Alright: I’m going to cut right through the BS and show you EXACTLY how to get a 4.0 GPA.

Ready?

Here we go.

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If you want to get a 4.0 GPA, you NEED 5 things: organization, discipline, time management, patience, and a stone-hard mindset.

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Okay, sounds easy. Right?

Well, there’s a lot more to these 5 elements that you should consider.

A LOT more.

I’m going to break some of these down below.

Table of Contents

1. How to Get a 4.0 GPA.
   • Organization
   • Discipline
   • Time Management
   • Patience
   • The Stone-Hard Mindset
2. How Hard Is It to Get a 4.0 GPA?
3. How to Get a 4.0 GPA: High School vs College.
   • How to Get a 4.0 GPA in High School.
   • How to Get a 4.0 GPA in College.
4. Why You Probably Need an Academic Coach.

How to Get a 4.0 GPA

Oh boy! Where are my manners? I should have introduced myself!

Well, if you want to get to the nitty-gritty details on how to get a 4.0 GPA, you can just skip this part. But, if you want to know my qualifications before just blindly trusting what I say, here’s my introduction!

My name is Jason! I’m the founder of Penningpapers.com: a college application and education consulting firm.

Before creating PenningPapers, I was actually a test prep instructor and college admissions consultant for a different firm in the SoCal region. My job was to provide test prep tutoring for SoCal students including those in Los Angles, Long Beach, Pasadena, etc. I also helped students apply to colleges.

If you already live in the region, you probably already know what’s coming next.

That’s right. I served a lot of Asian American families. And, as an Asian American myself, I had the privilege (not really) of seeing all the wonders that came with strict Asian education expectations.

I’ll be honest.

My job sucked.

Don’t get me wrong. I loved working with high school kids. I still do! My colleagues were amazing, and my boss was super cool. But, the one thing that just sucked a lot about my job, and I really do mean A LOT, was that I knew the standardized methods I taught didn’t work.

I’ll repeat that.

The stuff my job required me to teach DIDN’T HELP.

It wasn’t like my old workplace was bad or anything; rather, they were just following the conventional test prep teaching method (which, unfortunately, doesn’t work all across the board.)

It wasn’t until I started learning what actually helps students learn that I managed to create my own method that would help students increase their standardized test scores tremendously. I later modified these methods over time to help students increase their GPAs to 4.0s consistently.

And, now I’ll be sharing this method with you today! I’ve split it into 5 parts: organization, discipline, time management, patience, and the stone-hard mindset.

Let’s explore them below.

Organization

One of the most important elements of getting a 4.0 GPA is having your tasks organized.

This sounds like a worthless endeavor; and, your mind may conjure many reasons not to organize your tasks. Don’t be mistaken. Organizing builds the foundations of your mental troubleshooting which helps you pivot, adapt, and overcome obstacles in your academic career.

Without the proper organization skills and methods, you’ll be kept in perpetual obscurity; and, new adversities and tasks will take up too much of your mental space to be able to dedicate to other important tasks.

That’s perhaps the most deadly part of being disorderly.

Disorderliness “clogs” up mental space. The amount of mental labor it takes to memorize the tasks and goals you have for the day, weeks, and months. Organizing helps free up space in your brain.

For example, if you use a bullet journal format to keep track of your homework, test deadlines, and goals for extracurriculars, then you won’t need to keep memorizing everything. You can ease your mind, and dedicate it to more important tasks such as actual work and studies.

Notetaking and task organization software such as Notion and Obsidian are very useful for students who have multiple moving parts. Students in grad school such as MBA and PhD programs, or students managing multiple projects and side hustles whilst maintaining academic performance may find these tools helpful.

If, however, you’re a beginner at organizing your workflow and general organizational tasks, I would highly recommend watching this video from CGP Grey.

This video was meant more for teachers. But, I find it still translates very well for students looking to compartmentalize their tasks.

Discipline

When I’m asked how to get a 4.0 GPA by my students, it’s often with the presumption that discipline wouldn’t be a part of the equation.

“How to get a 4.0 GPA…” is often meant to say, “How to get a 4.0 GPA without trying and putting in much effort.”

And, well, you can’t.

You can’t earn a 4.0 GPA without a sense of hard work and discipline because “tricks and tips” can only take you so far. A 4.0 GPA means perfect academic performance. It’s a solid A all across the board.

Sure, tips and tricks for studying can help. But, true discipline is what helps you get to that last push toward earning a 4.0.

It’s what I’ve seen in other students, and it’s what I’ve seen among my own clients.

Now, let’s elaborate on what discipline is.

Discipline isn’t just hard work. Discipline is the free-flow state of hard work that becomes second nature.

Okay. How can you get disciplined, then?

To be disciplined requires you to experiment. Specifically, you need to find what kinds of study methods, work habits, and workflow structures work FOR YOU. This is a crucial step, especially since every student is different.

Many of my students took months to figure out what kind of workflow structure actually works for the brain they have. For instance, some of my students preferred to work slowly and steadily on one task at a time. Others preferred working on multiple tasks and alternating between the two in short bursts because it kept their focus in check and “balanced”.

Time Management

You can’t have the conversation about 4.0 GPAs without talking about time management.

Back then, you could relatively procrastinate to some degree and still maintain a 4.0 GPA. However, those days are long gone. Seldom will you see procrastinators with poor time management skills holding on to their 4.0 GPAs.

Now, academic expectations have risen significantly compared to decades ago. Competition has skyrocketed. And, many students cannot actually earn a high GPA unless they’re truly clawing for every point they can.

With that in mind, you’ll need a proper time management approach to your academics.

Time management can be thought of as the method of compartmentalizing time into digestible chunks that suit your work and study style.

There are many ways you can modify your workflow to optimize your time management. It includes everything from the way you take breaks, how often you study, the intervals of time you work, and even the time of day you assign tasks based on your energy levels throughout the day.

So, some students would prefer to designate certain tasks to the early mornings before attending class (since they can focus more in the mornings). Other students would prefer to do them midday or late at night (since they are night owls).

Some students prefer to do their work in large chunks of 1-3 hours with pure, uninterrupted focus. Others have an easily distractible mind that is prone to jumping around; so, they do better with short bursts of 10-15 minutes of productivity.

One of the best ways you can increase your time management skills is to use a time-tracking method. Although freelancers and private consultants occasionally use time-tracking software that is certainly more sophisticated, you really only need a timer to help you.

Personally, I found that a time tracking method like the Pomodoro method helps students keep track of when they need to take a break, how much work they’ve done, and most importantly inform them of just HOW productive the quality of their work/study ACTUALLY is.

You can also find more information about using the Pomodoro technique in our guide here. Although it’s suited for students with ADHD, it also applies to just about anyone!

Patience

This is perhaps one of the most important points here in this guide.

If you want to know how to get a 4.0 GPA, the most important soft skill you can have is patience. Period.

Sounds easy, right? Well, not really. As someone who worked in prep centers for many years now and has seen just about every flavor of student imaginable, I can say with much certainty that a majority of students (especially parents) are NOT patient.

To be patient means tolerating the slow growth in academic performance. You need to be okay with earning a 3.0 first before a 3.1. 3.1 becomes 3.2. So on and so forth until you reach a 4.0. The initial baby steps are crucial.

Why?

Well, that’s because that’s part of the “natural process.”

It’s not in our human nature to jump from a low GPA to a high one. And, it’s even difficult for high-performing students to make the last leap forward to a 4.0.

For instance, there are a good number of students with a 3.85 GPA who look like strong students on the surface. However, they never actually needed to study. They were gifted and could process information very quickly.

This led to last-minute studying that helped them earn As on all tests. But, they never developed the crucial study and work habits needed to really boost that 3.85 to a 4.0. This is more common than most students think. And, it’s why progress seems excruciatingly slow!

One of the best ways to develop proper patience is to speak with a professional private academic advisor.

A good academic advisor will be empathic, willing to listen, and capable of guiding you toward the right steps to get a 4.0 GPA. And, best of all, they can set proper expectations and give you an actionable plan that works for your individual circumstances.

Of course, finding a good one is hard. You need to have the right academic advisor who fits your or your child’s needs. That’s why we recommend starting by contacting us for a free consultation with our academic advisors here at PenningPapers. That way, you can see for yourself how well our methodology works!

The Stone-Hard Mindset

There’s no sugarcoating it.

If you want to know how to get a 4.0 GPA realistically, you’re going to need to have a level of resilience most students between the ages of 18-25 don’t have.

A 4.0 means perfection. Anything short of that means you haven’t reached the goal… yet.

And, it’s that “yet” that is so discouraging.

A lot of my clients find they significantly increase their GPAs, whether from a 2.5 to a 3.3 or a 3.5 to a 4.0. But, the crawl toward it is filled with much adversity and failure.

Don’t get us wrong. Failure is part of the process. We actually encourage our students to be brave enough to fail more often to build their resilience. But, it can certainly be discouraging (especially when they feel like they’re failing too often.)

If you want to earn a 4.0 GPA, you need to have the stomach for it.

You’ll need a stone-hard mindset.

Can you handle making sacrifices you originally weren’t willing to make?

Can you handle putting in many hours you’re not used to?

Are you okay with falling short of your goals consistently and still, despite all rationality, still persevering?

If you think you really have what it takes, you’re ready to get started. It’s a long road ahead. And, not everyone has the personality for a 4.0 GPA. Remember: getting a 4.0 GPA is more than just wits. It’s also about the temperament and stone-hard mindset to keep persevering.

How Hard Is It to Get a 4.0 GPA?

Now, that brings up a weird question.

What’s up with those students who seemingly can get a perfect GPA without trying? Are they just geniuses?

Well, it’s sort of both.

There are a good number of students who are gifted and talented. But, their learning conditions (such as ADHD) help them process information at a high rate. This helps them learn content at a high speed at the last minute, but also forget information quickly.

This is why every classroom has a few genius students who seem to perform well on tests without ever remembering anything or developing any proper study methods.

Dr. K gives a very good rundown of this phenomenon, which I’ve pasted a link to below.

Even then, gifted students who often didn’t learn how to develop proper study methods struggle to maintain a 4.0 GPA for a long time.

For a majority of students, they often don’t have the proper study habits needed to earn a 4.0 GPA.

Remember: a 4.0 GPA means that there are NO MISTAKES. You have a perfect GPA, with no B’s at all.

Now, some schools inflate their GPAs. Some schools make it easier to earn than others.

Fair enough.

But, that doesn’t mean a 4.0 GPA is going to be easy.

A 4.0 means perfection. So, when students ask how to get a 4.0 GPA, they’re essentially asking how to be perfect. Or, how to be the opposite of a human (imperfect.)

And, based on the amount of work and tireless labor I’ve seen current 4.0 students putting in to maintain their perfect marks, it’s safe to say that earning a 4.0 is excruciatingly difficult.

How to Get a 4.0 GPA: High School vs College.

All the advice we gave here today is going to be useful for both high school and college students. Whether you’re a high school or college student, the 5 points we made above would help you earn a 4.0.

However, there are minor differences between performance in high school and college. Both have their unique problems, and they will certainly get in the way of your success.

We’ll be covering them in depth below.

How to Get a 4.0 GPA in High School.

Perhaps one of the greatest impediments in high school is the level of environmental toxicity.

Earning a 4.0 GPA is hard enough. But, for students earning a 4.0 in high school, the everyday going-ons of social life can take up a large amount of space in your head.

Unnecessary drama. Social ostracization. Bullying. Negative experiences from teachers. Discrimination. Hormonal imbalances and a lack of regulation in it on everyone’s part.

These all play a role in everyone’s high school experience.

Even students who consider themselves rather neutral to social toxicity may find themselves inexorably caught in the fallout of unnecessary drama amongst friend groups. After all, it’s high school.

This inevitably takes up a lot of space in your head, and you have less focus on the more important goals such as task completion and studying.

One of the best things you can do while in high school is to have a solid friend group that is mentally sound and rational. That means no unnecessary toxicity and no bullying. A solid friend circle will keep you grounded, and they may even become a great asset when you need company whilst you work!

Having a healthy relationship with a good circle of tight-knit friends is one of the things we recommend our clients develop when they ask us how to get a 4.0 GPA!

So, get socializing!

How to Get a 4.0 GPA in College.

College can be a little… weird.

People are often VERY different than those from high school. And, you may even find a lot of students are more willing to open up and get along. You may also be interested in the many clubs available. Maybe you don’t develop a political slant until you enter college. Or, you never thought you’d love joining a sorority until you made friends from one you’re interested in.

You may be interested in finding a romantic partner. You may need to handle horrible roommates. You’ll have to do your laundry, cook your food, and develop independence away from your family.

In other words, college is going to have a lot of moving parts.

This is where most of our college-age clients develop analysis paralysis. They want to know how to get a 4.0 GPA, but they also want to know how to make a lot of friends in college. And, they want to figure out their major. They want to earn a good-paying job. But, they also want to find their “true passion”, let alone their true self (whatsoever that may mean.)

The biggest thing we recommend for college students looking to earn a 4.0 GPA is to pause. They need to stop and allow themselves to allow themselves the chance to breathe. If they don’t they’ll be suffocating in indecision and anxiety.

If you’re a college student looking to get a 4.0 GPA, pause. Pause, and meditate on your thoughts. Let them pass, and you’ll develop a newfound calm. During a calm state, you can properly assess the things you want. Harkon back to our section on developing proper organization skills. By keeping your thoughts organized and writing in a neat notetaking app, you can break down your individual goals into digestible and actionable tasks.

So, let’s say you have a goal of making a good amount of money in the field of Finance. But, you also secretly wish you could be an artist.

You can write this goal in your notes and break down the steps you need to take to get to a place where you’ll be happy. So, you may be investing 2 hours a day working on homework and studying; but, you also spend 2 hours a day setting up connections on LinkedIn and meeting with people who work in investment banking. You may also dedicate at least 30 minutes a day to drawing digital art pieces and publishing them on Art Station in the hopes of getting scouted by a game studio.

These are all digestible steps that a sensible student can take to make good progress on their goals without getting analysis paralysis.

Why You Probably Need an Academic Coach.

Ultimately, earning a 4.0 GPA is hard for everyone.

That’s why we HIGHLY RECOMMEND getting at least some kind of help. If you want to ENSURE your chances of success and take the safe route, consider getting professional academic coaching.

A good coach isn’t just someone who knows stuff.

They can’t just be smart.

They NEED to be willing to listen to you.

That is, they should be capable of paying attention to your unique experiences and personal experiences. They should be capable of using their expertise as a guide for your obstacles and helping you with empathy. This empathy is going to be crucial from a consulting perspective, as they likely will be working with you for a good amount of time before you’re ready to take on school on your own.

A bad academic consultant is going to be catastrophic.

An average one, if you’re lucky, will just be a waste of money.

But, a good academic counselor (and I say this with fervent confidence as an academic consultant with nearly a decade of experience under my belt) is going to be worth their weight in gold.

I guarantee it.

If you’re still wondering how to get a 4.0 GPA or lack the confidence to pursue the “perfectionist’s path” on your own, consider speaking with a professional academic advisor. Here at PenningPapers, we let students contact us for a free trial consultation to see what our advising services feel like. It gives them a good idea of what it’s like to work with us, and whether they think our style of empathic counseling and consulting fits their needs and, of course, helps them earn a 4.0 GPA.