0 9 Ways to Improve your Grades

In education there is a lot of emphasis on getting the best grades possible and doing the best you can to your ability, which is what education is about really. Yes it is about learning and understanding, but the grades you get during your years in education have a huge impact on your life. So because of this, of course there is going to be a lot of emphasis on getting the best grades possible.
In this post I'm going to discuss some ways you can boost your grades and hopefully achieve the results that you would like.

1. Listen

The first bit of advice is simply to listen to what your teacher/tutor/lecturer has to say. I know this sounds silly but when you add in the factors of fellow peers and surrounding noise, sometimes being able to listen to what is being taught is harder than it sounds, and unfortunately in some cases bordering on impossible.

I realise that learning isn't always the highlight of everyone's day and may seem boring, but do your best to try and take everything in as it will help. You may not understand it all, but by listening you are giving yourself the best chance of keeping up with what is being said and not falling behind.

2. Take Notes

Whilst it is essential that you pay attention and listen to what is being taught, there is a high probability that you won't be able to remember everything that is said, especially after many lessons/classes, will you be able to remember everything that was taught a week ago? two weeks ago? a month ago?
This is why taking notes is essential in giving you the best chance of learning what is being said - you will have something to go to when you are unsure and to make revision easier. Also, a lot of people actually take information in better if they write it down and so will have a better chance of remembering it by doing this anyway - I know that this is definitely the case for me.

3. Clean up your Notes

This is something that you should do in your spare-time. It's likely that your notes aren't as tidy as they could be due to the fact that you were trying to keep up with what was being taught, so when you have the time make sure that you tidy your notes up and make them clear to read. I suggest getting another notebook and redoing your notes into it so that you can revisit a topic with ease, not having to make out unreadable scribbles that you will have no recollection of in the future.
Write them up in the same day if possible while they are freshest in your mind. Even writing them the next day may mean you can't remember what you might have meant in shorthand when trying to keep pace with the material being taught, plus having that days teaching in your mind.

When I was at college I made sure that I did this, I would rewrite all of my notes in neat in other notebooks so that I could revisit any topic I wanted. This made revision really easy.

4. Use Revision Guides for Revision

Yes it is true that you can learn things well in a classroom  and even commit them to memory for when the exam comes around. However, normally things that were taught nearer the start of the year that have been forgotten, or the things that are harder to understand will not be easy to answer questions about in an exam. This is where revision comes into play, and is recommended that you do if you are serious about bumping up your grades or getting the ones that you want.

Revising your notes is always a good idea, however, if you have missed things or have not properly understood certain concepts, your notes won't be helpful to you as a revision guide would. An up-to-date revision guide will cover all of, if not a vast majority of the syllabus being taught. A revision guide will explain each topic so that you can teach yourself anything you may have missed. Also, you can go over your notes with them to check for accuracies. They often provide practice questions and answers for you to become comfortable answering.

5. Get Enough Sleep

Sleep is a necessity for our bodies and is needed to help it remain functioning properly. Having a lack of sleep can mean that your concentration levels pay the price, and learning/revising etc. becomes that much harder for your brain to take in.
A post of mine that you may find interesting is: How Much Sleep do we Need?

6. Ask teacher/tutor for help

Even if you take notes and revise efficiently with use of a revision guide, there will can still be things that you do not 'get' or understand, and reading all you can about it still might not make things clear. This is where asking for a teacher/tutors help can make a big difference. They can explain about the concept more than they could in class or what was mentioned in revision books, they can give you examples, and can tell you where you are going wrong.

7. Revise in a quiet environment

When revising make sure that you are in an environment where there is as little distractions as possible. If you are in an environment where you are faced with lots of distractions, you are going to find it much tougher to keep concentrated with your work than if you were in an environment without them. You may think that having the T.V. on isn't going to prevent you from concentrating and revising effectively, but actually it will hinder your progress and does make it that much more difficult to take in what you need.

I have found when I study, that the T.V., even with my back to it, is still incredibly distracting. In fact, I find just having 1 other person around when I am studying to be a little too much. I much prefer to be in silence when revising without any distractions (which in my case includes other people).

8. Use Past Exam Papers

Past exam papers are a great resource that you can use to your benefit. Firstly and foremost is that they were actual exams (hence why they are called past papers) and so will be in the same examination style that your upcoming exam(s) is/are, you can become familiar with them.
Secondly, it gives you a chance to view what sort of questions they have asked students in the past and can give you a rough idea what to expect in your own exams, and the level of difficulty they were set at. The more of them that you do, the easier you find them and the more comfortable you will become with them. Who knows, on the day of the exam it may just feel like another casual revision session. :)

9. Don't Skip Classes

It may sound obvious but skipping classes, even if you find them the most boring thing in the world, is not going to help with your grades, if anything it will make them worse. If you start skipping class, or if you do skip class, you are going to inevitably fall behind. Once this happens you will have extra work to do to make sure that you catch back up. However, if you are behind then you may have more of a tendency to skip class anyway, which then means you only fall further behind and give yourself even more work to do to catch up.

Borrowing another persons notes isn't a good substitute either as they may have missed important details and may not properly understand the topic themselves, or their notes are not that easy to make out, which means that you will have to look elsewhere in order to learn the material missed.

Conclusion

Yes, improving your grades does take extra work on your behalf, but really what thing doesn't need more work if you are wanting to improve? Really what it comes down to is how much work you are willing to put in to achieve the grades that you desire?