7 Ways to Raise Your Grades

Raise grades in college


We’re rapidly nearing the midway point of the semester and the toughest part of that is checking where you are academically—have you reviewed your grades? Peeked at your test scores?

If you’re not where you want to be, you still have plenty of time to revive your grades and flourish in the second half of the semester. Here are some methods to boost your grades going forward:

1. Check in with the professor
Obvious? Yes. Effective? Definitely. If you’re looking for ways to boost the grades, convene with your teacher and seek out opportunities for additional practice, more thorough explanations and more one-on-one discussions of your class work. Remember that professors are there to serve YOU, so get your money’s worth and see what you can do to connect the dots and really “get” the class material.

2. Hire a tutor
Many schools offer tutoring services and out-of-class assistance to help you get more practice. Studying with a tutor can be a refreshing outside perspective and explanation that may be more effective than what you’re getting in a large classroom setting. Connecting with a tutor is a very viable option for students to boost their grades.

3. Join an academic fraternity
Joining fraternities like Beta Alpha Psi (finance/accounting fraternity) and Sigma Delta Pi (Spanish fraternity) are great opportunities to further hone your skills in a respective field. If you’re looking to master your trade and boost your knowledge there, check if your major or class has an honors fraternity. For those hesitant, these organizations are much different than your typical frat bros—it’s a way to network and receive recognition for going above and beyond in a certain field, while also improving your knowledge and understanding in that field.

4. Balance your life
Sometimes the inability to balance your other classes, activities, job or internship prospectus and social life can be the hurdle between you and your academic goals. Ensuring you don’t have “too much on your plate” can be a key factor in boosting grades. However, some students work best under pressure, so if you have a shortage of classes or activities and find yourself slacking off, consider defying conventional wisdom and becoming busier. Why you may ask? When you have less time to go shopping at the mall or play video games, you’ll push yourself to do better, operate more efficiently and keep time management more seriously. Make sure you know which to subscribe to!

5. Make note cards
Sure, it’s very 4th grade-ish, but note cards are incredibly effective for many people. Not only are you visually and physically seeing and writing out facts and figures, you’ll have them to quiz yourself on the go. Take a few minutes each day to flip the other side of the card to enhance your memory skills and understanding of concepts you may be struggling with… while you may feel childish, your grades should see the dividends of a little “old school” study habits.

6. Find out your study habits: listening, rewriting, seeing, etc.
Discovering which way works for you is incredibly important for efficient studying. Are you a visual learner? Do you operate best when you hear things? Read them yourself? Read them aloud? Figuring out what works best for you may seem like an easy task, but many people are unsure what they actually work best with—attempt some trial and error to see which method works best for you!

7. Study apps
What are Quizlet, Droid Scholar and StudyBlue? They’re just a line of the top rated study apps available on your phone or tablet today. Checkout GradGuard’s Best Study Apps for a myriad of different websites that may enhance your study techniques, and subsequently, your grades!