It amazes me every time to see that students never think about study habits and think good grades come just from studying hard. That is: if you sit down and spend a lot of time doing homework and prepping - you'll get good grades.
The truth is that it might work for some of us - a small percentage, in fact - but not for all or even most of us. For most of us social people, it is changing the WAY WE LEARN, or our Study Habits, rather than HOW MUCH we learn, which will bring our grades up.
My story for finding these study tips is simple. I used to be a straight A (or straight "smiley face") student back in 1st and 2nd grade, all the way up to 6th. At 7th grade I "got a life" :) , stopped listening in class and doing my homework and my grades immediately went down. I struggled for two years, in a new school, in the lower performing half of my class, doing homework here and there and generally underperforming. At 9th grade, one of my teachers did me a HUGE favor and transferred me to the front row. I had no choice but to listen to the class, and lo and behold: my grades in that class went up! I move to first row in the rest of my classes, and started behaving as I describe below in my first two tips. Tips #3&4 came a little bit later, when I wanted to get rid of homework as soon as possible, and got another boost. Tip #5 came at high school, when I needed to choose my classes. It worked so well, I was having real trouble to choose from so many classes, which all seemed suddenly so relevant! I ended up doing almost TWICE the amount of classes needed to get a high school diploma, and I would have done more if I could.
Several years later, when I became a university student, I immediately applied all those rules. I ended up with a 9.4 average.
So what's my secret? These study tips, which I happily share with you.
Study Tip #1: Sit in the first two rows
This simple enough rule is enough to make the best effect in the least effort. The idea here is to force yourself into the best position possible to learn. Sitting close to the teacher, you'll hear what he/she has to say loud and clear. You won't be distracted with playing your mobile or any other non-learning activity simply because you cannot hide.If you think the above is bad for you; you want to hide from the teacher and you want your space to play - maybe you should think again if you want to improve your grades at all!Let me give you the #1 reason why I think you SHOULD pay attention in class: you're spending the time there ANYWAY. Whether you'll devote your entire time to Facebook , or play Mobile games, or sit and listen - you'll be spending the same amount of time. So, if your grades are important to you (and they should be!) - you might as well take this time to actually LEARN and improve your grades.
Study Tip #2: Get acquainted with your teacher, if possible
I think this tip was the most influential in improving MY grades. The basic misconception lots of students have is that grading is done in a neutral way. i.e. if you score high on your tests and papers - you'll get the average (or weighted average) score for your class. Wrong. Scoring is done by HUMAN BEINGS, and there is almost always room for grade "adjustments". Along such factors as "class participation", many teachers in fact do modify the students' scores based on their personal experience with them in class. I encountered very few cases where the grade actually went down because of bad behavior, but I know of A LOT of cases, where a dedicated student got a bump up. So what's my advice? Get your teacher to notice you (and in a good way, yeah?); participate in class, ask questions, show real interest in the material. Do this earlier rather than later; show your presence right from the first or second week of class (why? read " Halo Effect "). If you're the talkative, social charismatic type, this will come natural to you, but even if you're a little shy, don't worry. You don't have to be a lead actor or actress. Just asking some questions and showing genuine interest is enough. Don't worry; you're teacher will almost always get that this is a real effort on your behalf; he or she will notice that despite the fact that you're a little shy (yes, they will see that you're shy; experienced teachers read us like open books :) ), you are making an effort and this won't be forgotten come grading day.
Study Tip #3: Do your homework the moment you receive them
This tip will save you a lot of time. The basic idea is that after class you remember the fresh material, and in each passing day you remember less and less. Doing homework late means that you're going to spend a lot of time rehearsing what you've learned in class, often trying to remember what exactly the teacher meant. Doing homework the same day you got them will focus your efforts on going beyond what was learned in class, rather than trying to remember it. I assume it won't be a shock to you when I tell you that in doing your homework early, you'll, on top of saving time, actually do a better job, so if you're being graded on homework this is an added bonus.
Study Tip #4: ...and read them before next class
This takes one minute of your time, but can be a world of difference. It's basically the same effect as my previous tip. If you review, very quickly, the notes from last lesson, or your homework, you won't need to remember previous material in real time, but rather focus on absorbing the new material. This is especially important in math and science classes, where the material builds upwards from one lesson to the next, and later material is based on understanding the early lessons.
Study Tip #5: Find YOUR connection to the learned material
This is perhaps the most important tip of all. If you manage to do this, the rest will seem effortless and easy. All you have to do is ask yourself WHY is this course relevant to what I am or what I do. It's easy when you're an African American learning African American history, but trickier when learning Trigonometry or Literature. True; some classes are not that relevant, and a lot of classes are chosen FOR you, not BY you. However, the trick is that if you do identify with them, the rest comes very easily and effortlessly. It's easy if you have a good teacher; good teachers know how to draw students to the material (did you see " Dead Poet Society "?), but if you're not blessed with one, or are still not swayed by the teacher's efforts - that job is yours to do. Try to go beyond the learned material, and into your life, your aspirations, and your interests. Some history courses you'll feel are important because you want to grow up and become a politician (what can we learn from what happened in the 1920's that can help us in solving today's problems?), some literature courses will teach you tools to appreciate YOUR favorite books from another angle (is the escapism from "Catcher in the rye" similar to what is shown in the "Harry Potter" books?), and there's no end to what Math classes can do for your ability to translate everyday problems into easily solvable mathematical presentations (you have NO IDEA what advantages this ability can give you in your adult life, both personal and professional). Get the idea? You have to be your own motivator. If you don't, every homework will be a chore and following the above tips will be much much harder. If you're motivated, homework is fun (or, at least, as fun as they can be...) and you'll have no problems gathering the willpower needed to change your study habits and do what's necessary to improve your grades.
So there they were; my 5 study habit tips. For more study habits and tips, you might want to look at this additional Study Habits Guide , or just go back to sCoolWork.
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