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Getting good grades doesn't require
that you invest hours a night into studying. While some students can
get good grades through that, it's usually the least intelligent way
to get good grades. Instead of looking for better grades through more
time investment, you should be looking for better grades through
smarter time investments.
These 7 (Sneaky) tricks will help you
do just that. They're far from the traditional “study more”
advice that you'll hear from virtually every other source.
1. Syllabus Plot And Scheme
Every student needs to be plotting and
scheming based on the syllabus their teacher provides. What do I mean
by that?
Lets say your teacher hands out a
syllabus that states 10% of your grade is based on your homework
scores and 90% of your grade is based on test scores. Now consider
how hard the tests are and how common the homework is. You need to be
able to look at that information and figure out where you need to be
investing your time.
Let's make this example even more
obvious. Lets say there are only 4 tests through the year and there
is a half hour of homework every single night with that same point
allocation.
What is the smart thing to do as a
student?
SCREW THE HOMEWORK!
You can get a 90 in the course by just
studying well for the tests. Investing a half hour every night is
wasting significantly more time to see barely any improvement in your
results. You only have so much time in your day. Do you really want
to use it fighting for a few points when you can use it to get a ton
of points?
That being said, by screw the homework,
I don't mean never do it. I mean, consider not doing it when you
really don't need or want to do it. An extra few points can help.
They're just not worth sacrificing too much of your time for. Some
homework can also help you prepare for the test. In those cases,
maybe it will be smart to do it. Just don't consider the homework
essential based on this syllabus.
With virtually every class you can use
a similar method make powerful changes in your study strategies.
Every class is different so you need to do the plotting and scheming
on your own.
2. Get A Head Start
What is the easiest part of the year?
Usually it's the first month or two. Take advantage of that.
Getting good grades early on is easy.
It might seem like overkill to go for great grades early on but it's
worth it. In most classes, the perfect score you get at the beginning
of the year is just as important to your final grade as a perfect
score you get at the end of the year. Considering that early perfect
grade is significantly easier to get, those are the grades you're
going to want to be fighting for, if any.
I get it if you don't think it's worth
the investment but if you're planning on fighting for a higher grade,
early in the year is the perfect time to get a head start. It lets
you relax during the harder parts of the year.
3. Teacher's Alliance
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Do not make enemies with your teacher.
As far as you should be portraying,
they are smarter than you. They care about you more than you do. They
are perfect while you are a dog to be trained. I know, none of that
is necessarily true but as long as you're subjecting yourself to
class, this is the way to get ahead easier.
You don't need to be a suck up but in
any confrontation you have with your teachers, you will lose. I wrote
a whole article on this that's probably worth reading.
In the best case scenario, you want
your teacher rooting you on. The way you make that happen is to act
like you're a good student. Students that act like good students
virtually never get failed. They also tend to get treated softly in
the grading process. Use that to your advantage.
4. Irritating Perfectionist
The following is a strategy I've used
only a couple times myself. I read it from another book. The part I
love about this piece of advice is not that it's unbelievably
powerful. (It's useful just not fantastic.) The part I love is that
it takes number 3 in this list and puts it in perspective.
After receiving your first low grade in
the school year, go up to your teacher and ask about every single
point that you lost on the assignment. Take your sweet time in asking
the questions.
The most important reason you should do
this is to learn from your mistakes.
The more entertaining reason to do this
is to waste your teachers time to the point that the teacher
questions giving you low scores in the future. The teacher is
required to help struggling students. They can't afford to spend an
hour with you discussing every low grade they give you. Spending
this time shows them that with every low grade they give, they might
have to.
Consider this the important takeaway:
Teachers are tools for you to get good grades. They're not there to
help you. They're there to get a paycheck. You're their tool to their
paycheck. (Imagine they stopped getting paid, how long do you think
they'd keep teaching the irritating students in your classroom?)
You're not there to make them happy either. You're there to learn a
lot and prove it with your scores.
5. Drop Drama
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People will always be trying to drag
you into their own personal drama.
Don't let it happen. You can deal with
drama in television shows. Most of the drama other people try to drag
you into has absolutely nothing that you can help with. You'll have
plenty of drama of your own in life. Every ounce of emotional energy
that you invest in someone else's problems makes your life worse.
It also makes your grades worse.
6. Don't Bomb
This should be obvious but some
students completely miss it.
At no point in the year should you let
yourself completely bomb anything (unintentionally.) One single
outlying low score can drag your grade down fast. Just don't let it
happen in the first place.
Hand in all your assignments. Remember
that a 50 is way better than a 0. (And from my experience working
with other students, complete crap can get a 50 when it should get a
0. Hand stuff in!)
7. Sleep It Off And Up And Over And Out
The start of a new school year is
stressful. There isn't a more important time to focus on getting
however much sleep you need to thrive. It's also a common time that
students lose track of their time and stop prioritizing sleep.
One of the sad truth's about the school
year is that you're not going to have as much time to do the things
you love. Don't stay up late trying to make up for that lost time. It
will just make your school year harder in the long run.
Using these 7 sneaky tricks you can
bring your grades into the stratosphere (maybe even the mesosphere if
you're lucky.)
Great grades don't come from lots of
studying. They come from smart studying. This site can help you with
that. Check out our archives. Maybe you should even consider buying
one of our books.
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