This article was co-authored by Ashley Pritchard, MA and by wikiHow staff writer, Jennifer Mueller, JD. Ashley Pritchard is an Academic and School Counselor at Delaware Valley Regional High School in Frenchtown, New Jersey. Ashley has over 3 years of high school, college, and career counseling experience. She has an MA in School Counseling with a specialization in Mental Health from Caldwell University and is certified as an Independent Education Consultant through the University of California, Irvine.
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Making an A+ in every single class is quite an accomplishment as a student. Do you think you have what it takes? Contrary to popular belief, you don't necessarily have to be the smartest person to make great grades—but you do need a strong sense of self-discipline and good time management skills. Here, we've gathered some of the best tips you can use to perform well in all of your classes. By using these methods you can become a straight A+ student.
Steps
Expert Q&A
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QuestionHow should I balance my schedule?Ted Coopersmith, MBATed Coopersmith is an Academic Tutor for Manhattan Elite Prep, a test prep and academic tutoring company based in New York City. In addition to general academic advising, Ted has expertise in preparing for the ACT, SAT, SSAT, and ASVAB tests. He also has over 30 years of financial controller advising and consulting experience. He holds a BA from the City University of New York (CUNY) and an MBA from Pace University.
Academic TutorTo some extent, you probably need to limit the amount of extracurricular sports, hobbies, and club activities that you participate in. While it's important to stay physically active and engaged in your family and community, too many outside activities will make it impossible to do independent reading and studying. -
QuestionHow do I study at home while working?wikiHow Staff EditorThis answer was written by one of our trained team of researchers who validated it for accuracy and comprehensiveness.
Staff AnswerwikiHow Staff EditorStaff AnswerBalancing school with a job is tough—you practically have to be an expert in time management. Unfortunately, most students aren't quite there yet. So what can you do? Try to get in small chunks of studying early in the morning or between classes. Make flashcards or something similarly portable that you can take with you to work so you can get in a little studying when you have a break. Try not to study late at night if you can help it—you'll be tired and won't retain the information very well. Remember, even if you can only fit in a spare 5 minutes here and there, all that time adds up. -
QuestionHow do I not procrastinate and stay focused?wikiHow Staff EditorThis answer was written by one of our trained team of researchers who validated it for accuracy and comprehensiveness.
Staff AnswerwikiHow Staff EditorStaff AnswerDaniel Handler (Lemony Snicket) once said (to paraphrase) that we do the things we want to do and procrastinate doing the things we want to have done. Sounds like studying and schoolwork is something like that: a thing that you want to have done (completed), but don't necessarily want to do. Break your studying time into small chunks (10 or 15 minutes) and give yourself a reward for completing each chunk. That puts a lot less demand on you and allows you to focus more easily, since you're only needing to do it for a short period of time. Good luck! This takes some effort, but the results are worth it.
Warnings
- If you end up not getting the grades you want, don't beat yourself up! Figure out what you did wrong and learn from your mistakes so you can continue to improve.⧼thumbs_response⧽
References
- ↑ https://www.theedadvocate.org/how-to-get-straight-as-in-high-school-and-college/
- ↑ http://www.gompersprep.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/How-to-Become-a-Straight-A-Student.pdf
- ↑ https://www.solacc.edu/academics/academic-success-center/study-strategies
- ↑ https://digest.bps.org.uk/2018/05/04/learning-by-teaching-others-is-extremely-effective-a-new-study-tested-a-key-reason-why/
- ↑ http://www.gompersprep.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/How-to-Become-a-Straight-A-Student.pdf
- ↑ Ashley Pritchard, MA. School Counselor. Expert Interview. 4 November 2019.
- ↑ https://kidshealth.org/en/teens/focused.html
- ↑ Ashley Pritchard, MA. School Counselor. Expert Interview. 4 November 2019.
- ↑ https://www.theedadvocate.org/how-to-get-straight-as-in-high-school-and-college/
- ↑ https://scoutlife.org/hobbies-projects/funstuff/2301/how-to-get-straight-as/comment-page-7/
- ↑ Ashley Pritchard, MA. School Counselor. Expert Interview. 4 November 2019.
- ↑ https://www.theedadvocate.org/4-simple-rules-for-becoming-a-straight-a-student/
- ↑ https://scoutlife.org/hobbies-projects/funstuff/2301/how-to-get-straight-as/comment-page-7/
- ↑ https://law.ucdavis.edu/academic-success/files/Outlining-Law-School-Courses.pdf
- ↑ https://www.theedadvocate.org/how-to-get-straight-as-in-high-school-and-college/
- ↑ https://www.theedadvocate.org/4-simple-rules-for-becoming-a-straight-a-student/
- ↑ http://www.gompersprep.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/How-to-Become-a-Straight-A-Student.pdf
- ↑ https://www.solacc.edu/academics/academic-success-center/study-strategies