what is the best way to improve on academic grades besides studying more?

Answer 1

Study smarter. Get a tutor or other students to help you out and split up the work. Focus better when you do study. Don't spend too much time trying to figure out one thing. Start your assignments early so you can get help with any of the difficult parts.

Answer 2

Study smarter, not harder.

Develop a study plan. Find out what your teachers consider most important and concentrate on that.

You can even tell your teachers that you want high grades and want their opinion about how you can study smarter. They will probably tell you very valuable tips. They actually want you to do well, and they are making up the rules. So you may as well ask what they are.

Take excellent notes in class, and read them after class with a yellow highliner. Then read the highlined parts before class the next day. Do this every day. It adds very little study time.

Find a study partner who you like and who is doing well in school. Study together. This can be fun. Proof read each other's essay homework. Its much easier to see errors in your friend's paper than you own. Before every quiz or test, review the material together.

Forming a great attitude doesn't take any time. Its a choice. If you say: I'll just get the most of this class, regardless of whether I like it, you'll do much better and enjoy school more.

Answer 3

Here are some freebies:
1) Study with more people. Let them tell you when they think your notes, for example, are wrong or fall short of perfect, rather than giving you their notes from scratch.
2) Make jokes out of facts to help you remember them
3) Learn to start work early on your homework while the teacher talks irrelevantly (for example, about his/her personal life or repeating something you already know)
4) If it's allowed in your classes, get a laptop and get good at typing. With some practice you can type at about 60+ words per minute, up to 3 times as fast as writing by hand...and more notes usually means better notes.
5) Three days before a test make a "cheat sheet" of the most important notes (usually about 3-4 pages in size 10 font for most exams, about 5 for tough teachers' finals) in question and answer format.
Then stare at these at "down times" lunch or when you are caught sitting around with nothing to do and, each time you look over ask yourself a few of the questions and note the ones you GET by marking them off. Next time you go over the questions only review the ones you miss and repeat the process until you've marked all the questions as ones you get (note this should only take you about 30-45 minutes a day if done well).

Then do about 3-4 sessions where a friend asks you all the questions (this should take 1 to 2 hours, maybe 2-2.5 hours for final exam studies).


These technique have turned me from a study-all-day type with a 3.5-ish GPA in high-school and early college to a 1 hour of studying max per day sophomore year through graduate school student with a 3.7+ GPA. Studying is like business...sometimes knowing how to play the game is more important than pure brain power.

Answer 4

I find with my teenager sons that as long as they complete ALL homework and classwork assignments to the best of their ability and not just 'getting it done' that it is an effective studying tool. Both are straight A students and neither actually sit down and study per se.

Also, I find that if you help your mind practice 'absorbing' information, it is useful. For example, read more. Read anything. Find an author you like and work your way through his/her books.

Good luck :)

Answer 5

Go beyond studying the material in your textbooks. Go and do research on topics you are studying in school. Do outside reading. Seek to understand a topic from different angles. I did this while working on my Master's degree and it helped an awful lot. I approached the subject for MY sake and not just for the sake of a grade... and I passed with flying colors...

Answer 6

See if there are tutors or classes in your area that teach test taking skills. I'm not all that smart, but I got into a good private school, did well there (and in college and graduate school, not to mention national board exams) because I am good at taking tests. There are definitely methods you can use to improve your test scores without necessarily studying harder.

Good Luck!!

Answer 7

Bribery.

Never fails.
Do you know how much a teacher gets these days?
It's a struggle to pay the mortgage.

Yep - bribery.
Bit of blackmail helps as well.

You know, "If you don't give me good scores, I'll tell that you were going to take a bribe!"

That way, it doesn't cost you a dime.

Answer 8

Grease the palm of the teacher

Answer 9

Wear short skirts to class

Answer 10

what a bunch of asses up there...

anyways, pay attention in class more

i study a little, but i pay attention and i get by fine

by paying attention, you can save a lot of time by studying things that the teacher is instructing