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Pay attention in class. Do the homework. Be organized. Make and maintain a study place. Know the syllabus for every class. Set high standards for yourself. Do a little studying every night. Take good notes Get a tutor.
This is the number one tenet of getting good grades: always, always, always pay attention in class. Here's a whole bunch of reasons why:  You might miss some important information. Plenty of teachers talk about tests and quizzes in class. If you're not paying attention, you could miss the answers. You could get bonus points. Most teachers reward students who are active and participating with extra participation points. This could be a sizable chunk of your grade. Paying attention in class makes the homework a million times easier. You'll have much more free time breezing through your homework at night if you've already spent the time in class thinking about it. It makes tests easier, too. If you've already spent an hour that day in class engaged, you have to study that much less. Sometimes your grade will lie on a cliff between a regular whole letter and a plus or a minus, like a A- and an A, or a B+ and an A-. In many cases, the teacher will take into account if you're a "good kid" and if he or she likes you. The more you pay attention, the more likely it is your teacher will give you the benefit of the doubt. If you do the homework, the readings, and pay attention in class, there's almost no way you can get bad grades. Make sure you don't slack off because a certain assignment is "just graded for completion." There is no point in doing homework if you aren't going to do it right. The information will be useful later on for the tests or final exams. Make homework time fun. Turn up the music and have some snacks handy. If that doesn't work, reason with yourself. Remember that teachers have to do the same amount of work you do but for all of their students. They only assign homework that is necessary for you to learn the material. Take all of those loose papers and notes of yours and organize them. When you're more organized, it's easy to find exactly what you're looking for, streamlining the studying process and avoiding frustration. Here are a few ideas:  Invest in a few small binders (multiple small binders are better than one large binder). Be sure to hole punch your papers instead of cramming them into pockets in your binders. Keep your syllabus in the front pocket of your binders. You'll be referring to it often, so make it easily accessible. File away any homework that is more than a grading period old (if you have rolling grades, you should keep all of your papers with you until the end of the year just in case). Use topic-wise indexes for easier access when you need them. Label each paper clearly with a colored pen: CW for classwork, HW for homework, N for notes. Clear out your backpack. Dump it on the floor, sort everything into piles, then place all necessary papers into the correct binders and throw out what you don't need. If you don't have a set study place, make one now. Is your study place organized and clean? Is it well-lit? Is it quiet and well-ventilated? Do you have necessary materials at your fingertips? If so, good! If not, work on it. When you have a set study place, it's easier to buckle down and get it done. And the TV won't be distracting you!  Store all textbooks, notes, etc. within reach as well as a computer (desktop/laptop) with Internet access if possible. If your house is always crowded or noisy, try the library. A syllabus is an outline of everything you're going to do in the class and when. Your teacher should provide this to you, and if they haven't, be sure to ask for one. That way you know which areas are concentrated on (these will likely be of focus on tests) and when the tests will be. Knowing the syllabus – or at least having it handy to refer to often – will leave very few questions up in the air. You'll know what topics your teacher spends the most time on, you'll know all your deadlines, and you'll know the test dates months in advance. With your syllabus by your side, it's hard to go wrong. Make a promise to yourself, and others, that you'll get acceptable grades on tests and complete all your homework. Take action if your marks start falling before someone else has to point it out to you. Find ways to motivate yourself, and convince yourself that you want to get into college more than anything. Motivation is the key to success! If this is really important to you, talk to your parents about helping you stay motivated. They want you to get good grades, too, so they may be open to helping out. Maybe at the end of the semester, if you have all As, they can get you that present you've wanted or extend your curfew. You never know if you don't ask! The night before every class, read through the material in the book that you predict or have been told will be covered that day. Use review questions at the end of the chapter to make sure you have a basic understanding of it. Write down any questions you have and ask your teacher. You'll be so far ahead of the curve during class the next day that even the most difficult questions will be easy. When it comes to little facts like dates, names, and equations, our memories are very good at quickly forgetting, especially when these facts just get replaced with new ones. Studying a little bit every day keeps the information fresh in your memory, making it easier to remember. . A good rule of thumb is to copy down all diagrams as completely as possible and write down anything you think you might not remember. Write them down where you can read them and put them in order by date for easy reference later.   Come up with a shorthand system so you don't have to write down every word. Use abbreviations where possible so you can keep up. Try to go home and retype the notes, adding any extra information. Some teachers bounce back and forth between topics. You may remember something they mentioned that you didn't have time to copy down or it may be written down in a different place. Then study your notes and any extra information you've added. A good tutor will be able to help you understand concepts, make the class fun and set problems which are neither too easy nor too difficult for you. A tutor is not just for the "dumb" or mentally challenged – even the smartest kids can benefit from after-school tutoring. Sometimes there is a student tutor in your school who can offer help and advice between classes or after school. Talk to your counselor or teacher about a possible tutor you could work with. They likely know an older student who needs a tutoring gig for their college resume or a student who's enrolled in an after-school tutoring program who is looking for someone to teach.