It’s no secret that many students want to get better grades in school. Good grades are a way to differentiated oneself from their peers. Many students want to do well in order to reach their future goals or help them to get a job they desire.
So here are my top 4 tips to getting better grades:
Focus on your weak points
In a video game, most enemies usually have some kind of weakness that you can exploit to beat them more easily. Like in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, headshotting most enemies deals two times damage and disorients them. Now in your academic career, you want make sure that you address weaknesses like these. For example, if you are studying for a chapter-by-chapter math exam, you should: Work on a diverse set of problems and then go back and correct your mistakes. You should put a good amount of effort into understanding what you are getting right and wrong. Go back and practice things you don’t understand. For my own studies, I would practice shaky areas about three times, but It depends on the person. Some students might be able to correct in just one revision, while other students may need more repetitions to do so.
Studying for math exams can be pretty linear but other subjects, it may be more complicated. For English papers, I would recommend that you get feedback from your teachers in order to fix those mistakes for the future. If you go to a school where your teachers doesn’t provide a lot of feedback or you feel too nervous to ask, you can have someone else read your paper. In my experience, I would recommend someone who is a more experienced writer than you and try to focus on mistakes on content. I believe that you can self-correct most grammatical mistakes on your own.
Don’t memorize mindlessly
This may be common knowledge by now, but passive studying has been shown to be very ineffective. Strategies like reading a textbook or flipping through flash cards are not effective at ingraining the information into your mind. You are more likely to retain the information if you use active methods of studying such as doing practice problems or writing down what you know on a piece of paper.
For example, if you need to remember cellular respiration, try to write down all the processes in cellular respiration and what they do from memory. This method is extremely effective at getting the information in your memory rather than just believing you know the information.
Provide steady effort throughout the semester
In the vast majority of cases, it is difficult to pull your grade up at the last minute. There are some special cases where final exams are weighed more heavily than anything else, however this usually isn’t the case for most classes. Providing a steady effort throughout the semesters can make sure that you are prepared for midterms, finals, and other cumulative exams.
Another related fact is to study in little sections before exams. The most efficient way to study is a little bit per day, maybe a week before the exam. You might aim to study two or three weeks before if it is a big midterm or final. Studying in little segments helps to move the information into long term memory. This is especially helpful if you are taking a very conceptual class like calculus, where understanding concepts and recognizing solutions is key.
Try to figure out what the teacher is looking for exactly
This strategy may sound obvious as the teachers are the ones grading your work, but in order to get top grades, you should really understand what your teachers are scoring you on. For example, for math or science tests, your teacher might use a similar format each time and you should understand exactly what kinds of questions or concepts your teacher might ask.
Similarly for history or English essays, your teacher may be particular about certain types of writing such as incorporation of advanced vocabulary as this is a relatively common style teachers like to see. Now to figure out what teachers are looking for, you can consult upperclassmen who might also know what those teachers are looking for or people who are scoring well. You can observe what teachers like about their writing as a way to understand what your teacher is looking for.
In summary, getting better grades can help you reach your goals in the future. Understanding the content also helps for classes you will take later on. Higher grades can open doors to different opportunities and give you a choice. Future jobs, school applications and scholarships may require good grades. These simple tips have helped me improve my grades and may help you, too.