How To Improve Your Grades In 4 Easy Steps

Do you want to know how to improve your grades?

There is a lot of pressure on kids today to perform academically. Grades can impact scholarships, play sports, getting into a good school, and so much more.

If you’re down because you have poor grades, don’t give up hope.

There are plenty of ways to raise your GPA.

Want to know how?

Keep reading to find out.

Know Why You’re Struggling

If you’re taking a class and you’re not doing so well, you have to look at why. These are the questions you want to ask yourself:

• Are there one or two areas of the material that I don’t understand?
• Do I like the instructor?
• Does the way the class is taught fit my learning style?
• Am I doing everything I can to understand the material?
• How is my behavior in the class? Am I daydreaming? Do I show up on time? Am I trying to sneak text messages on my phone?
• Do I leave homework and studying for exams until the last minute?
• Is there something else going on that I’m afraid to talk about?

These answers can help you identify why you’re not doing well in your classes. For instance, you might be in class looking for funny gifs like this one.

In this case, you need to change your behavior in class and pay attention. If you want to know how to improve your grades, it starts with you and how you show up for class.

In many cases, if you’re supposed to read the material, and you can’t grasp it, it could be because it’s not congruent with your learning style. You might be a visual learner, but all the material is delivered in a lecture.

In this instance, you’ll have to find another way to absorb the material. You might want to see if there are videos to watch that explain the subject in a way that you can understand.

There also might be instances of bullying at your school and you’re afraid to talk about it. Hiding what’s going on can make it worse. Talk to someone about what you’re going through, be it a parent or a teacher.

Ask for Help

Is there a certain topic where you’re having a hard time learning the material? Remember that learning in isolation isn’t going to raise your grades.

You’ll want to ask for help right away. See your teacher after class and explain where you’re at in class. They already know that you’re struggling. If they see you care enough to take the initiative to ask for help, they’ll go out of their way to help you.

There might be opportunities for extra credit or to hand in past assignments that you missed.

The key is that you have to ask for help as soon as you know that you need it. Even if you’re not sure, take the step and ask for help.

Waiting a week before the final exam or end of the semester to see if there are extra credit opportunities won’t help your cause at all.

Set a Goal for Grades

Sometimes, all you need is a little motivation. SMART goals can help you accomplish just that.

A SMART goal is Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-Bound.

A goal for your grades might be framed like this: “I will make the honor roll this quarter by doing my homework every night between 4pm-6pm and turn in assignments on time.”

Once you have your goals, then print out images that go with your goals, so you can see them every day. It’s like creating a vision board for yourself.

If your goal for the year is to get a scholarship from the Honor Society Foundation, you can visit this website and print out images to look at frequently.

This will help you remember every day why you’re working hard and staying focused in school.

Set a Study Schedule

Whether you set goals for yourself or not, you will need a study schedule. As you set your schedule, know what classes will require more study time. You’ll want to spend more time and attention on those classes.

You’ll also want to set up your study time into smaller blocks, rather than one big chunk of time. For every 50 minutes of time studying, get up and take a break for 10-15 minutes.

Study time should be scheduled for when your mind is at its best. If you’re at your best right after school, then use that time to study.

If you set your study schedule to meet your goals and you meet them, be sure to reward yourself. You can even let your teachers or parents know what you’re doing. They can be added sources of support when things get tough.

A Note for Parents

Are you a parent with a child who is bringing home bad grades? There are some things that you can do to help them bring their grades up.

Your immediate instinct might be to punish their kids by taking away sports activities or yelling and lecturing their kids.

This type of punitive punishment does more harm than good. It’s been found to lead to lower academic performance. That’s because they don’t address the reason why your child is getting bad grades. They also make the child frustrated and less encouraged to do school work.

Instead, take a proactive approach. Give your child a nurturing environment with strong boundaries can do wonders for kids academically and socially.

Also, take the time to reach out to your child’s teachers to see why your child’s grades are low.

How to Improve Your Grades

Your grades can have a big impact on your future. If you’re ready to improve your grades, follow these tips here, and they’ll improve in no time.

Learning how to improve your grades does take time, but if you stay committed to your goals, and work on them every day, your GPA will go up.

To get started right away, check out this article for great math resources.