Five Ways to Improve Grades
When it comes to improving grades, many teens aren’t sure what to do. Lots of them are under the impression that they “just need to write more” – but this is largely untrue. It is often what they write- and the quality of it- that dictates the higher grades.
Quality Writing
The age-old saying ‘it’s quality, not quantity’ really does apply when it comes to achieving top grades. (That said, your teen does still need to write enough, of course!) Answers that are focussed, critical or analytical tend to do better than answers that seem long-winded or waffled.
Learning to be succinct is another tricky skill, but it is an excellent skill to acquire for exam success! Your teen’s teachers will be trying to help them with this- and exam technique is something we cover on our external revision courses, too.
Answer the question set
To deliver a focussed answer, it’s imperative your teen answers the question set. Your teen needs to remember that the examiner won’t be able to mark pages upon pages of topic knowledge; instead, they are looking for specific answers that showcase a mastered response to a topic.
When students fail to answer the actual question or misread the question, marks are unfortunately lost. Your teen needs to read each question through a few times- and slowly- underlining keywords as they go. This will help to highlight the focus and students can then begin to unpack their ideas from there.
Revise!
When it comes to writing quality, knowledgeable content, your teen will need to get stuck into revision. Cramming is not generally advised: instead, the slow and steady approach is much better. Spending weeks and months properly learning course content is far more likely to have a successful outcome when it comes to examinations and beyond; the sooner your teen starts revising, the better. It’s likely they’ll receive revision tasks from teachers but signing your teen up for a revision course can have a dramatic impact on improving grades, too.
We provide courses throughout the year to guide your teen. Our SQA courses are for National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher and provide an excellent way to ensure your teenager revises intensively, acquiring that deeper level of knowledge. In addition to this, our subject specialists will help your teen tackle exam technique (like answering the question set!)
Our team of highly experienced school teachers are expert at delivering intensive revision courses providing students with the best possible preparation in the lead up to their SQA examinations. Attending revision courses can provide students with up to 50 hours per subject of comprehensive tuition over the course of the academic year.
SQA-Easter-Revision-Courses
Practise past papers as soon as possible
As a part revision, whether that be on one of our courses, at home, or in class, one of the ways to make the biggest impact is to practise past papers as soon as possible! This is all about mastering exam techniques and timings, as well as boosting your child’s confidence (they’ll soon begin to know exactly what to expect!)
Make every mark count
With that in mind, once your child has a better idea of what to expect, they may be able to make every mark count. Once your teen becomes more familiar with exams, content and technique, they’ll begin to recognise what they need to do in order to squeeze every last mark out of a question! To improve, keep practising and keep preparing to make progress! Every mark won will be a factor towards your child’s overall success. See every single mark as important.