How to get good grades, is a question which has come into the mind of student in every stage of their education. Be it middle school, high school or university, getting good grades is always important in the life of a student.
So how do you go about getting good grades?
Well the short answer on how to get good grades is study!
how to get good grades is not as straight forward as it sounds. Getting good grades take a lot more efforts and planning than just studying, and not to say studying in itself is not an easy task.
how to get good grades in a semester you need to study smartly and have an efficient model of studying which would improve your level of understanding of the topics and concepts which you are studying and have better retention and recollection capabilities as well, so as to write what you have studied in your exam and get the best grades or percentages.
In this article we will cover some important tips and processes which you can utilise the nest time you have difficulty in studying or whenever you feel the pressure of exams and wonder how to get good grades.
how to get good grades without over straining myself?
1. Find the Motivation
Finding the right motivation to study is fairly easy, but keeping yourself on track every day and maintaining that same level of motivation is the hard part. Always keep a frame of reference of what the consequences of bas grades would be in the long term on your life. This will definitely motivate you to study. (Kidding!)
While learning how to get good grades, Motivation also plays an important roleg, a good movie, by looking for a good example, having a good role model etc. and keep those motivational levels throughout the semester isn’t too hard either. You just have to think about why you started the course, and what your goals are, this is the single best motivation trick. Always strive to be better than your previous self. Be in a healthy competition with yourself and your will succeed.
2. Start well in advance
Don’t try to pull an all-nighter just before the exam. Give yourself proper time to study and start well in advance. It well observed that students who study consistently over a long period of time, have better knowledge and understanding of the topics, than those who do it in one night. how to get good grades does not imply studying the whole syllabus in one night might have worked out for your cheerleader friend in passing the test, but in order to get good grades, you must fully understand the topic so that you can handle any changes in the questions that your examiner throws at you.
Studying in advance also helps in a lot of other ways, such as, it gives you time to self-reflect and find out your weak areas, it saves from the pressure of studying the whole thing in one night, it makes you better understand the topic, it keeps you motivated to learn more, and ultimately get good grades without compromising on much. Even if you study for 2 hours a day on your own, it will be enough to score good grades in the final exams, as all you will have to do then, is just revise the topics which you have already learnt.
3. Prepare for Exam Preparations
This is one thing that helped me most during my college years. As was also working part time at a restaurant to help with finances, and interning at a law firm, balancing them and my classes was quite hard. I barely got time for self-study. But thankfully, during exam time, I got free time from my internship and could devote time to study, but by then it would have been too late to start studying and get good grades. Therefore, what I did was, I utilised all the time I could manage, during classes and little time in between, to manage and keep a track of all the study resources and notes I could find. I also categorised the study materials in the order of the crucial information they had and how much I could learn from them.
This helped me a lot during exams, as when I finally got time to study, I had everything I needed in order to study and on top of that, by continuously managing ang going through materials to study later, I had built up enough knowledge about the topics and subjects with much efforts, which helped me greatly in securing the best grades in my semester exams and get a scholarship.
how to get good grades involves preparing well for exams, even you don’t get time to study. Make arrangements to make the studying process easier at a later stage.
4. how to get good grades by talking about the progress
By talk I don’t mean brag. Just communicate with your friends about the progress you have made, the topics you are currently studying and the various problems you might be facing in those subjects while studying.
This will make sure that you don’t lose you motivation, and keep you focussed on your studies improve your learning abilities.
It will help you in keep studying, as you will learn the progress you friends are making and that will push you to study harder and by talking to them about your problems in studying, you not get discouraged by them, and might even find a solution to your problem, which can be a major motivation cue.
5. Prioritize!
how to get good grades also involves your attribute and lifestyle. Prioritising your life can help you in so many ways. It can make you more organised, it can help you get your work done more easily, and it will even bring the stress you face to a significant level.
Prioritising means put things in the order of their importance. Giving priority to the things which require your utmost attention and focus, first and then working your way down will always help you in the long run.
Prioritising your assignments, subjects, topics, classes, and social life will make your university life so much easier. As you will know what assignments will require most of your time and efforts and the benefits you have from it. Wasting your time and efforts on something which will not help you much is not a good tactic anyway. Instead work on the thing which help you the most and are most crucial to be done perfectly.
You can prioritise your tasks on the basis of time required to do the tasks, the time left to do those tasks, the efforts that you will have to put in order complete them, the benefits you gain from doing them, and how important the task is.
6. how to get good grades by attending Classes Regularly
If like me you are someone who doesn’t get much time to study on your own because of some other engagements, you can make use of the important time which you spend in your class.
First of all you should avoid skipping classes, as it puts you back in the amount of topics you can learn just by being present in the class physically and mentally.
Pay attention to your professor or lecturer and listen to what they are saying. Most of the lecturers, while teaching also give out a number of tips which you can use later while studying. They also tell you which topics are the most important and carry the maximum marks. By paying attention class, while you can understand almost 40 to 60% of the topics in your syllabus, in addition to the notes you make which will help you in studying during the exams. Furthermore, even if you can’t pay attention in classes due to some reason, you can always listen to the things said by the lecturer. It is well know that our subconscious mind captures a lot of things happening in the background, which might help you during the exams. And not the mention the grades you get by maintaining good attendance.
7. Participate in Class Activities
To maximise the effect of attending the classes and to make to most of the time and efforts you put in to be there, you should take part in what goes on in the class, actively. Participating in the various class activities, be it some kind of demonstration of a concept or a poll, or any other action helps in the learning process at a later stage. Taking part in the class activities enhances your learning abilities, as it applies the topics you’re learning in a practical approach. how to get good grades also requires an increased understanding of the topics, and it gets imprinted in your brain through the movements and the happenings in the class.
8. Keep your Notes Updated
Make your own notes, preferably on paper, and keep them updated. Making your own notes by hand is a very old and effective way of memorising things. They help you by inducing a thought process in your mind which takes you back to the point in time when the notes were penned down. This brings back additional knowledge which in turn enhances learning and retention capabilities. how to get good grades also require good note taking, thus making notes in class and keeping them up to date is very important in order to get good grades in any exam.
9. Ask questions and Clear your Doubts on how to get good grades
One of the important part of improving the understanding and learning while studying is asking relevant questions. When you ask questions, you think about a particular problem over and over again. This helps you in understanding the question a lot better and thus when you get the solution to the problem and thus it stays with you for a long time. Asking questions clears your doubts which you may be having about a certain topic. As unresolved doubts, might turn into misconceptions which have an ill effect on your studies.
10. Study with a group
Study with a group of friends who have the same subject. This is allows you to have a much greater scope of thoughts and ideas available to you about the topics and hence improve your learning significantly. Studying with a group involves getting together with individuals having different levels of understanding and knowledge about the subject. Thus, each individual can either get help from someone else, or get their problems solved from another individual. This creates a network of learning among the group which enhances the level of retention in a person.
11. Help your friends in clearing their doubts
Whenever you get a chance to help out a friend with a question they are stuck on or a doubt which they have, you should help them. Not only does this help them in moving forward with their studies, it also helps you by solidifying the understanding of the topic in question. This is one of the most effective ways to revise your topics. It also helps you in increasing your confidence levels on a certain subject, which plays a major role while you’re under the pressure while giving an exam.
12. Do your Assignments on Time
As assignments contribute to a major portion of your final grades, you must always try to make the most of this opportunity by submitting your assignments on time and attaining good grades in each of them. In addition to the grades, doing the assignments properly to get the best grades means, you will be studying some topic which is directly in relation to the subject. Thus it will help you in preparing for a subject better and well in advance.
13. Do mock tests
Undertake tests for self-assessment, replicating the conditions of the final examination to some extent. The purpose of this is to get used to the time pressure students go through when they are giving the exams. In order to complete the test in the allotted time frame and do each question correctly, the student need to be well familiar with the time taken to solve each question. This is will allow them to manage their time better and give each question ample amount of time, so as to attempt most of the questions and score maximum marks. This is why you should do mock tests in order to get the speed required to solve the whole question paper.
14. Take breaks in between while studying
A tip rarely mention on how to get good grades involves taking breaks. As important as studying is in order to get good grades, one should always keep in mind that studying for longer periods of time only reduces the effect and the understanding of the topics. Take short breaks from time to time is important to keep your mind attentive and not over stuff your mind with information which you may not even remember when necessary.
15. Use Study Planner Apps
This is age where almost everything is digitized and connected to technology in some way, it is only logical that, technology would also find its application in the field of education. Nowadays every student in schools or university has a smartphone; therefore many app developers have come up with various mobile application, which can help make their college lives much easier. These apps are not just related to studying. Instead they cater to all of the needs which a student may have whilst going to a university.
You can check out this list of Top study apps for students. how to get good grades can also be enhanced using smart technologies and software. One such category of mobile applications from this list is, the study or student planner apps. There are many such apps out there to choose from. These apps allow you to plan and organise everything related to your academics. Be it your classes, your exam schedule, or your assignment deadlines. These apps will help you plan and study for them, in order to be prepared for your exams, and get good grades.
16. Maintain a Study Schedule
Every student and their lifestyle is different, therefore is important that you maintain a schedule which incorporates sufficient times to study, considering the various other activities going on in their lives, such as classes, projects, internships and so on. Maintain a study schedule and sticking to it is key for the success of any individual. It makes them goal oriented and establishes a sense of purpose in them, which pushes them to work harder and achieve their goals.
17. Keep your workspace Organised
A messy and cluttered work space or study table doesn’t allow to you fully focus and concentrate on your studies. Instead you will find yourself getting distracted ever so often with different things. This may be because you may not be totally comfortable with the way you are sitting or there are plenty of things in front and around you which are distracting you. Therefore is always good practice to keep your dorm or at the very least, your place organised, so you can fully concentrate. On top of that, it allows you to get to studying instantly without having to move different items to make space for studying.
In addition to the above points, it is also very important to have a healthy mind, and body, so that you can keep up with the fast paced life of a university student. In order to achieve that, there’s a few easy and simple things you should do, such as eat the right food, which is nutritious, and let go of the ramen diet! Try to work-out or do some sort of physical activity at least thrice a week which gets your blood pumping.
Sleep is another factors the influenced how to get good grades. One very important thing which most university student don’t take seriously is, getting at least 6 hours of sleep in a day. Studying on a sleep deprived mind will cause you a lot of health issues, including a short term loss of memory, which totally contradicts the whole how to get good grades agenda of this article. Getting a good amount of sleep after your study allows your brain to absorb all of the terms and topics you just studied. This will in turn enhance your understanding of the subject and help you in remembering the said topic more easily when you try to recall it during an exam.
This concludes our article on how to get good grades. The points mentioned in this article can be utilised by any student whether in middle school, high school or university. Following the above tips will guarantee that you get the best grades.
Chaos may be a ladder, but knowledge and studies are the steps on the stairway to success.
Hope this article helped you in solving your question of how to get good grades.