How to Do Well in School

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The following tips on How to Do Well in School are borrowed from the Web site, wikiHow: http://www.wikihow.com/Do-Well-in-School. More practical and useful advice can be found there. 
 

• Have your necessary materials all the time. You don't want to be unprepared for sudden note-taking or a pop quiz by discovering you forgot your pencil/pen/eraser/etc.

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• Jot down notes. Notes are your guidelines and basically the information you need. Keep that in mind before deciding that the lecture your teacher is giving you is only good for lulling you to sleep. Be sure to write down everything the teacher puts on the board or talks about, even if they have already reviewed it! If a teacher is reviewing anything, then they probably think that it is important, and that means you should too! If the teachers writes something on the board and they underline it chances are it's important or it will be on future tests.

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• Rewrite notes. Yes this may sound boring and time consuming but it's been proven to help you remember more of what you wrote down. It also help you to figure out problems you might have had in the class.

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• Revise at home. Do this in a quiet place with no distractions. If the computer is in your room take it out or go to another room! Don't study with the radio on! It might help you write more but on the day of the exam the only thing you'll remember will be the lyrics.

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• Believe it or not, homework is not meant to torture you! It's a way of controlling and making progress outside of the classroom. This isn't very comforting the night you have two essays and algebra to do, though, so remember to do the actual homework and keep up with the workload. No homework = little chance of good grades (and that's what we're aiming for, right?)

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• Do a practice test at home and school.

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• Take breaks now and then. Be careful if your mind has a tendency to stray, however; if you do thirty minutes of studying/homework and then watch T.V. for an hour, you're not getting much done. Space yourself so you don't feel tired but you're actually being productive.

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• Revising with your friends during free time can help keep you and them focused and may be handy. But everyone's different: if by studying with your friends you sit with an open textbook and gossip, it's better to work alone. Know yourself and your habits.

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• Ask for revision guidebooks which may help you in classes which you are struggling.

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• Learn from your mistakes. Pay attention in class when something is being corrected. Mark your work clearly and carefully so that it is useful in preventing other errors in the future.

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• Make sure you put effort into your work. If you have to write an essay on a book and all you do is restate some of its reviews, then you are not likely to get a perfect score. But if you actually write what you think about the book, then your grades will probably be better.

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• Study during the summer. It sounds nerdy, but trust me, it's not that hard! Buy or borrow a book from the library that covers a subject at your grade level. (If you are going to grade 10, borrow a grade ten textbook.) If possible, get a textbook rather than a workbook because usually they will explain things better than in a workbook. You don't need to answer the problems or questions in the textbook, all that you should do is read about the new stuff you will be learning, and make sure you understand it. I'm not kidding, this will help A LOT when school comes, and all you need is several days of your time during summer vacation.