How to Maintain Good Grades

The older we get, the more responsibility we pick up, and although high school might seem minor in comparison to what ‘the real world’ brings, it is still a difficult milestone. Between clubs, sports, and other extracurricular activities, a major aspect that high school inspires you to keep up with, is grades.

Maintaining good grades is not an easy task, but it isn’t impossible.

Before even beginning to touch on specific tips to help with preserving good grades, it’s important to point out that a big part of it is determination and the will to work hard. If you don’t want to do the work that might come with achieving high goals, then it instantly becomes 10 times harder.

It is good to have an overall goal in mind, it will help you gain a drive that you may have not had beforehand.

To truly begin, an extremely helpful tip that is actually easier than most think is to pay attention in class! It is very effective, to truly pay attention to your teachers and ask questions, it helps for a better understanding.

Also, studying is very valuable and it doesn’t have to take hours to do either. If you have ever tried to study and it takes more time than you think is necessary, you might be doing it wrong.

Wrong for how you learn, that is.

Everybody learns differently, there are visual learners, auditory learners, kinesthetic learners, etc. It is a good idea to find out what kind of learner you are and then find out the best ways that your specific type of learner should study in order to retain information more effectively.

Also, staying organized is extremely important, once you start losing or forgetting assignments, it is very easy to fall behind. Obtaining folders for each class can help to keep track of everything better. In addition, getting a planner assists in remembering important test dates or homework assignments.

An article titled “4 Ways to Get Better Grades in High School,” on wikiHow, supports this idea by saying, “If you don’t use a planner and lose track of time, trying to prepare for the game and finish your paper in the same week might get overwhelming.”

Finally, avoid procrastination!

This is surely one of the leading causes for lower grades in high school, it is so easy to get distracted and want to do more entertaining things rather than homework. This falls in the whole mind set aspect of it all again, you have to tell yourself that homework and studying is more important.

If you start on assignments right away, you’ll finish them and make more time for the fun things going on in your life, while also not having the stress of your work weigh down on you.

If you procrastinate then you will be completing your assignment last minute and that is extremely stressful and often doesn’t result in your best work. Why not get everything done right away, so you don’t even have to think about it anymore?

Stephanie Nuñez-Cortez, a Pitman Sophomore, was very helpful in giving insight on how a real student maintains good grades.

“I find it both easy and difficult to maintain good grades. Paying attention in class is always really important, but sometimes paying attention in class isn’t enough. Either because the teacher isn’t explaining it enough or it simply doesn’t make sense. Doing your work and turning it in on time also contributes to you getting a good grade. Not slacking off and being attentive also helps your grade improve. Personally, I try to pay attention and turn my work in on time to maintain my good grades.,” says Stephanie.

Indeed, for many people, maintaining good grades is strenuous, but it is an obtainable goal that everyone can accomplish, as long as you put the work in and have an end goal in mind.