Hey my name is Kantis Simmons, and welcome to Playing Your "A" Game.
As a College and Youth speaker and the author of academic success books , I have one tremendous passion and that's to help you ENJOY SCHOOL, STAY IN SCHOOL and PAY FOR SCHOOL. Feel free to look around this site , enjoy the content and always Play Your "A" Game.
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As I have been traveling to different parts of the country, and speaking to both high school and college students, I realize that I haven’t fully been open. Open about who I am, what happened, and how it has shaped my life. It has even shaped my life as a speaker and infopreneur.
I have decided to fully come out and share with you and the world all the ugly truths. After seeing my confession, please don’t keep me a secret.
When you think about achieving SUCCESS, you have to think about setting and achieving GOALS.
When you think about achieving ACADEMIC SUCCESS, you must think about setting and achieving ACADEMIC GOALS.
Achieving SUCCESS EQUALS setting and achieving GOALS.
You cannot achieve success without working towards something that is measurable, memorable and attainable. Goals allow you to gauge when you have achieved success.
During my sophomore year of college, I received a 4.0 GPA. How did I achieve academic success that year? I learned the power of setting academic goals. Because I set this goal, I had to develop various academic survival skills like taking notes, studying for exams, and knowing how to listen in class. I had to change specific academic and social habits in order to achieve success. I changed my study habits, my sleeping patterns and even my dating routine - yes “girls” had to take the back seat. Read the rest of this entry »
After watching the 2009 NFL Superbowl, between the football Pittsburgh Steelers and Arizona Cardinals, there was one thing common amongst all those involved. This one thing, is what causes the greatest champions to spend hours, days, and years in the weight room, studying film, and practicing day in and day out.
With the Superbowl being an event that most NFL athletes look forward to their entire career, there was something that was consistent among all the participants. PREPARATION!
Preparation, practice, development, training, mentoring, rehearsing, and repetition all have come before great opportunities. But when opportunities do arrive, are you prepared?
Preparation is the pre-requisite for being an “A” student. Preparation is the pre-requirement of all champions. In music, business, academics, and even professional speaking, you must log time in preparing.
View the above video, to give a simple note on how to make the most of every opportunity.
“If you live and stay prepared, you will never miss a beat.” - Kantis Simmons
If you are not able to view the above video, then you can also view it on youtube, blip, google,
Taking great notes in the classroom is very similar to writing down an important phone number; If you don’t get all the phone digits, you will be unable to speak with the person you desire to talk to. Same is true for note-taking. Check out this video to understand how to take better notes in high school and college classroom.
If you think about most of your day, the majority of your time is spent listening. Listening to your professor…listening to a lecture… and listening to the class conversation. Listening consumes most, if not all, of your day in the classroom.
After a great holiday vacation and long break, it’s sometimes challenging to get motivated to go back into another school semester. In this video, I share 5 things you can immediately do to get refocused for the upcoming school year.
If you can’t view the video above, see the following:
The other day, one of my best friends called me and updated me on her most recent final exams. She told me how well she did, and how she had been applying the tips and tricks she learned to play her “A” Game. She was so excited that she now believes she will be getting an “A” in that college class.
Then with disgust, she mentions that while she was taking her test she heard two students talking during her final exams. She looked at them, but could not understand a word they were saying - they were speaking another language.
As she sat there, another student too witnessed these two men talking during the final exams. What were they talking about at this crucial time? They were cheating!
Should they turn these students in or should they let this pass?
Have you ever been stuck when studying for those big tests? Have you had challenges preparing for the weekly quiz? Don’t know where to start, or how to go about preparing for those final exams? Here are some simple ways to be better prepared on school tests, exams, and quizzes.
1. Ask the Instructor.
When preparing for test be aggressive and ask the instructor what to expect. Ask questions like… “What material will be covered?” What should you concentrate on?”, “Will the test be objective or essay?”
2. Look up past copies of exams or quizzes.
Take the time to search out old exams if they are available in the library. Also check with other students who took the class the previous year or semester. These tests can give you an idea of what your exam may be like. Use them as a study tool, but don’t rely heavily on them.
You cannot have success without having something that is measurable, memorable and achievable. So you have to have goals in place to know when you have been a success at something.
Developing various academic survival skills as a student is really really important, however this survival skill of setting and achieving your goals is the motor (or motive) behind all the other skills. What I mean is this…
It is with great pleasure to see this new month of December in the year of 2008. There has been great successes and only a few minor setbacks. All in all, this year has been the best of its kind.
I often wonder, what I can do every month to improve the livelihood and quality of every student I come in contact with.
Just the other day, while waiting to board a flight to New Jersey I sat next to a college student. As we both played with our Apple laptops, and both with ear plugs in our ear I said to myself…“I wonder if he is playing his ‘A’ game in school?” Now I assumed he was a college student, because he wore a bold sweat shirt with a school’s name on it.
With a nosiness about me, I asked, “do you attend the University on your sweatshirt?” With a relieved look of breaking the silence, he nodded “yes”. I introduced myself and gave him some “dap” and the universal “wsup Nod”. We began chatting about his first year of school.
Being from Texas and going to school in upstate New York, he commented that his biggest challenge was managing academics and football. Playing on a team with as 3-8 record as a freshman wide receiver, he had more than football issues. He had challenges adjusting to being a football scholar, working with his coaches (who are rumored to being fired) and living so far from home.
From his soft voice, you can tell that he was not pleased with his all around first semester performance. I sat there and listened as he spoke about grades, studying, his major, time and being physically exhausted for the football season.
The other day, one of my best friends called me and updated me on her most recent final exams. She told me how well she did, and how she had been applying the tips and tricks she learned to play her “A” Game. She was so excited that she now believes she will be getting an “A” in that college class.
Have you ever been stuck when studying for those big tests? Have you had challenges preparing for the weekly quiz? Don’t know where to start, or how to go about preparing for those final exams? Here are some simple ways to be better prepared on school tests, exams, and quizzes.
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