In high school, Tommy was a good student with a 3.6 grade point average. He had taken difficult courses, and he looked forward to going to college. He began his courses: business as usual.

But soon he noticed that his grades on a few assignments weren’t as high as he expected. Then one of his profs took him aside and talked to him about slipping work. Another thing: Tommy’s test scores weren’t what he was used to.

He began to study more, but because he had already completed a good part of the semester, his final semester grades disappointed him. At the end of first semester, he and his parents talked about spending more time studying and increasing his effort as he studied. The result? Second semester was much better.

Tommy’s going to be a sophomore, so now, once again, he has to increase his study time and the quality of his effort.

Even good students, like Tommy, enter college underestimating the amount of study time needed to do well. They should be putting in far more study time than they think. College is not just about being smart. Want to do well? lt takes about 30 hours of study in a 7 day week.  Some students never figure that out. Tommy could tell them. This year, he’s working for awhile on weekends, too.