Are you struggling in one or more of your classes?

If so, you may have been looking for ways to become a better student. 

Search that question on the internet, and you will likely find a list of study habits that looks something like this:

  • Get Organized
  • Stay Motivated
  • Master Time Management
  • Study
  • Get Plenty of Sleep

Those are all proven tips that CAN help you improve your grades.  If you are struggling academically because you have poor study habits, improving those habits can improve your grades.  However, most students who are struggling, especially in higher level courses, are not struggling because of bad study habits. 

If you want tips that can help you immediately improve your grades, you need more than another list of good study habits.

We offer real tools and tutorials aimed at helping you immediately improve your school performance.  While everyone tells you to master your time management, few people tell you how to do this.  When you are overwhelmed by too much work, time management become pivotal.  To manage it, you have to learn to work smarter, not harder.  That is why we offer practical organization tips.  We provide study guides, templates, and tangible tips to help you improve your grades. 

We Help You Become a Better:

  • Learner
  • Test Taker
  • Writer

It is not enough to help you learn.   While acquiring knowledge is great, it is not enough to increase your knowledge.  You have to be able to demonstrate that learning.  That means performing well on tests and excelling at your writing assignments. 

Becoming a Better Test Taker

Whether you are in high school, college, or graduate school, your test scores matter.  The majority of your grades will be based on your test performance.  By improving how you take tests, you improve your grades.

The first thing to determine is why your tests scores are lower than you want them to be.  Generally, there are two main reasons that students struggle with tests: test anxiety or a lack of understanding of the test material.  In other words, you are either struggling with the material or struggling with the process.

Test Anxiety

Test anxiety is natural.  Being nervous means that you care about the outcome.  So, having some anxiety about a test can just be a sign that you care about your grades.  However, too much anxiety can interfere with your ability to perform and result in artificially lower grades.

If you have a normal level of test anxiety, the following tips can help you reduce it:

  • Studying
  • Establishing a pre-test routine
  • Communicating with your professor and classmates
  • Using relaxation techniques
  • Getting sleep
  • Exercising
  • Eating Right
  • Avoiding excessive alcohol, caffeine, or recreational substance use

What do you do if those tips are not enough to help you conquer your test anxiety?  That is when your test anxiety may go beyond normal test anxiety.  In that case, we encourage you to consult with a health professional.  They may have tools and tips to help you deal with excessive levels of anxiety. 

Studying

The other reason that people perform poorly on tests is because they do not understand the material being tested.  In most, though not all, instances, you can fix this through better study habits. 

  • Study well before your test
  • Ask questions as soon as you get confused
  • Attend class
  • When you miss class, get notes
  • If your professor is confusing, find other resources
  • Use professional study guides to create your own study guides
  • Use flashcards for items you need to memorize
  • Ask classmates for help
  • Read and re-read all assigned material

Other Factors that Can Contribute to a Lack of Understanding

Maybe you fail to understand the material for other reasons.  Understanding and being able to assess them can help you become a better student.  Being able to identify why you are struggling can help you find the right solution.

Do you have the background skills and knowledge to succeed in a subject? 

Sometimes you select courses without realizing you lack the background to excel in them.  Sometimes you have all of the right prerequisites but did not learn what you needed to know in those courses.  If you feel like you will be struggling all semester because you do not have the background needed to succeed in a class, you have to take immediate and decisive action as soon as you realize that.  How big is the gap in your background knowledge?  Can you fill it in with tutorials and teaching yourself the material?  How quickly can you accomplish that?  If you do not answer that question or if it will take you a long time to master the material, you should drop the class and take classes that will fill in the gaps. 

Is the teacher bad?

Some teachers are not good at their jobs.  Some teachers are great at their jobs, but their teaching style does not mesh with your learning style.  If you and your classmates all seem to be struggling with the material, the problem might be the teacher.  If you know that students with another teacher are doing much better, you want to try to switch classes.  If you cannot, you want to find tutoring and other third-party help as soon as possible.

Are you learning the material? 

In high school, you get periodic checks on your learning.  From grading homework to giving quizzes, your teachers monitor your performance.  In college, the only formal assessment of your understanding may be testing.  Give yourself checks of your knowledge.  Your textbooks and class resources may have study tests, pre-tests, or quizzes.  If not, you can find subject tests online.  If you are struggling, get help as soon as possible.

Becoming a Better Learner

While learning and test performance are not the same thing, increasing your comprehension is one way to become a better test taker.  That is why we provide a wide range of study tools.  Our tools are designed to break down complicated material so that it is easier for you to learn.  They not only teach you material, but also important study tactics.  The more you incorporate these study habits, the easier you will find studying. 

Note taking is a huge part of college, but many students never learn how to take proper notes.  We suggest all of our students review our tutorial on how to take better notes in class.  It gives important tips on how to focus on the correct information in your notetaking.

Other study tools that can help you include our:

  • Study Guides
  • Flash Card Generator
  • Homework Help
  • Tutorials

Becoming a Better Writer

While tests may form the backbone of the college GPA for some students, for liberal arts students and graduate students writing well is the key to good grades.  Even in your non-writing courses, you must be able to write in a way that is

  • Clear
  • Effective
  • Grammatically correct
  • Reflects your understanding of the material

We have a vast library of resources:

  • Tutorials.  We offer a range of tutorials on different essay types.  They take you step-by-step through writing specific kinds of essays, ensuring that you always understand how to approach a writing assignment.  
  • Topic-specific study guides.  We provide regular current event articles written in an academic style, which we update with essays on topical news items.  These not only help writers but also help students understand current events.
  • Outlines.  We have topic-specific outlines and skeleton outlines that you can use to help complete a particular type of essay.  These outlines provide a blueprint you can use to approach your assignment.
  • Sources.  We have a library of sources you can use to help find appropriate sources for almost any topic.  We also offer tutorials on how to find and select relevant sources for your academic assignment.
  • Citation Generators and Guides.  Use both of these tools to ensure that you are citing your sources correctly in your paper.
  • Title Generator.  Use this tool to find a title for an essay you have written.
  • Topic Generator.  Need help picking an interesting topic for your academic writing assignment?  Enter some information into our topic generator and let the brainstorming begin!
  • Conclusion Generator.  Even highly skilled writers can find conclusions challenging.  Use our conclusion generator to help you craft an exciting finale for your paper.

Conclusion

Even the most brilliant people can find some classes or some assignments challenging.  Use our website to get the help you need, and stop the struggle.