6 Steps To Better Grades And Boosting Your GPA
by Min Kim, Versed Parent Advisory & Valerie Erde
Per usual, before I discuss how to level-up your grades, I’m going to briefly begin with why it’ so important for you/your student to focus on academic performance (above testing, extra-curriculars, etc.)
The Whys: How Colleges Evaluate Grades/GPA
While you might be the best soccer player, debater, violinist, dancer, etc., colleges want to make sure, first and foremost that, if they admit you, you will be able to succeed at their institution academically. So the first thing admissions committees will review in your college application is your transcript: the courses you’ve taken and your performance (aka grades) in those courses - the grades feeding into your GPA. Based on your course rigor (regular vs. honors vs. AP) and grades, plus test scores, admissions readers in the ivy league and other top colleges will assign you what’s known as an academic index. This is why you want to make sure you take the most challenging classes you can that make sense for you, and you want to do well in those classes.
“Competitive candidates for admission pursue the most demanding course work possible, receive strong grades, and are highly regarded by their teachers and counselors. ”
The Why’s: A’s are the new B’s…
It’s no secret: grade inflation is rampant and on the rise. This is especially true in affluent public and private schools.
“What you need to realize is that nationally, maintaining a B average has become routine. As you climb up the college selectivity ladder, you will find colleges expecting the B as a minimum GPA, and then evaluating thousands of applications from students with B+, A–, and A averages”
(For more about grade inflation, including how it relates to standardized testing in admissions, see slides 13 & 14 in Powerpoint of our webinar.)
Why Do Smart Students Sometimes Get Bad Grades?
We all know that self-motivated students who are genuinely interested in what they are learning do well in school and get good grades. This is especially true of students who participate in the class, are engaged in the specific subject, and are connected to their teachers. As much as we would love for our children to love learning for the sake of learning, it’s not uncommon for teens to disengage, at times, academically for a whole variety of reasons:
lack of confidence/anxiety/introverted
not being challenged enough
communication issues - understands material, but difficulty conveying thoughts/ideas
lack of preparedness/distractions: outsized emphasis on social life, clubs, sports
poor time management/organizational skills and ineffective study habits
fear/stigma about asking for help/asking for help too late
teacher who doesn’t give feedback/unqualified teacher
extenuating circumstances (mental/physical health, family, learning disability et. al.)
Even highly motivated students will have subjects that don’t excite them or may get sidetracked. Most subjects, once you engage with them and get over that initial “it’s hard” hurdle, become more interesting. So what can we do to help our teens become better students and improve their grades regardless of what classes they are taking?
On the practical side, we need to remind our teens that the key to getting good grades is to become more efficient at learning and actually reduce the amount of time spent studying and doing homework (especially in subjects they are not excited about).
The How’s: 6 Tips For Improving Grades
These 6 tips will help your student spend less time studying overall, while getting much more out of learning — and it may even help them enjoy subjects they previously disliked.
1. Pay Better Attention In Class
The best way to minimize studying outside of class is to maximize learning in class. Too many students zone out in class, and spend unnecessary time learning the materials on their own to do homework or to study for exams. Yes, this is easier said than done. So what can students do to pay attention in class?
Sit in the front of the class (if this is an option).
Come to class prepared: do any pre-assigned reading.
Take handwritten notes instead of on laptop: keep your hand moving.
If you must have laptop on, turn notifications off.
Speak up and participate. Even if you’re an introvert, make a goal to speaking up at least once a class. Doing so early in the class, before other answers/questions have been given, is less stressful.
Address anything you don’t understand with your teacher during class, or right after, class.
2. Get Help If You Need It; Don’t Wait Until It’s Too Late
Maybe you’ve been paying attention in class, asked the teacher questions, but when you get home you find that you still don’t understand the material. There shouldn’t be a stigma attached to wanting or needing help. And waiting until right before a quiz, major test, or a big paper is due is too late.
Don’t wait until you’re struggling!
Read more about knowing when and how to get extra help here.
3. Take Effective Notes In And Out Of Class
Many good students write down what the teacher says word for word (or almost), based on how fast they can write or type. This may be thorough, but it’s not particularly helpful when the time comes to study for tests, for example, because they are not processing the information; they’re merely transcribing it. Taking effective notes means processing the material: writing down the information in your own words. These methods help students synthesize and process information.
Outline method - simple bullet points with main ideas on top, followed by sub-bullets to elaborate
Cornell method - one of the most well known and widely used note-taking methods, it’s designed to cut down on processing time after class. Here’s a great video from a high school biology teacher about how to take Cornell notes.
Why Handwritten Notes Are Key
Since you can’t write as fast as you type, when you write by hand you are forced to only note what is important and leave out extraneous materials. This, in turn, prompts you to process what you’re hearing, so you become more deliberate with your note taking. Furthermore, you can draw diagrams and connections easily - a no-brainer for math!
4. Stay Organized And Fight Procrastination
Willpower is a limited resource, so it is important to build habits that will work on autopilot without too much prodding. Building good habits requires organization and time management. Some tricks that help includes:
Have a weekly/monthly planner with every minute/hour accounted for with activities, homework and study time, as well as downtime scheduled in.
Keep your papers organized in binders, folders, whatever works for you.
Create a prioritized To Do List.
Commit to doing one task at a time in small increments to stay focused and avoid distractions.
5. Work More Efficiently
Many students do not have any plans for studying and start by just reading the text books or reading notes. Passive studying does not help students learn or retain information. Active learning is critical with emphasis on replicating the testing environment such that the actual test becomes less stressful.
Gather all your materials - class handouts, your notes, homework assignments, prior quizzes and tests, textbooks.
Identify what is most important and create a study guide that includes important topics, terms and concepts.
Turn this list into a set of questions that will force you to remember each item.
Drill these questions and force yourself to recall each concept. Flashcards are excellent options. Many online versions allow you to repeat questions you got wrong more frequently than the ones that you are familiar with.
Plan Ahead For Papers & Write Efficiently
What makes writing papers so painful and laborious is that everyone sits down with the intention of writing a good, or even an excellent paper on the first go. Perfectionism is paralyzing. Paralysis leads to procrastination. Here are some ways to take pressure off the process and enable students to write papers more efficiently.
Solid thinking is the precursor to solid writing. Begin with a brain dump. Jot down any and all ideas about the topic without worrying about making sense.
Develop a focus and a key set of questions. The key questions and possible thesis will help narrow down where and how to research the topic.
Write a bad first draft. Allow yourself to write a first draft without worrying about writing a good paper. Do it quickly without over thinking.
Revise, revise, revise. The best work is edited work. Allow enough time to revise drafts over several days, allowing a fresh set of eyes to look at each draft over multiple days.
Edit ruthlessly. Take out anything superfluous, whether it be language, content, or analysis.
6. Establish A Good Relationship With Teachers
If students follow the first 5 steps outlined above, they will likely have a good relationship with their teachers. Teachers enjoy teaching students who are engaged, pay attention, and share their interest in a subject that the teacher cares deeply about.
Establish communication early - you do not want the first communication with your teacher to be about grades. Teachers are human beings. Get to know them. Participate in class and ask questions that show your interest in the subject.
Don’t be afraid to ask questions about things you don’t know - many students are afraid to ask questions out of fear that they are asking something they should know. If you don’t understand something, chances are, other students are in the same boat.
Take advantage of office hours - this is free tutoring, and visiting office hours does not mean that you are not smart or that you are not a good student, in fact it shows that you are a dedicated student who would like to do well in class.
Address poor grades early on, do not wait until half of the semester is over - If you are doing poorly in assignments and tests, meet with the teacher to understand how you can do better next time. Rather than focusing on grades, ask for advice on what you can do better (what materials you should be studying, how to improve your paper, understanding what dimensions your assignments are graded on, etc.). Ask to redo the assignment if that is an option. It also doesn’t hurt to find out if there are extra credit assignments that you can work on.
Min Kim is the founder of Versed Education Advisory Network, the largest network of experienced Parent Advisors who connect parents of middle and high school students seeking information with experienced Parent Advisors who have targeted knowledge on specific academic tracks, extracurricular fields, colleges, application process as well as a variety of special situations including learning differences, skipping grades, gap year and more.
Additional Resources
Academic Index & Fencing, Fencing Parents
Identifying and Motivating Underachievers, Educational Research Service