Top Five Tips to improve academic performance.

1) Breakfast Time

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Breakfast time is a great opportunity to skim read a few notes, because at the start of the day your mind is clear and fresh. Instead of watching some cartoons, grab one of your books of notes and read through some of the key points or equations you wish to remember. It doesn't have to be long, just 5 or 10 minutes. If you skip breakfast, then get up a few minutes earlier to perform this ritual. As an added bonus; as you commute to school you may even end up thinking more about some of the things you read. If there's concepts you struggle with, definitely put them at your breakfast time to review daily.

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2) Turn off the Phones & Distractions

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Sort out an area in your home or room that you can study at. When you sit down to study, remove as many distractions as you possibly can. Make sure your study area is peaceful and a distraction free zone. That means no TV and no social messaging platforms! Most young people have unhealthy phone habits, and they get in the way of everything. Think of study time as a peaceful time you can look forward too and not worry about what everyone else is doing or saying. If you happen to require using a computer, perhaps for coding or solving difficult equations, make sure you only have open the programs you need. If you constantly end up going onto Facebook or a news website, then you shouldn't have your computer on during study.

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3) Invest in a few Books

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Find a few books you like the look of, perhaps directly covering your course material, or perhaps extending or supplementing your courses. No need to spend up big, books are cheaper than computers and besides there's nothing wrong with well cared for second hand books either!  Pick wisely in the hope you will get much use out of them. I personally have many calculus & physics books I often refer too in my own research. Make a habit of reading a little now and then either during your study time or as a way to add variation from your homework. One advantage to studying from a book is that it often forces you to build concepts up in a logical progressive framework, and work out the in-between steps not always shown. Developing these skills are important.

 

4) Compulsory Homework / Study

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Set aside 2-3 days a weeks when you undertake either school homework or self directed study  (or tutor directed!). Even if you have no homework, find something you are interested in and study it. Developing the discipline to study and learn on your own is very important. There is much satisfaction to be gained from wrestling with a difficult concept and finally figuring it out on your own, this build's resilience and creativity in your problem solving. If there's something you don't understand after trying for a while, simply save it for your tutor and don't get bogged down. My favourite saying to keep in mind: "around the corner of confusion is a large learning experience". If you don't go through these experiences you are unlikely to learn concepts to a deeper level.

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Perhaps your school doesn't set homework, and you have been thinking you are lucky because of this! Well let me tell you, actually you are unlucky. If you don't study at all, your potential is going to waste and you are slowly getting left behind. Developing your mathematical potential during the teenage years is very important and can be much harder as an adult.

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5) Value Knowledge

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People are far more likely to engage with something successfully if they value what they are doing. Sometimes all we need is a little reminder at how privileged we are to have the ability to learn so many things. We are also lucky to have access to a wealth of scientific and mathematical knowledge on the internet, far more than I had available to me even in the local library. If you have an unhealthy view of what you are learning or that its "boring" or "uninteresting", your mind will switch off before it's even had a chance to engage meaningfully. Under the right circumstances almost anything can be intriguing and surprising. Perhaps a fresh perspective is all you need.