How can I improve my School grades is one question that doesn’t leave the lips of students, most especially the serious students.
In a situation where you find yourself having poor grades, there are quite a number of things you may be doing wrong.
A great number of students fall into this category due to lack of focus, not attending lectures, not studying extensively in preparation for their exams, etc.
No matter your course of study, you can not just wake up one morning and expect to see a different result.
You have to put in the effort required for better grades. I will be pointing out some key guides and tips to help you improve your school grades.
How to improve your School Grades
If you engage in these laid out principles I am about to show you. I guarantee a 90% improvement if not 100%.
1. Go for your Lectures:
No matter how obvious this may sound, it is still one of the key principles in topping your grades.
Many students ditch classes for one reason or the other and come up with the excuse of getting the lecturers material afterwards.
One thing they fail to understand is that, the human brain keeps to memory, more of experiences compared to what they read.
It might be a memory that came as a result of an example, a lecturer illustrated while proving a point or just something out of the ordinary that occurred.
You might forget what was taught but as soon as you can get hold of that particular memory, every other details begins to flood in.
You also earn marks for attending classes, you should already be quite aware of that.
No matter how small it may be, do not overlook it.
If you want to know the value of one mark, try asking a student who has a carryover for scoring an average of 44 marks.
Just one mark would have kept him/her going.
Attend your classes, even if your lecturer has been known for following the exact words written in the textbook or materials made available to you.
2. Sit close to the front:
Research has shown that students who sit at the front row or within the first 5 rows, usually out perform their other folks.
Sitting close to the front row keeps you focus and away from unnecessary distraction, trust me.
I’m quite aware that most students prefer sitting at the back for reasons such as
- Shying away from answering questions.
- So they can have conversation other back sitters.
- Not wanting to be known by the lecturer and so on.
3. Know your lecturers:
For a fact, every lecturer has his/her own way of lecturing, setting and grading of their exam questions.
The trick here is very simple, master your lecturers. Understand their different personality and how they run their classes.
Here are few tips to take note of:
- Master your Course outline:
Most lecturers often give out their course syllables within the first week of classes. It is therefore up to you to take account of the topics to be lectured. Try to lay your hands on as much materials that is needed to understand each week’s topic. - Know your Lecturer on a personal level:
This is quite controversial, you may choose to follow this tip or not. It all depends on you. Instead of seeing your lecturer as one “no nonsense and authoritative being”, that holds the keys to your academical fate. Pay your lecturer a visit during office hours, ask intelligent questions and also have brilliant conversations that will enable you to see things from the lecturers perspective. Like i said before, you may choose to follow this tip or ignore. It depends on you.
4. Have a Personal Timetable.
The use of personal timetable during your secondary school days, was to some extent negligible. This is not the same for your university days, you may have been very lucky back then.
Coupled with the fact that you’re on your own, free to make any decision at all. You will need a guiding timetable to stipulate the best and comfortable time to study.
Remember it is never enough to have a personal time table but the ability to abide by it, is what guarantees your success.
Prepare your personal timetable with regards to events such as impromptu test, exams and assignments.
5. Optimize your Time
Even if you are not someone who procrastinates or you are a highly organized individual, Time can still be your worst enemy in the university.
Below are some Time optimizing tips.
- Split Large projects into smaller and more accomplish-able parts: Let’s say you have a test coming up at the middle of the semester, you can split that particular course study into targeted weeks to accomplish. Hence, you don’t have to read a full blown course content at a go, rather just little topics that in time makes up the whole content of the course.
- Get done with Harder Courses first: As soon as the semester begins, you should be quite aware of courses that were headaches for your predecessors. It surely implies that these courses will also pose the same threat to you. So start tackling theses courses in time to have enough time to complete and assimilate it, also keep in mind to study other simpler courses at intervals.
- Learn to take breaks: Reward yourself with breaks for accomplishing major tasks. Take out time to chat with friends, go on a stroll, attend parties etc. Nevertheless, do not misuse your breaks.
These periodical breaks serve as a good motivation to complete more tasks and also keep you refreshed for next task ahead. - Learn to say no: You will be enticed with many invitations besides your academical activities, such as social groups, organizations, some sort of clubs etc. Learn to say No if these activities will interfere with your personal time table or if these activities will shoulder negative consequences with regards to improving your school grades. Say No!
6. Be Smart
I always advise students to get an extra lecture note to write down key points, note down test questions and also answer and summarize lecture notes.
One other smart thing to do is to keep your assignment, test questions and summarized papers safe.
You will eventually need them to prepare for exams. Some lecturers even repeat their test questions on the exam day.
7. Take Notes:
This is an obvious factor, if you are very much interested in improving your school grades.
Your notes are essential clues to know exactly what your lecturer thinks, is the most important topic to learn in anticipation for your exams.
Here are tips on how to take effective notes during lectures.
- Listen Attentively: When its lecture time, it’s lecture time alone. Avoid talking with friends or operating mobile gadgets when lecture is going on, ask questions when you need to.
- Take intelligent notes: Take notes in class, make use of different colors of pen to indicate the degree of importance of certain headings or sub headings the lecturer may explain.
Keep an open ear for every question the lecturer will ask and note them down with a red pen. - Rewrite and Summarize your notes: Research has proven that you can increase your understanding and retention of your reading materials by rewriting and summarizing them in your own terms.
It might sound like a waste of time but believe me, this singular act can improve your school grade like magic.
8. Make use of Textbooks
There’s a reason why Textbooks are published, they offer more insights to Course topics.
Lecturers also give out their text books, students usually think it’s just another way to extort more money from them.
But to an extent, these textbooks helps to supplement your lectures and other reading materials.
Try as much as possible to read and makes notes from your textbooks, to help complement your lectures.
Some lecturers may not be able to complete their course outline and still set questions that covers the whole course outline.
This article is already getting too long, allow me add just one more factor which is…
9.Read! Study!! Revise!!!
This can not be over emphasized, make out time everyday to go through the notes of individual classes you may have attended.
Make reading a habit and in no time, it will turn out to be fun rather than the stress students see it to be.
There are different study and reading patterns, find out the one that best suits you and keep at it.
If you enjoy the company of others while reading, you can invite friends to a special location to read.
Obviously not your room, because it will eventually turn out to be a gisting forum instead of your initial intention.
If you are a night kind of person, make use of your night time or better still go for awoko.
Awoko is not for everyone, you should know this by now.
Find out everything you need to know about awoko by clicking on the link below.
Revise your summarized notes, you will find out in no time that you will prefer reading your own notes when compared to your actual lesson notes.
This improves the retention of your study and helps you in due time to answer exam questions more comfortably.
In conclusion, there’s absolutely no way you will not experience an incredible improvement of your academical grades if you follow the guidelines i have provided above.
Like what one of my Delsu lecturer(Prof Austin Atunuje a.k.a. Austino) will always say
“See this four years eehhnn, suffer the four years complete. Infact kill yourself put”
Your years in the university can pass like a “short long night dream” you will understand with time.
Make use of these years effectively, they will play a major long term role as you climb the ladder of success.
Wish you the very best, cheers!!
Proudly Delsuite!
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