Students are always pressured to get good grades in school, but what if you’re terrible at math, and it’s always pulling you down? What if you have a “bad” teacher who refuses to accept your point-of-views?
Getting good grades is a combination of three things: motivation, dedication, and planning. Take these three into consideration, put them into good use, and you’ll get the great grades that you deserve.
1. Motivation
For the parents
Whether parents pay their students for A’s or whether those kids get more leisure time as a result of good grades, motivation is the key to success. It’s debatable whether it’s ethically or morally correct to pay students for certain letter grades or accomplishments, but in many cases, it is a technique that works.
Money, however, should not be the form of reward all the time. While motivation can be great for the short run, in the long run, broader motivation is much more beneficial.
For instance, parents can definitely pay their children when they receive great grades, but they should also focus on the meaning of their children’s education:
- What would they like to do ten or fifteen years down the line?
- What is their life’s dream?
- How are they going to get there?
While kids do appreciate the money as an instant gratification, they will realize what their education means to them if hardships, or ideas of hardships, are placed upon them. Take them to places that are run by highly educated people. Then, take them to places where there are barely-educated people.
For the students
How do you get motivated to wake up five times a week, ready to learn?
This is the key to getting good grades: Go to school with high expectations and an even higher form of motivation and you’re more likely to go home from school with a feeling of self-gratification and success.
Don’t be disappointed if it doesn’t seem like you’re seeing results. Results take time.
If you don’t like doing homework, reward yourself after you have done your homework efficiently.
Don’t give in to leisure time until you’ve finished with the things you need to do for school.
2. Dedication
High school is really the bridge to college. If you want to go to a good college, or even if you’ve already got the college of your dreams in mind, you’ll want to do well in high school.
Dedicate yourself to studying a certain amount of hours per week, per class, but certainly, don’t overdo it. Never, ever stay up later than 11 o’clock or 12 midnight, unless it’s absolutely imperative for you to do so. Get at least eight to nine hours of sleep every night.
You can evenly distribute your studying amongst the five days of school, and leave one whole weekend day devoted to studying for upcoming tests, while the other weekend day is devoted to your leisure time.
All work and no play is not a good mantra to live by while in school; you’ll get burnt out. You can be dedicated, you can get good grades, if you have the willingness to do so. But, if you overdo it, you can get tired of school easily.
Moderate your allotted time for studying and play by putting more emphasis on studying, but also supplementing it with play.
3. Planning
Plan your schedules accordingly. On days when you don’t have much homework, make sure that you use at least have of that time on studying.
Always read ahead, even if you’ve got over a week to do it. You might end up reading the material twice and then understanding it better.
Be organized and buy a planner so that you have updated information in the palm of your hands. Plus, it’ll make you see your week or month visually. Fill in any gaps with times for studying.
Study the hardest for classes that you know you aren’t good at, and review material for the classes that you aren’t having trouble with.
Always take at least thirty minutes everyday to go over what you’ve learned that day. It beats having to stay up all night just before the test.
Final Word
Every student’s studying habits are different, and studying is not the only key thing to success.
Having enough leisure time, volunteering, being dedicated and organized, etc., are all helpful points to consider when trying to get good grades in high school.