School can be tough, especially when you’re a teenager. How do adults expect you to balance your life, friends, clubs, and work and still make good grades? Teens today are under more pressure than the high school students of the past, and becoming an honor student may seem like Jay Gatsby’s green light – an attainable goal, always just out of reach.
If you understood that literary reference, that means you’ve done the reading – just one of many steps necessary if you want to become an honor student and turn your education around! Unlike our man Gatsby, the American dream of making the honor roll is attainable if you put in a little bit of hard work and change some of your habits. All you need to do is decide to put school and academic success at the forefront while you’re in school.
If a spot on high school honors (or even college honors) is your version of the green light, you won’t need to pine for it across the courtesy bay for long. Read on to learn some tips and tricks that can help you learn how to study hard, refine your focus, and become an honor student by next semester!
Acknowledge That It’s Work
When you’re a teenager, succeeding in school is your job. A job is labor, and labor means success involves some effort. Unfortunately, students don’t get paid weekly for doing their homework, but that effort does pay off in the form of scholarships and awards around graduation time.
It can be helpful to think of something that you love and care about, even if that thing is not currently academic. Perhaps it’s singing, sports, a musical instrument, visual art, or writing stories. Think about the pride you take in the forward-facing aspects of those hobbies, and what it means when others notice your effort and accomplishments.
That’s how strong students feel about school work. They work hard to take pride in the work that goes into achieving those good grades. They care about school in the way some students care about photography, horseback riding, or cheerleading.
It takes effort to get good at anything. Schoolwork is no exception. If you begin with the recognition that you need to put in the labor to achieve results, then you are one step ahead of students who haven’t realized that yet.
The goal, however, is to build habits and routines that make the effort sustainable. You improve when you practice, and it’s possible to become a better student by learning how you learn, study, and focus best.
Build a Study Routine
We all know a smart student who doesn’t do any work and still shows up and aces the test. For some students, genetics and privilege make succeeding in school an effortless process. Not everyone comes from that kind of background, and many students need to put in the time and effort to achieve at the same level as the current candidate for school valedictorian.
Even if you don’t come from a land of private tutors and exposure to all the enrichment money can buy, a shift in your routine can do a lot to improve your grades. Hard work does pay off, but it’s important to make sure that you’re doing the right kind of hard work. Sitting down with your books at a certain time is only helpful if you have a plan.
The key for many hard-working students is routine. Studying and doing school work should be as automatic as brushing your teeth in the morning, or packing your lunch. It’s something that you do because it’s healthy and good for you.
Here are some tips for building a study routine that’s not just automatic, but effective.
Start With a Goal
If you plop down in the library with a stack of textbooks taller than you, you’re going to get overwhelmed. Where do you start? How do you pace yourself?
You can get a step ahead by starting your study session with a goal. First, start with a big picture goal – for example, a subject that you want to focus on. If you know you’ll be working on chemistry, you can put the novel, math workbook, and history textbook away.
Then, make a smaller, more specific goal regarding how you want to use your time. What facet of chemistry do you want to know and understand by the end of your hour in the library? Will you memorize a specific formula, learn a section of the periodic table, or memorize the states of matter?
Breaking things down into specific, manageable chunks is a great way to stay focused and evaluate what you were able to accomplish. If you were unsuccessful, try to figure out why and adjust your approach. It might be helpful to start with smaller goals if you aren’t used to focusing.
Choose Your Spot
The library doesn’t work for everyone. It can be distracting, either because of the other students or – for some students – due to the call of so many more interesting books! Some students love it because they need ambient noise to focus, and the soft chit-chat of the public space keeps them engaged and learning.
You know what you need to succeed, so pick your ideal place and make it your study spot. This is part of building a routine. Your brain will begin to associate that location with a need for focus and attention.
Think about it. How many times have you wandered into the kitchen and grabbed something to eat when you weren’t even hungry, just because you were in there? Your brain makes those connections without you even realizing it, and over time, it will associate your designated study spot with study habits.
Set a Time Limit
If all you do is make a plan to study “after school,” you could end up studying for ten minutes… or ten hours. If you set aside an hour, however, then you will know exactly how long you have and be able to pace yourself. You also will ensure that you put in enough time to get enough done, but don’t overdo it.
This is key to building a routine. Setting a time limit will ensure that you make the time every single day and don’t end up doing something else. Your time limit can change if you’re working on a big project or paper, but having one will prevent you from overdoing it or burning out.
Choose a Time That Works
Our bodies have natural rhythms, and each of us is a little bit different. Think about your classmates. Who shows up to school bright and perky and ready for the day, and who shows up half-asleep until the last period of the day, when they spring up like a daisy?
You will naturally have energy at certain times of the day, and that’s not always immediately after school. A morning person might want to set an alarm and get up early to put in their study time. An evening person might want to study every Saturday evening with some takeout.
The harder the class, the more energy you will need to focus and tackle the subject matter. Save your most challenging work for the moments when you’re feeling awake and revitalized. You can also pack a snack to give you a little extra energy and motivation before you hit the books!
Stretch Yourself
Something that average or low-performing students might not realize is that honor students take more challenging classes. When you enroll in an honors, AP, or college-level course in high school (or a 300 or 400 level course in college), you often receive weighted grades that reflect the extra effort necessary to excel in harder classes. That’s why your school valedictorian might graduate with an impossible-sounding GPA, like 4.5!
Hard work yields rewards, so don’t be afraid to stretch yourself a little bit and see how you can benefit. For example, if you’re already a whiz in English class, why not enroll in the honors section and boost your GPA a bit? It might require a little more effort, but you will rise to the occasion when surrounded by hard-working peers.
Embrace Your Strengths
You might consider joining a subject-specific honor society in an area where you’re already a strong student. These organizations make it easy to form study groups, find tutoring opportunities, and excel in an academic subject area. They also open up pathways toward more opportunities to grow.
Sometimes, all it takes to see yourself as a high-achieving student is an acknowledgment of your existing strengths. Maybe you’re still working toward the honor roll, but you’re a top student in technology or math. Join the honor society that allows you to show off your existing strengths and rise to the occasion to prove to yourself that you are already smart and capable!
Luckily, there is an honor society for nearly everything, from foreign languages to speech and debate. If you’re interested in joining a group like that, you can learn more here.
Expand Your Friend Group
The smartest and highest achieving students at your school probably end up in a lot of the same classes together. They’ll be in every honors section, every advanced placement class, and may even be part of a gifted and talented cohort.
This can provide a lot of pressure to succeed and keep up with your peers – but good pressure is not always a bad thing. Spending time with high-performing students can teach you new study habits and encourage you to work hard in pursuit of excellence. Why not try to make friends with some of the top students in your school and see if your behavior changes as a result?
The truth is, teenagers as susceptible to peer pressure. If you spend time with a friend group that prioritizes school and learning, you’ll probably pick up on some of those habits, too. You’ll be able to see how much work an honor student puts into their schoolwork to maintain their place at the top of the class.
This doesn’t mean ditch your other friends, of course! A diverse friend group will expand your perspective on the world. It’ll provide you with plenty of brilliant fodder for class discussions, and make your academic writing stronger.
Ask for Help
Chances are, if you’re looking to join the honor roll, you’re probably a decent student already. If you tend to be fairly smart and self-sufficient, it can be difficult to ask for help. Sometimes, however, your willingness to be vulnerable is the thing that makes the biggest difference.
If you’re struggling, especially if it’s only in one particular area, there are resources out there to support you. This might include peer tutoring, extra help sessions run by teachers, or student-run study groups. These opportunities can boost your grades in a particularly weak area and put your GPA over the top so you can finally claim your spot on the honor roll!
Your teachers want you to succeed! After all, your grades and scores reflect on their ability to teach the material. If you don’t feel comfortable going to a teacher, consider asking a guidance counselor, athletic coach, or student leader.
You’re an Honor Student in Training!
Anyone can be an honor student if they put in the effort to improve in their weak academic areas and bring up their overall GPA average. If you begin with the recognition that it takes work to excel, you will be on your way to putting a plan into place that will get you to where you want to be. Don’t be afraid to take advantage of school organizations or ask for help on your way to the honor roll!
Now that you’re an overachiever, why stop after reading only one blog post? Check out the rest of the blog for more tips and tricks that can make you a stronger student and individual.
