1. Adopt a positive mental attitude
In the face of lower-than-expected grades, itâs only human to react by feeling disappointed with oneself. When youâre frequently receiving lower grades than youâd hoped for, you may start to feel depressed or defeated, and feel like giving up. The first step on the road to improving your grades is to turn this negativity on its head. You need to be positive about the situation if youâre to stand a chance of improving it. Acknowledge that your grades arenât what youâre aiming for, but believe that you can do something about it. Start by mentally taking control of the situation: instead of thinking âIâm a failureâ, think âI can and will do better than this.â Donât give up â take positive steps towards achieving the improvement youâre more than capable of achieving.
2. Work out where youâre falling short
You need to work out which areas need targeting before you can draw up a plan of action, so the next step is to figure out the areas in which youâre underperforming, and why. Are your grades consistently lower than youâd like them to be across all your subjects, or is there one particular area youâre struggling with thatâs bringing down your overall performance in a particular subject? Take a look at your grades over the last few months and look for patterns. Has there been a general decline in academic achievement, or have your grades in certain areas always been lower than youâd hoped? Are your grades always low in the same areas, such as one problem subject? Youâll probably already have a vague idea of the answers to these questions, but seeing your grades written down on paper â perhaps even in graph format â can help you see things more clearly.
Next, think about the reasons why youâre not performing to your full academic potential in the areas youâve identified. Are there external factors that may be negatively affecting your grades, such as a family problem or worrying about a social situation at school? Are you struggling with any particular academic skills that might be dragging you down, such as essay-writing or note-taking? And are you studying in a way that works for you? These are all factors that could be affecting your academic performance, so once youâve isolated what the problem is â it could be a combination of more than one of these issues â youâll be able to start tackling it. If the problems are external, youâll need to take steps towards getting them to a point at which they no longer adversely affect your studies; seeing a counsellor might help, for instance. If theyâre academic, read the rest of this article for some suggestions on how you can improve.
3. Talk to your teachers
Your teachers know you best, so itâs worth talking to them when youâre drawing up a plan of action for improving your grades. Ask them where they think you need to improve, and theyâll probably have some advice on how you can go about it. Coupled with the advice in the rest of this article, this should allow you to tailor an action plan to your personal situation.
4. Pay more attention in class â and ask questions
If youâre prone to daydreaming in class, itâs time to start focusing on the here and now. Listen to what the teacher is saying rather than talking with friends or allowing your mind to wander. Donât simply copy down whatâs on the board without thinking about it; make sure youâve understood it, make neat notes so that you can understand them when you come back to them (more on that later), and donât be afraid to speak up if thereâs something you donât understand or want clarifying. Itâs much easier to ask a teacher to explain something differently than it is to trawl through books trying to find a clearer explanation for yourself, and they wonât think less of you for asking.
5. Start organizing your life
Clutter of any kind inhibits our ability to operate efficiently, so another way of improving your academic performance is to get organized. Keep your workspace tidy and all your notes and textbooks organized in such a way that you know where everything is. Start thinking more about your time management, too, as this will allow you to priorities your time effectively, freeing time for problem subjects. Write yourself a daily timetable that incorporates your school schedule, dividing your day into slots of time and fitting in plenty of time for studying. Allocate extra time to subjects or topics youâve identified as being ones youâre struggling with; it could be that the reason for your underperformance in these subjects is that youâre simply not devoting enough time to them.
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