or strong GPA. It's the person as a whole.
@@dusty7764 is he well rounded vs just studied 90 hours a week? how about a mother of 2 with similar stats or a person who worked 2 jobs with similar stats? harvard has 5000 book worms with ZERO social skills applying
Couldn’t you just record the lecture?
Sure, but why watch/listen to the entire thing over again if you could just write down key ideas/summaries as notes?
cindy hernandez you’d probably retain more info by actively summarizing the lesson.
In some universities, you need special permission to record the lecture.