If you are wanting to improve your overall grades in class, it can be a bit of a minefield knowing where to start.
This is especially the case in 2020 when a lot of schooling has had to be conducted online. Regular methods of student learning have had to be reorganized, leaving some students concerned about their overall progress.
In this article, we will teach you the top tips on how to get better grades and study more effectively. We will explain how to be more independent with your own learning in order to prepare yourself for later on in life. Read on to find out more.
1. Make Your Own Resources
Some students might just rely on revising from the resources that teachers hand out. However, students that go the extra mile in terms of revision, will make their own resources to look at.
Even the process of making your resources can help with revision as you are still interacting with the information. This can also be a great way to recap things and topics if you are a visual learner.
For example, you can create flashcards and use them as a tool to remember certain facts or pieces of information for any subject. These are something you can look at every day or at the beginning of a revision session to refresh your mind and focus on the important parts of a topic.
2. Speak With Your Teacher
If there is a part of a module or a theory that you can’t quite understand, use your teacher for guidance. A teacher’s job is to try and educate you to the best of their ability.
After a class, if you feel uncertain about a particular topic go and speak to them about it. They might be able to devote some time with you to ensure that you can figure it out more clearly. Or they might be able to recap it at the beginning of the next lesson in order for you to spend more time on that problem.
Teachers want you to be able to learn and understand what they are trying to teach you. If you are struggling at all, don’t stay silent, speak up!
3. Take Good Care of Yourself
Your brain will always perform at its best when you are taking proper care of yourself. This means getting enough sleep, eating healthily, and drinking enough water. The optimum hours a person needs to rest each night is 8 hours.
If you are staying up and looking at your phone or playing games into the early hours, this is overloading your brain and not allowing it to relax and recharge. You should avoid any screens for at least an hour before you go to bed.
Make sure you are eating plenty of fruit and vegetables to keep your energy levels up with natural foods. You shouldn’t be eating too many processed foods or sugary things as this can spike your energy levels but leave you groggy and tired after.
4. Set Your Own Study Timetable
The best way to get organized with your learning is to make your own study timetable. It allows you to work on the subjects that you feel need the most attention and gives you a good structure.
Being responsible for your own revision and times when you are studying, creates excellent habits that will benefit you when you are older. It makes you appreciate your relaxation time and focus on your studying at designated times.
5. Take Clear Notes in Class
When you are listening in class, it can be handy to have a notepad in which you can take clear notes. It’s good practice to listen to what your teacher is saying and then translate that into your own words.
It means when you come to revision or studying, you already have plenty of notes to revise from. This can be an excellent source of revision material that you can reread and use to get better grades. The more thorough you can be when it comes to listening and taking notes, the more resources you will have to revise from.
6. Study with Other People in Your Class
Learning doesn’t have to be a solitary activity! Some students feel they work best when they are revising or studying in a group scenario. Get together with some other like-minded students or your friends and have a revision session.
You can test each other on certain topics or share notes and study tools that work well for you. You might even find that you pick up good ideas or study tricks from your friends that you can use in your own learning.
7. Keep Your Work Space Tidy
The saying goes ‘a tidy room is a tidy mind’ and it’s true! If you work and study space is messy and unorganized it can leave you feeling frustrated and not in a good mental space to work.
Clear out your study space and organize everything into sections. You might need to get a few folders and labels to sort out your different subjects and to group things together properly. This means that you know where all your resources are and can easily access then when you are revising a particular subject.
How to Get Better Grades: What Next?
We hope this article on how to get better grades has made you rethink how you approach studying and learning.
The most important thing is recognizing that you want to improve your grades and these tips will help you achieve this. Now more than ever, students are going to have to play a bigger part in managing their own learning.
If you enjoyed this article on education, why not check out our previous blog posts? We are sure you will find plenty of ones you will enjoy!