ClickNSmart Team

Are you frustrated because you have a low GPA? Are you struggling with getting good grades in school.
No worry, I have been in your situation before. Now I want to share some success secrets and traits of an A student.

My Success Secrets :
- Time management is crucial;
- Focus, don’t wander around when studying with all the hype social networking sites;
- Study efficiently : read all the reading materials before you do assignments;
- Hard work and persistence.

Some Traits of an A Student:
- Persistence;
- High level of curiosity;
- Hard-working;
- Never give up attitude;
- Like challenges;
- Hardly procrastinate;
- Passionate with the classes.

You may try to follow my success secret tips and pick-up some of the traits above in order to perform better at school and to become an A student.

Good Luck and remember that “Hard Work always pays off at the end“.

Written by ClickNSmart Team

ClickNSmart Team

Best Job Search Sites
Job Search sites have gained a lot of popularity among job seekers in recent time.
There are thousands of career sites on the web, but only a few of them are really good.

What you should know:
1.Before you begin your job hunting, you should refer back to your skill, interest, preferences, and personality.

2.Get an idea of what kind of jobs you want to look for.

3. The more specific in your keyword search, the more targeted the resulting information will be.

Below are the 5 best job search sites:
- CalJobs at www.caljobs.ca.gov
- Campus Career center at www.campuscareercenter.com
- Career Builder at www.careerbuilder.com
- Career Resources Center at www.careers.org
- Hoover’s Online Business Network at www.hoovers.com

” Now, It is your chance to be in touch with thousands of career opportunities”

Written by ClickNSmart Team

ClickNSmart Team

I am writing this article due to many demands from our dear blog readers and also friends of mine who are business majors both undergraduate and graduate students. I I’d like to share my educational background with you all. I am currently an MBA student with a 4.0 GPA concentrating in Finance and Marketing at California State University Long Beach. Is it difficult to get a 4.0 GPA in the top business school? I believe not, in fact any student can get a 4.0 GPA given he/ she follows the right strategy. In this article, I want to share the strategy on how to get a 4.0 GPA in top business schools.

1) Always attends lectures, listens attentively and also participates in the class discussion
If you’re like me, a student with an average IQ, then try not to miss any lecture. In class, you should listen to professors attentively and engage in class discussion

2) Don’t just read the textbook! Try to relate the textbook concepts to real business world events/ experiences
As business students, you need to constantly read Wall Street Journal, Business Week, Bloomberg (for Finance majors), and other business periodicals. This way, you can relate any concepts you learn from textbook or from class lectures to real business events that are going on real-time.

3) Work in groups to solve case study/ homework and to prepare for exams
Business students, unlike other majors, should work in groups to discuss any case studies or to study for exams. In the real business world, managers usually work in teams to solve company problems, so you better get used to work in groups. In addition, working in groups enables you to see other people’s point-of-view/ approach to problem solving that can help expand your knowledge.

So, the good thing is that there are only 3 things-to-do that can help you achieve that dream GPA (4.0). Having a 4.0 GPA in top business school opens up many career opportunities once you graduate. In addition, during your college year, you can potentially receive many scholarships. During my stay in the MBA program at California State University Long Beach, I have received numerous scholarships, which sum up to $10,000. Not only I am able to use this scholarship to pay for my college tuition, but I can also be a full time student without needing to work part-time to earn extra money. Good Luck and Be Confident that you can also achieve the same success.

Written by ClickNSmart Team

ClickNSmart Team

I want to share and recommend some courses you must absolutely have to take in college before graduation. Employers like to see job applicants with skills gained from the following courses:

1) Interpersonal Communication
Many colleges and universities offer this course under Speech & Communication department and other colleges include this course in the business administration curriculum. By taking interpersonal communication course, you can gain “soft communication skill” that many employers look for. Those of you who major in science and engineering major, you may think that this course is a waste of time, but this course will give you a competitive edge over other science and engineering graduates who have only “hard science engineering skill”, but cannot communicate effectively in a group setting. Other major also need interpersonal communication course as well. Being able to communicate effectively with your colleague, your manager and your boss is very important in the following cases: asking for a pay raise, work in a team, giving a presentation during company’s meeting, etc.

2) Basic/ Principle of Accounting
Almost all colleges and universities offer this basic accounting course. This course is important for your personal and career. For your personal life, this course will teach you how to budget your money and expenses so that you can control your financial future. For your career, this course will teach you how to evaluate your company’s financial health. If you can read financial statements of your company before you actually work for the company, then you will know whether it’s a “Healthy” company or not. What I mean is that you better know if your company will soon go bankrupt or will layoffs many people anytime soon because they don’t have enough money.
Of course, you want to work for “Healthy” company in order to build your career with the company. Those of you “would-be entrepreneur”, you absolutely need this course because the top reason of most failed start-ups is due to financial mismanagement (i.e. not enough money/cash to operate)

3) Introduction to Statistic
Almost all universities and colleges offer a course in statistic. This course not only will teach you quantitative skill you need for the job, but also it will be useful if you work in many areas such as: finance (financial forecasting), marketing (market research), engineering, operations management, computer science, and also “Gambling” as well. No doubt that in the finance area, forecasting methods are all derived from statistics; in the marketing area, you will use statistical knowledge to interpret market research data; if you’re a professional gambler, no doubt that you have to master statistics.

Taking all three courses above will give you a good combination of the following skills: Soft skill (Interpersonal Communication), Quantitative skill (Introductory Statistics), and Business skill (Basic Accounting). If you master all these 3 skills in addition to your major courses, then you will have a competitive advantage to get a job by the time you graduate from college.

Written by ClickNSmart Team
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ClickNSmart Team

“Can I get a 4.0 GPA and also a girlfriend at the same time?” This is a question that most of us as a student will ask. Most of the time, we meet a smart student in our class, but he or she does not have a girlfriend or a boyfriend since what he/ she does is mostly just studying; this kind of person may lack social intelligence as he or she does not socialize much with others. However, occasionally we meet a student with 4.0 GPA who is currently dating; now, this is very special and we want to know “What’s the secret to this student success?”

I had a chance to interview 5 of my friends, whom I consider geniuses from universities like UCLA, Harvard, Columbia and UC Berkeley, about the secret to their success in maintaining a 4.0 GPA and in maintaining a romantic dating relationship. Below is the summary of their secrets:

1) Time management is crucial - you need to schedule when to study and also when to spend time with your boyfriend or girlfriend, for example: maybe you study and finish all your homework during weekdays and spend the weekend with your boyfriend or girlfriend.

2) Focus, Don’t wander around when studying! - with all the hype of social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, some students may get distracted and lose concentration when studying and  update their social network account simultaneously. You need to know when to seriously concentrate studying and when to take a break. It is perfectly okay to login to your social network account after you finish studying.

3) Study Efficiently - It sounds like a common sense, but many student missed this point. You should read all of the lecture and reading materials first, before you attempting to do your assignments. If you get stuck, seek help from your teacher, professors or classmates. This will save a lot of your time.

4) Communicate Often everyday - It is important to communicate to your boyfriend or girlfriend often everyday. Brief communication via text message, twitter, phone call, or other media can signal that you care about your partner. Notice that often does not meat excessive; excessive contact may distract your study and also bother your partner as well.

5) Have Faith and Trust your partner - this maybe difficult in the early stage of dating relationship; however, it is extremely important that you trust your partner. Jealousy can creates conflicts. Resolving conflicts can consume a lot of your time and thus affecting your performance at school as well. Point number 4 above “Communicate often” can help to build trust and faith in your dating relationship.

I have shared with you all of my friend’s tactics. Hopefully this article will motivate and answer some of your questions and doubts about getting good grades and maintaining a dating relationship simultaneously.

ClickNSmart Team

How many of you guys are having a G.P.A of 4.0?

How many of you ever get some sort of scholarship?

How many of you have both 4.0 G.P.A and also receive scholarship?

Excellent student are a group of motivated and passionate students; as a result, it is no wonder that many of these students score high on their exams, have a perfect 4.0 G.P.A and also get scholarship during their academic career. 

I would say that if you’re clever and have not yet received scholarship, you should try to search and apply for one; the reasons being, why not apply for free money to pay for your tuition and other expenses if what you need to do is just write a compelling personal statement that genuinely show about who you are, what you have accomplished, and what you will be doing that will make meaning in other people’s life. If you think you get all these qualifications, I think you should start to look for scholarship available both inside your school or from outside sources. The truth is that there are many scholarship for residents and non-residents out there that are available every year. Ironically sometimes, the scholarship donor do not give scholarship funds to anyone not because of lack of qualified students, but rather there are not many people are applying to these scholarship.

I would like to share my experience in having a both 4.0 G.P.A and receive a scholarship fund of 4,000 USD as a graduate student pursuing Master in Business Administration. Having not only good grades, but also actively involved in the volunteering activities in various non-profit organization helps in crafting a compelling essay for scholarship applications. Such volunteering activities includes, but not limited to, the followings:

- Become a Student Leader Representative in the International Student Inc (ISI Orange Country Branch), a non-profit organization with a mission to introduce American cultures to international students; . I have been involving in this organization for 5 years already, and now my current position in the ISI is Student Representative Leader, in which I am responsible for giving counsel and advice in planning activities for international students with leadership team. 

- Volunteering in tutoring College students and High School students in mathematics and physics every Sunday evening; 

- Mentoring young K-12 students that want to pursue higher education, such as: going to universities and pursuing graduate education or professional school.

-etc..

In my case, I wrote in my scholarship application that using this scholarship money, I will pay for my school tuition so that later after graduating, I can make meaning in other’s people lives. This is what a success in life meant for me; this is the kind of quality that most Excellent students are striving to achieve. The motto of Excellent student is “Hard work and follow your passion in pursuit of excellence and success.”

For more information about how passion can drive success, you can check the following articles:

http://mathforsuccess.clicknsmart.com/?p=145

My advice is: “Start looking for many scholarship opportunities out there and apply for one that is most suitable for yours. In addition, work hard at school and volunteer in your spare time to make meaning in other people lives. My guess is that if you do all these, then success is not far away from your reach.”

Written by ClickNSmart Team

4.0 seem to be a sacred thing. If you got one, it is an undisputed sign that you understand that class. Yet many people say it seems so hard to get that shiny thing. When I first entered my freshmen year, I remember looking all my seniors with their shiny 3.9 GPA. It seemed impossible.

Everyone said: “No way Soma, 4.0 GPA means you won’t have a life at all, and that still doesn’t guarantee you a 4.0”. I looked at my brand new official transcript, and I said to myself, “I want it to be all 4.0 because I want to transfer to a good university.” Guess what happened? This is what I achieve:

1. Successive 4.0 average GPA for two years.

2. Student of the Month of May 2007. (click, u gotta see it before continue)

3. English is not even my native language!!!

4. A beautiful two years relationship with the best girlfriend I’ve ever got. We went out often on weekends.

5. I make great friends there.

I had a beautiful life, I had the 4.0, and I was even active in school. Who said you can’t do that?

So all you lazy people out there, “SHUT THE HELL UP”!!!

Just because u can’t do it, don’t assume other people can’t do it!!!

Listen, YOU CAN DO WHATEVER YOU WANT IF U REALLY WANT IT!!

You can get a 4.0 if you really want it!

This blog is dedicated to help all of you to get that shiny 4.0. If you have a low average GPA, a 4.0 will shoot your average GPA to heaven. If you have good GPA, I’ll help you get that last tiny bits of GPA up to 4.0. If you have many 4.0, help out, share some tips J

My personal feeling towards it is:

4.0 is perfection. It is completely different than a 3.9. It means you work hard, you pay attention to every detail, and you have what it takes to set your target high and reach it.

What do you guys think about a 4.0 GPA? Please leave comment, you don’t have to make an account to leave one. It would be wonderful if we can have a community of students with passion for academic success.

~ Soma, Founder of ClickNSmart Inc