How to Do Well in School
School is an important part of our lives, it also helps us determine what we will be in the future and there are many ways to improve our grades in this area. Whether you are a failing student desperate for high grades or a less-than-perfect student struggling to get the last point, this guide is for you.
Set a long-term goal. Even if you don't know what you want to do when you grow up or what college you want to go to, your goal can be just to give yourself as many opportunities as possible.
Have your necessary materials all the time. You don't want to be unprepared for sudden note-taking or a pop quiz by discovering you forgot your pencils/pens/erasers/and if that happens you will waste time and might miss some important information,
Jot down notes. Notes will help solidify material in your head and will also serve as important study tools before a test. Be sure to write down everything important that the teacher goes over. If it helps, ask for a print out of the material beforehand so you can focus on taking notes on what the teacher is saying, not just copying down what is on the board. If the teachers write something on the board and they underline it chances are its important or it will be on future tests.
Make sure to answer and/or ask at least one question per class. This will show your teacher that you're actively participating in class as well as force you to pay enough attention to be able to ask/answer questions. As a result, you'll do much better on tests and quizzes.
When you pick a question to answer, make sure you know the answer and the question is not too easy. Don't worry about asking too many questions; it's the teacher’s job to help you.
Review at home. Do this in a quiet place with no distractions. If the computer is in your room, take it out or go to another room. Don't study with the radio on! It might help you write more but on the day of the exam the only thing you'll remember will be the lyrics.
Rewrite your notes. Yes this may sound boring and time consuming, but it's been proven to help you remember more of what you wrote down. It also helps you to figure out problems you might have had in the class.
Put effort into your homework. Though it seems like a torture device, homework is a way of controlling and making progress outside of the classroom. This isn't very comforting the night you have two essays and algebra to do, though, so remember to do the actual homework and keep up with the workload. If you're having serious difficulties, talk to your teachers and parents to come up with a schedule for your homework.
Take a practice test before the exam to further your understanding of what you need to study. Be careful, though, taking dozens of practice tests is a much less effective way to study than combining one or two with other forms of study.
Take breaks now and then. Instead of multitasking, set aside a certain amount of time to do homework. When that set amount of time is over, take a 20-30 minute break to keep your mind from getting tired. When that time is up, go back to doing 100% homework.
Study with friends. Reviewing with your friends during free time can help keep you focused. But everyone's different: If studying with your friends, you sit with an open textbook and gossip, it's better to work alone. Know yourself and your habits.
Ask for help. Looking over guidebooks may help you in classes with which you are struggling. Alternatively, you could go to the teacher for extra help, have a friend coach you, or ask your parents to hire a tutor.
Learn from your mistakes. Pay attention in class when something is being corrected. Mark your work clearly and carefully so that it is useful in preventing other errors in the future.
Study during the holidays and vacation from school. If after the holidays you have a test and have not reviewed over the holiday period, your mind will have switched off and you will have forgotten a lot of things that you have learned before the holidays. Therefore you are likely to fail the test or do badly in it.
Get a book at your grade level for any new class subject you will be taking next term such as chemistry, and read or scan it closely. Look at all the illustrations, charts, definitions, and learn things like the chemical symbols (C is carbon, H is Hydrogen, Zn is zinc, Au is gold, Ag is silver.). Read chapter summaries.
Treat the holidays like any weekends: Yes, you can relax and have fun, but study at least 3 times a week so you don't forget everything you have learned.
Ask your parents or friends to sit with you and review over what you difficulties with have, or that you need to memorize and recite.
Relax. Don't freak out over tests. Start studying more than one day before the exam so that you have plenty of time to ask questions when you don't understand.
Sleep well every night. Sleep will improve your memory and concentration skills, which in turn will lead to you doing better in school.
Be persistent! Don't only start well and let it fall apart. Keep your study plans active and working for your success. Reward yourself when you do well.
Join extracurricular activities. This will allow you to make more friends, do something fun, and have something to add on a college or even job resume to show people that you are a well rounded-individual.
Find something that you enjoy doing to balance out the work. But don't spend too much time on it that you don't get to your homework.
Make sure you study and be determined to do well. There is no need for hours on end of studying, but see how much time you have until the exam and divide the amount into equal amounts of studying each day. Remember to balance it out. Go out with friends at the weekend and maybe on one weekday, but make sure you don't forget about the work.
•Don't be afraid of asking for help: A parent/teacher can be very helpful.
•Don't worry about the other kids in your class not doing their work. If you focus on your work you are the one getting the good grades, not them.
•Learn to listen. Eighty percent of the questions you find on any test were explained in class.
•If you can't read well, find a tutor. An older student, a teacher, find someone who will listen as you read
•If you have poor penmanship, neaten it now! Many classes’ teachers are more likely to be forgiving on tests and essays if they can't read what you write.
•Read more to improve reading speed and comprehension. Read for pleasure at home to achieve this.
•Read all kinds of books. This way, you'll learn how to understand different kinds of text and it'll become interesting.
•Keep a planner of homework and other things that you need to do each week. This will help prevent something from falling to the side.
•Don't let others distract you from learning.
•Don't cheat! You will not learn the things that you were taught, so you won’t be able to know how to do it during a test.
•Try to engage with the teacher. People often joke about smiling and nodding. But if you actually keep eye contact while they speak they will notice that you pay attention and like you better for it. Also it stops your mind wandering, and often helps you get more from it.
•Participate in class! This is an important factor of your grade. Raising your hand once or twice in class doesn't do any harm.
•Do not be afraid to ask the teacher in that subject to help you in your free time, she or he will be happy to help you
•Never let anyone cheat or copy off you, they will start being your friend and never let you pay attention in class
•Don't be too nervous about smaller tests. If you are not feeling well then ask the teacher if you can do the test later.
•Don't get stuck when you are in a middle of a test. Just skip it and keep on going, or make your best guess. You can come back to it at the end if there's time.
Warnings
•Keep calm and don't freak out about a test or assignment. It's okay to be nervous, but it's not okay to let that nervousness compromise your true abilities.
•Don't cheat. You are learning nothing and putting your grades and your allowance for the next 4 weeks in danger. This goes for buddy-to-buddy and copy-and-paste off the computer as well.
•Don't procrastinate. It will just put more stress on you and make the quality of your work poorer.
•It's fine to have fun or take a break, but not in advance! You're putting off your homework, and eventually you'll either lose 3 hours of sleep, or your grades will go down for not handing in the assignment, often accompanied by some form of punishment (either from your body, since you haven't rested enough, your parents because of your bad grades, or your teacher, for not handing in the assignment.)
•Make sure to be with friends who will have your back, whatever you do, and are really true friends. Reviewing with your friends may help you to identify and improve areas you may be lack confidence in.
•If things are hard for you, don't worry, just think of something that makes you happy and it will be all right. Remember you're not the only one that feels this way.
•Try your best at all times! Never give up
School is an important part of our lives, it also helps us determine what we will be in the future and there are many ways to improve our grades in this area. Whether you are a failing student desperate for high grades or a less-than-perfect student struggling to get the last point, this guide is for you.
Set a long-term goal. Even if you don't know what you want to do when you grow up or what college you want to go to, your goal can be just to give yourself as many opportunities as possible.
Have your necessary materials all the time. You don't want to be unprepared for sudden note-taking or a pop quiz by discovering you forgot your pencils/pens/erasers/and if that happens you will waste time and might miss some important information,
Jot down notes. Notes will help solidify material in your head and will also serve as important study tools before a test. Be sure to write down everything important that the teacher goes over. If it helps, ask for a print out of the material beforehand so you can focus on taking notes on what the teacher is saying, not just copying down what is on the board. If the teachers write something on the board and they underline it chances are its important or it will be on future tests.
Make sure to answer and/or ask at least one question per class. This will show your teacher that you're actively participating in class as well as force you to pay enough attention to be able to ask/answer questions. As a result, you'll do much better on tests and quizzes.
When you pick a question to answer, make sure you know the answer and the question is not too easy. Don't worry about asking too many questions; it's the teacher’s job to help you.
Review at home. Do this in a quiet place with no distractions. If the computer is in your room, take it out or go to another room. Don't study with the radio on! It might help you write more but on the day of the exam the only thing you'll remember will be the lyrics.
Rewrite your notes. Yes this may sound boring and time consuming, but it's been proven to help you remember more of what you wrote down. It also helps you to figure out problems you might have had in the class.
Put effort into your homework. Though it seems like a torture device, homework is a way of controlling and making progress outside of the classroom. This isn't very comforting the night you have two essays and algebra to do, though, so remember to do the actual homework and keep up with the workload. If you're having serious difficulties, talk to your teachers and parents to come up with a schedule for your homework.
Take a practice test before the exam to further your understanding of what you need to study. Be careful, though, taking dozens of practice tests is a much less effective way to study than combining one or two with other forms of study.
Take breaks now and then. Instead of multitasking, set aside a certain amount of time to do homework. When that set amount of time is over, take a 20-30 minute break to keep your mind from getting tired. When that time is up, go back to doing 100% homework.
Study with friends. Reviewing with your friends during free time can help keep you focused. But everyone's different: If studying with your friends, you sit with an open textbook and gossip, it's better to work alone. Know yourself and your habits.
Ask for help. Looking over guidebooks may help you in classes with which you are struggling. Alternatively, you could go to the teacher for extra help, have a friend coach you, or ask your parents to hire a tutor.
Learn from your mistakes. Pay attention in class when something is being corrected. Mark your work clearly and carefully so that it is useful in preventing other errors in the future.
Study during the holidays and vacation from school. If after the holidays you have a test and have not reviewed over the holiday period, your mind will have switched off and you will have forgotten a lot of things that you have learned before the holidays. Therefore you are likely to fail the test or do badly in it.
Get a book at your grade level for any new class subject you will be taking next term such as chemistry, and read or scan it closely. Look at all the illustrations, charts, definitions, and learn things like the chemical symbols (C is carbon, H is Hydrogen, Zn is zinc, Au is gold, Ag is silver.). Read chapter summaries.
Treat the holidays like any weekends: Yes, you can relax and have fun, but study at least 3 times a week so you don't forget everything you have learned.
Ask your parents or friends to sit with you and review over what you difficulties with have, or that you need to memorize and recite.
Relax. Don't freak out over tests. Start studying more than one day before the exam so that you have plenty of time to ask questions when you don't understand.
Sleep well every night. Sleep will improve your memory and concentration skills, which in turn will lead to you doing better in school.
Be persistent! Don't only start well and let it fall apart. Keep your study plans active and working for your success. Reward yourself when you do well.
Join extracurricular activities. This will allow you to make more friends, do something fun, and have something to add on a college or even job resume to show people that you are a well rounded-individual.
Find something that you enjoy doing to balance out the work. But don't spend too much time on it that you don't get to your homework.
Make sure you study and be determined to do well. There is no need for hours on end of studying, but see how much time you have until the exam and divide the amount into equal amounts of studying each day. Remember to balance it out. Go out with friends at the weekend and maybe on one weekday, but make sure you don't forget about the work.
•Don't be afraid of asking for help: A parent/teacher can be very helpful.
•Don't worry about the other kids in your class not doing their work. If you focus on your work you are the one getting the good grades, not them.
•Learn to listen. Eighty percent of the questions you find on any test were explained in class.
•If you can't read well, find a tutor. An older student, a teacher, find someone who will listen as you read
•If you have poor penmanship, neaten it now! Many classes’ teachers are more likely to be forgiving on tests and essays if they can't read what you write.
•Read more to improve reading speed and comprehension. Read for pleasure at home to achieve this.
•Read all kinds of books. This way, you'll learn how to understand different kinds of text and it'll become interesting.
•Keep a planner of homework and other things that you need to do each week. This will help prevent something from falling to the side.
•Don't let others distract you from learning.
•Don't cheat! You will not learn the things that you were taught, so you won’t be able to know how to do it during a test.
•Try to engage with the teacher. People often joke about smiling and nodding. But if you actually keep eye contact while they speak they will notice that you pay attention and like you better for it. Also it stops your mind wandering, and often helps you get more from it.
•Participate in class! This is an important factor of your grade. Raising your hand once or twice in class doesn't do any harm.
•Do not be afraid to ask the teacher in that subject to help you in your free time, she or he will be happy to help you
•Never let anyone cheat or copy off you, they will start being your friend and never let you pay attention in class
•Don't be too nervous about smaller tests. If you are not feeling well then ask the teacher if you can do the test later.
•Don't get stuck when you are in a middle of a test. Just skip it and keep on going, or make your best guess. You can come back to it at the end if there's time.
Warnings
•Keep calm and don't freak out about a test or assignment. It's okay to be nervous, but it's not okay to let that nervousness compromise your true abilities.
•Don't cheat. You are learning nothing and putting your grades and your allowance for the next 4 weeks in danger. This goes for buddy-to-buddy and copy-and-paste off the computer as well.
•Don't procrastinate. It will just put more stress on you and make the quality of your work poorer.
•It's fine to have fun or take a break, but not in advance! You're putting off your homework, and eventually you'll either lose 3 hours of sleep, or your grades will go down for not handing in the assignment, often accompanied by some form of punishment (either from your body, since you haven't rested enough, your parents because of your bad grades, or your teacher, for not handing in the assignment.)
•Make sure to be with friends who will have your back, whatever you do, and are really true friends. Reviewing with your friends may help you to identify and improve areas you may be lack confidence in.
•If things are hard for you, don't worry, just think of something that makes you happy and it will be all right. Remember you're not the only one that feels this way.
•Try your best at all times! Never give up