How to be a better student

[ButterflySally]

Whether its high school or college, a student could always use different ways to help them focus and do better at school.

A few tips I've learned over the years that have helped me maintain good grades:

1) Put away your phone during lectures. They are only a distraction.

2) Set your timer for 2 hours every night so you can focus your studying. When the timer goes off move on to a different subject or take a break.

3) Go to bed at a reasonable time. The worse thing to be is tired and unfocused during lectures in the morning. 

Stick with these tips and you're sure to see improvement. 

[Vastor122]

For me, to be a good student, you have to put yourself into a perspective that you are a student and not anything else. We tend to cram a lot before the examination period because of distractions, distractions that we don't even need, distractions that aren't really for students. So for you/us to be a better school learners, we have to put our heart in it. Let's make studying our career for the mean time, cause whether you like it or not, finishing your studies is the longest ladder that you can use to reach you goals in life.

[Dallas O'Mara]

As a teacher, I always encourage my students to take notes by hand. Studies have shown that students who take notes with pen and paper remember the information better than those who take notes on a laptop or tablet. The difference is in the effort. Students who take notes on a device often fall into transcribing, which takes little mental effort. On the other hand, students who take notes by hand have to think harder simply because writing takes longer. There isn't enough time to write down every word the teacher says by hand, so students taking notes with pen and paper have to think about choices. They have to think about what is important enough to write down and what should be left out. Then they have to think about how to write those facts down in a shorter sentence. They also have to think about how to abbreviate words and how to organize information on the page.

All of these things add up to serious thinking about the topic. That kind of thinking naturally leads to better memory of the topic. Essentially, taking notes by hand is the same as studying notes. What student wouldn't want to get a class lecture and a serious study session done at the same time? Taking notes by hand is a definite win-win!