By: Philip Mattie
How much of your grades depend on how determined you are? A good offline or online tutoring and grades and determination are closely linked. I have a theory that your grades and your determination are linked and go together like peanut butter and jelly, or strawberries and cream. Separate, the two ingredients are OK, nothing special. However, when combined, flavours are enhanced, encouraged, and a better, more fulfilling taste is the result.
My metaphors suggest that if you have both determination and good grades, then they feed off each other, reinforcing both. So it’s important to have both parts, obviously. But if you are missing one, what happens? If you have good grades but are not determined to do anything, what happens? If you are determined but don’t have good grades, what happens?
Let’s find out, and see what you can do to make the perfect peanut butter jelly sandwich.
1. I’m determined to do well, but my grades are still suffering. Why?
Tough one. I’ve known a lot of very determined, motivated people who have the right attitude but still cannot get their grades up to par. There are a variety of reasons for this phenomena; maybe, you’re not able to find a good teacher and understand the online tutoring and grades connection. But I think the number one reason people don’t live up to their own expectations is because they are surrounding themselves with the wrong people. If you are determined and dedicated to a certain thing, you need to change who you hang out with. I mean, could you imagine Arnold Schwarzenegger in his bodybuilding prime hanging out at the local fast food restaurant? I doubt it.
Surrounding yourself with like-minded people is of huge importance. Just think, if you joined a math study group or math tutoring, and you are weak in one area but your group members are strong, you will grow. However, your real growth will come when you get to teach someone else something you know well. Doing so will increase your confidence and your ability in the area; in fact, you are less likely to forget something that you have taught someone else. Believe it or not, your learning capacity actually increases if you teach; that’s right, you learn more by teaching. Sounds odd, but it’s true. So join a study group and teach away! And bring together like minded people to help you where you are weakest.
Another reason determined people stumble is an odd one.
They have bad study habits. You can be the most determined person in the world, but if you have a tendency to stay up late and study when it is least effective, then there’s a problem. Come to think of it, every person has his/her own special time of the day, a time when productivity levels are off-the-chart. Mine is in between 11-12 o’clock in the morning and 6-8 in the evening. For whatever reason, I am most efficient and awake during these times. Find out what time you are most productive and awake and plan to study during it.
One other bad habit is that people tend to simply read material when there is so much more to do. Reading a text doesn’t do you a whole lot of good. Instead, you should be putting information from the text into your own words, paraphrasing and modifying, adding and subtracting details. Look at the text as if it were a wet towel, and you are trying to squeeze every drop of information out of it. You won’t get a lot of information out of the towel by just staring at it and looking at the water drip out, but if you participate in its removal, you get better results. As a bonus tip, you should plan for your new semester in advance.
2. I’m in the top of my class grade-wise, but I lack motivation. Why?
Have things come easy to you in the past? I can tell you for a fact that your life and your attitude towards life will change after you leave high school—in a big way. You’ll find that, if you continue to post-secondary institutions, your natural abilities only carry you so far. So, while you are still in high school, you have an amazing opportunity to make something special of yourself.
Challenge yourself in a way that you never have: Pick up a chemistry text or a javelin or poetry and try something new, something you aren’t naturally good at, and if you fail, pick yourself back up, dust yourself off, and try again. You have the ability to learn on your own without a lot of instruction, so make the most of that ability and enhance it by learning something completely new. When you choose a tutor, remember that online tutoring and grades should be in your mind.
It’s so easy to fail when so much has come so easily. I had some truly intelligent friends in high school that, after graduating, dropped out of university in their first year and worked at *insert local retail chain here* for the next three years. Ultimately, my suggestion is this: Learn to swim before graduating or risk sinking in darker waters afterwards.
What is you Realize your Potential After High School?
And, if you are one of those students who, like me, realized their potential well after high school, know that it is not too late. In many ways, grades in high school aren’t a measure of intelligence; rather, they are a way to measure proficiency in adhering to sets of rules. And if you get As in all your classes, you are really good at reading instructions and answering appropriately. But you have yet to think outside the established status quo, which is why I recommend picking up something you are completely unfamiliar with in order to build your determination and guts up to par. Important tip
Whether you have natural ability or are tooth-and-nail determined, there is no substitute for having both. You will succeed outside of high school if you have the whole sandwich rather than just a piece of peanut butter bread. You can gain ability by fixing bad study habits and surrounding yourself with others who are gifted and, on the flipside, you can gain determination by personally challenging yourself with something new and difficult to learn.
Enjoy your sandwich, and remember that Online tutoring and grades and determination are closely linked!