How can I study better and get better marks?

You should make sure you don't have a learning disability of some sort, don't know much about em but I know some people have trouble retaining what they read. One simple technique that helped me out was to take lots and lots of small breaks while studying. When you study, you're ability to learn has been shown to follow a bell shaped curve. You're level of engagement increases to a maximum and then decreases with time. If you don't take breaks then you spend more time in the less efficient stage. When you start to feel your mind drift, stop studying for 5 minutes...listen to music..whatever...come back...study 20 minutes...take a 5 minute break...etc Don't go hour after hour without stopping.

As a student who only received B's and C's until the fourth year of university and has since become a teacher I could offer you thousands of pages of advice. There are 3 types of questions however. The type of questions that have answers that may be found/underlined in the textbook or the notes. Second, questions which allude to the answer and the text which also alludes to the answer. i.e. how did sally feel? If Sally stomped up the stairs she probably felt angry. Third, opinion questions: They want your opinion but it must be based on the material which you are required to study. A big help might be to go visit your high school guidance counselor. They will provide you will tips based on your learning style and tips with how to determine your learning style. This is essential in learning how to study. Unfortunatley, some of us have to work harder. As a teacher, I still need to put in more time than my colleagueswhen writing assignments. Writing does not come easy for me, even though it is essential in my world. Therefore, I put in the extra time. Good Luck, It's not always easy. Birdie

The 13 hrs. vs. 30 minutes, 50% vs. A is a red flag to me. So is the "angry and frustrated." Something is wrong. Does your school have an academic counselor you can talk to? If not, talk to a favorite teacher. I think that somehow, you must be getting in your own way. Either you're not understanding the goals of the assignments or you've developed some kind of mental block. Not everyone can be a top student, no matter how hard they work--but it shouldn't be this hard to do well. And life shouldn't be this unpleasant for you, either. --Former prof.

Is this across the board in all your classes, or just one class in particular? Has this always been the case? If this is something that has just latey become a problem, try to think back, and see if something else happened about or before this that may have effected you, even if you didn't give it any creedence then or now, - like breaking up with a girl friend, losing a loved one of family member, or relative? Pet that died or ran away? Parents divorce or separate? Some one make a homosexual pass at you? Did you have a bad case of the "flu"? No to the above? Then have your vision checked. Eyes ok - good. Then go to your family Doctor and see idf you have Dyslexia or some other learning disorder - that up til now you have been able to cope with - but now that the work is harder you can't "fake" it through, or maybe the learning disorder has jumped from slight to moderate - (I'm just making some wild guesses here - but there are things that you need to cross of the "List of possible causes of your poor performance right? In the mean time, you may want to try a trick I came up with when I was in college. In HS I was bored with schoolwork. I was basically an "A" student, but for the most part I never studied, - Oh I read the assigments, and did the work alright, - I have an almost photographic memory, and have a natural ability to to See the "Big-Picture" easily in my studies, while putting the current lesson plan in context of the overall picture - be it the progression of mathematics, the evolution of biology, or the developement of civilization. However in my freshman year, I ran into a snag with Biology, - I just wasn't "getting it", - this was stuff I should already know and I was lost!! So I hired a tutor. But I did not hire a tutor to teach me; I hired a tutor so I could "Teach" him. My older brother is two years older that I am, and as he went thru school, he was a C+ / B student. He worked for his grades, but he also worked full time to earn a living to support himself, and a soon to be wife. When he fell short on study time, he often would ask me to study with him, meaning mentor / play the instructor role in helping him prepare a paper, or for an exam. I fgound that by doing this, I actually wound up learning more that my brother did. In other words - I learned more as a teacher of the material than as a student, - well it worked for me - maybe it will work for you. Another thing you can do is form a "study group for your individual classes. You get about 4 - 5 people together, (any more is just too many), and you all agree to meet at a set time and a set day twice a week for two hours, (more if needed); say every tuesday & thursday evening at 7:00 PM until 9:00 PM at the Library, in small study room # 313, Now everybody sets it on their schedule, and that's it - no changes thru the school year. Then you study as a group, talkling among yourselves, share ideas, insights, and solve questions, prepare and take your own quizes, - etc. Anyway, I hope that these suggestions help. Please do see your doctors, about your eyes, and any possibility of a learning disorder, (- and no you may not realize you have one). Good luck Buddy, I'm pulling for you, - we're all in this together.