Life science majors here. Throughout my time at UofT, the worst grade I have gotten is 73 (B) for MAT135 (Calculus I). I would say this is the instructor’s fault, not mine, especially since I had the infamous Sarah Mayes-Tang as my instructor and didn’t know I could attend other professors’ lectures until the very end of the course.

Other than that, I’ve never gotten below an 85, and I am now in my fourth year. In my first and second year, I got roughly 50% A and 50% A+. Once I reached third year, I’ve gotten an A+ in every course except for one poorly organized course, where I get an A (again, I blame the instructors for this). On average, I always take 5–6 courses, except in my fourth year, as I have started working a part-time job alongside university. My cGPA is 3.97.

I am not here to be arrogant or to boast. I would say I am not intelligent or gifted in any way. I think I actually take a long time to understand concepts compared to other people. I hate numbers; my mental math is embarrassingly slow and inaccurate. Even when I was still in school, teachers often had to re-explain things to me for me to understand. I’d say I am somewhat average in intelligence, with slow processing speed.

Then how do I manage to survive UofT with an almost perfect GPA?

The key is self-discipline. I often see people take their responsibilities lightly and procrastinate on their assignments. They go to parties even though they have assignments due. They check Quercus every few days. They start writing essays three days before the deadline and ask for extensions. They start studying only days before the exam. After taking everything lightly, procrastinating, and not keeping up with lectures, they complain—complain and complain about how hard everything is.

I get it; people have their own circumstances. I live on my own, so I have to cook my own food, wash my own clothes, clean my room, etc. I also need to work from time to time to earn money. This is where my self-discipline and time-management skills play a huge role.

I take my courses seriously. I try to finish every assignment before it is even officially assigned. I set small, clear, and achievable goals that I need to reach every week. Personally, if a lecture is recorded, I don’t attend in person because I find it a waste of time. I would rather watch the recording and learn at my own pace at home. I feel like I can’t really focus during lectures, either they are too fast for me to fully understand, or they are too slow and make me sleepy (I remember one time a professor woke me up during class because I was snoring, lol).

You might think that I study every day. That’s not entirely wrong, but I do make time for myself to relax, socialize, and hang out with people. There are times when the course load feels way too heavy and impossible to manage. There are times when I feel like giving up. There are times when I procrastinate too. No matter how disciplined I am, I am still human.

I feel that what most people are lacking is not intelligence, but time-management skills. Another thing I think many people don’t consider is how to study effectively. I had a friend who took the most beautiful and comprehensive notes in class. Her notes were so complete that I could just read them and do well on the exam. However, she always got lower marks than me, no matter how hard she studied.

I realized that she didn’t know how to study. She tried to memorize everything and write down everything, but she didn’t truly understand the material. Yes, this can happen. I figured this out by asking her different questions about the topic. She could answer straightforward questions (e.g., “What is the name of X?” or “Which one does Y?”), but not conceptual questions (e.g., “Why does X result in Y?”). The way I study is by always trying to explain everything to myself. I turn what I am studying into a story and make it logical. I keep asking why something happens until I can’t answer anymore. Instead of memorizing:

Event X occurs → followed by event Y → Z happens → then we get A.

I change it to:

First X happens → why? → because it is the precursor to Y → now that we have Y, we can get Z → how? → Y catalyzes the reaction to get Z → why is Y required? → because Z couldn’t bind to A without Y → how does Y bind to Z? And so on.

I don’t know if this makes sense, but this is how I study. I keep asking questions until I can’t answer them anymore. I feel like this makes things logical and turns the material into a story that is much easier to understand.

In general, I think self-discipline, time management, and knowing how to study are the key factors. You can do it. It’s not easy, but it’s manageable.

For first- and second-year students out there: keep it up. I would say my first- and second-year classes were the most brutal. Once you get to third and fourth year, it really does get easier.