Grit and success.

1. Stay in
Honors. Stay
happy.
TRUE GRIT: HOW TO
STUDY LIKE AN HONORS
STUDENT

2. There is no recipe for studying, learning, and managing time: no single
list of “things to do and not do” that will help everybody.
And besides: increasing data suggests that succeeding in college has a
lot more to do with certain “non-cognitive” abilities and specific attitudes
– all of which can be learned – than with just “raw ability” or knowing
some tricks for memorizing stuff. We will be focusing on one of these.
That personality trait can be given one single name…
Grit

3. Grit can be defined as the tendency to sustain interest in and effort
toward very long-term goals. It means persistence in the face of
failure, finding new ways to succeed when other ways haven’t worked,
willingness to live with a certain amount of uncertainty, and facing
challenges directly.
From the Lab’s website:
“in prospective longitudinal studies, grit predicts surviving the arduous
first summer of training at West Point and reaching the final rounds of
the National Spelling Bee (Duckworth et al., 2007), retention in the U.S.
Special Forces (Eskreis-Winkler et al., 2014), retention and performance
among novice teachers (Duckworth, Quinn, & Seligman, 2009, Robertson -
Kraft & Duckworth, 2014) and sales agents (Eskreis-Winkler et al.,
2014), and graduation from Chicago public high schools ( Eskreis-Winkler
et al., 2014), over and beyond domain-relevant talent measures such
as IQ, SAT or standardized achievement test scores, and physical
fitness. In cross-sectional studies, grit correlates with lifetime
educational attainment and, inversely, lifetime career changes and
divorce (Duckworth et al., 2007; Eskreis-Winkler et al., 2014).”
DUCKWORTH LAB
UNIVERSIT Y OF PENNSYLVANIA

5. 1. What are some
characteristics of
somebody who has grit?
2. Why might grit be a
better predictor of
success than IQ or ACT
scores?
3. How does one get more
grit?
4. Is emphasizing grit in a
class like FYE more or
less helpful than giving
out specific study or
time-management
skills? Why?
5. Can grit be measured?
How?
6. What are some
examples of “gritty”
behavior?
EACH GROUP MUST ANSWER ONE OF
THESE QUESTIONS

6.  This is your major assignment for this course.
 You will assess your own grit level, and then pick your most
challenging course.
 Each week you will journal about your efforts to succeed in
this course (you may write or do video upload).
 You will also be asked to read a few supplemental texts on
related topics and reflect on them as well.
 Your first week’s assignment will require more work than
other weeks: you will have to assess your grit level, choose
your course, and then do your first journal entry. It will be
worth twice as many points for that reason.
THE GRIT JOURNAL!

7. There are many resources under the file tab of Canvas: look for a
folder called “Study Skills, Test Analysis, Time Management Tips”
 Study Skills and Mindset tips:
 Growth Mindset PowerPoint
 Make It Stick Takeaways (very good studying advice)
 ThinkWell – LearnWell diagrams (two documents)
 Test-Performance Analysis (use after taking a test):
 Post-Test Analysis Tool
 Post-Exam Survey
 Analyzing Returned Tests
 Time Management Tips:
 Time Management Tips
 Deadline and Weekly Calendars for Planning
STUDYING RESOURCES ON CANVAS

8.  Student Success Center (tutoring, PASS, counseling services
and more) – main floor, Library.
 Honors Math Tutors
RESOURCES ON CAMPUS