Do you dream of becoming top of the class, but your grades don't quite agree? You don't have to have a superhuman IQ to score 20/20 on your next test. We are going to give you 6 very simple tips to turn your dream into reality!
- Adopt the right strategy
- Organise your work
- Think about arranging your lessons
- Use the revision sheets
- Test your knowledge
1 - Adopt the right strategy
Your learning style will be key in your quest for good grades. As you can imagine, some so-called revolutionary techniques do not work for everyone.
Understanding your memorisation strategy is essential, because that's what will help you retain your lessons and get good grades.
👉 Overall, there are three ways to learn:
- Those who learn with their hands - kinesthetics
- Those who learn with their eyes - visuals
- Those who use their ears - auditory
From there, you can refine your strategy. You'll save precious time, and you'll really feel like you're making progress every time you're faced with a somewhat complicated lesson.
2 - Organise your work
Yes, to have good results, you must always be up to date in your work. Get into the habit of reviewing every day at home or at the library, get ahead of your work and above all, try to NEVER put things off until tomorrow.
✅ Find out how to stop procrastinating (read now, not later!)
The ideal way to start on a good basis is to create your weekly revision schedule. It is simply a plan of your week to see when to devote your time to work and for how
many hours.
👉 The schedule allows you to know exactly how much time to devote to each subject and to prioritise them: allocate the biggest slots to the subjects you need the most!
💡 Extra tip: use this same schedule to write down the deadlines for your homework or exams.
3 - Remember to store your lessons!
When we talk about organisation, we are talking about both time management and storage. That's why your lessons must always be organised and within your reach, otherwise you'll waste a lot of time finding them.
The ideal is that you can differentiate each subject to better find your way around, by using our project book. The Oxford campus project book has 4 sections so you can neatly organise your work in each section, and it makes finding those subject notes easy to locate.
4 – Creating revision sheets
While we are discussing good grades, lets discuss revision sheets. These fact sheets require you to look into your courses and examine them carefully. Once your lessons have been learned and understood, you can summarise them to extract essential information: dates, definitions, concepts or notions that may come up on the exam.
👉 The result? You know your course and its plan in its entirety, you have reread it enough times to identify the main concepts and as a bonus, you have a review sheet to turn to before an exam.
Certainly, you have given a little more of yourself than if you had tried to learn your course by heart by rereading it tirelessly. But we assure you that it's worth it, because by deploying these efforts, you have made your visual and kinaesthetic memory work and you have integrated the information to remember. On to the good grades!
Your companions in case of panic
The sheets are also very useful for last-minute revision: before an exam, in case of panic or a memory blank. All the information for your course is condensed there. All you have to do is take out our card, find the lost definition and calmly enter the examination room.
“Ahhh, if only I could find the file, I want without having to search for hours in my bag…” Do you dream of it? We did it!
👉 Thanks to SCRIBZEE ®, our free application, you can scan your Flash 2.0. Once scanned, they will be saved on your smartphone. You can then consult them whenever and wherever you want and even share them directly with your friends in the app. The app also has a super useful handwriting recognition tool. You can search for information within your own file in just a few clicks!
The little extra to make your life easier? They have a coloured borders - available in 12 colours which has two huge advantages to ensure you get good grades.
- First, they will help you to differentiate between subjects. Remember, for great results, organisation is essential! That's why SCRIBZEE® is a great tool here too: it will automatically store your scanned files in coloured folders to bring them together.
- Coloured frames promote concentration and memory by helping you focus your attention on information. It is scientifically proven by cognitive specialists!
5 - Test your knowledge
Want to know how to get good grades? Understand what you learn. This is essential to arrive serenely both to class and at your exam. This is all the more important when you know that testing your knowledge beforehand greatly promotes learning. This is called the test-effect or testing effect.
This phenomenon is explained by the fact that, when you go in search of newly acquired information, the brain sets in motion a whole cognitive process. Thanks to this gear, the info in question will be fixed more deeply in the memory.
In particular, you can initiate this process by using the Feynman method. 👇
- Choose a topic or concept from your course.
- On a blank sheet, write down everything you know about the subject. Use simple words that anyone could understand and write down everything that comes to you.
- Finally, compare this sheet with your original course. What is missing? Did you make a mistake about a date, a definition?
- Here we go again 🔁
👉 Thanks to this method, you are sure to have gone around the subject. The fact of having popularised and rewritten it several times will ensure you an optimal anchorage.
6 - On your marks, get set, flash cards!
You can also turn to flash cards to test your knowledge. Flash cards are small cards on which you can write a question on the front and an answer on the back. The aim of the game? Guess the hidden fact, of course 😉
It's even more effective if you opt for our FLASH 2.0 flashcards! They are compatible with SCRIBZEE® and you can scan them and save them on your phone to share them with your friends.
💡 You will also have access to REVISION mode directly on the app. It will review all your scanned flash cards and offer them to you on the screen. From there, nothing could be simpler: you will have to find what is written on the hidden side. You found? Swipe right, otherwise left. This is to tell the algorithm which cards you have the least mastery of so that it can offer them to you again during your next session. Be ready!
Bonus: good grades, what for?
Too often, good grades mean pressure. Many students believe that you have to be at the top of your class to succeed in the eyes of your teachers, or even those around you.
Yes, your frantic quest for good grades can make you lose sight of the pleasure and the chance it is to learn new things. Robert Doisneau said it very well: “The first in the class ignores the pleasure the dunce takes in looking out the window.” 😉
Don't put pressure on yourself and think about letting go…otherwise, you risk getting lost! By being passionate about what you do - at least, by finding an interest in it – you will already have clearer objectives.
A way to achieve your goals
Getting good grades give ambition and legitimise academic hope. They therefore also act as engines and can motivate the aspiration to overcome obstacles to climb mountains⛰️
What if, before tirelessly looking for ways to get good grades to feel legitimate with others, you reflect on what you want? You will quickly regain confidence and you will in turn be able to achieve the goals you have always set for yourself!
We only wish you good grades!
Regardless of level and field of study, these tips apply to anyone who wants to strive for excellence. But beware, as Jim Rohn said, the most important education does not take place in a classroom! You know how to get good grades: be diligent in class, apply our recommendations and bring back the best results... but don't put your development at risk in this quest for 20/20 on your next test. 🌞