There are simple ways to improve your grades. If you’ve read more than a couple of articles on this website, you know by now that your grades can make a huge difference in what options you have to keep playing baseball. Players with good grades are much better prospects for college coaches looking for guys who will be successful on the field and eligible to play. But what if you hate to study? How are you supposed to get good grades? This article has become a mainstay on our site each fall. Even if you hate studying, here are some ideas to help you be successful in the classroom.
Study more often.
Yes, even though you hate studying, we’re telling you to study more often. That’s because if you study more often, you’ll be able to study for shorter periods of time. For example, don’t wait and study for 3 hours all at once the night before big tests. It will be a lot easier and you’ll improve your grades if you study 1/2 hour for tests every night during the week before you take them. When you start sooner, you won’t have to study so long in one sitting and you’ll learn more that way too.
Study with a group.
Studying with a group can help you learn more and it will be more fun than trying to study by yourself. Obviously, the trick is that you have to study with people who are willing to put in the work and who understand at least as much as you do. When you get confused, you can ask the others questions. If someone else in your group is not clear about something you’ve already learned, you’ll find that explaining it to him can help you remember more.
Be realistic about distractions.
When you hate to study, it is easy to get distracted by all the things around you. Your friends, music, cell phone, the internet, even a ball game can make it hard to concentrate on what you’re learning. When you are distracted, you’re going to have to study a lot longer to get the same amount out and that’s something you don’t want to do. You’ll improve your grades if you figure out what really distracts you and makes it harder for you to study. But, you have to be honest and realistic about those distractions.
If having your cell phone next to you makes you think more about texts than tests, you need to turn it off. If you end up on the internet every 5 minutes when you’re trying to write an essay, you should turn off the connection. Start with short periods of distraction-free time (like 20 minutes) and see how it affects your studying. If it helps, you might want to try studying distraction-free for longer periods of time.
Use the information you’ve learned whenever you can.
While it is not always easy to figure out how to use what you’ve learned outside the classroom, try to find ways to either use, talk about, or teach others what you’ve learned. Here are some examples: use new vocabulary words with your family, use math when you go to the store, talk about things you learned in history class. When you use information, more parts of your brain learn what you studied. You’ll find that you can remember things you use outside of class more easily and for longer periods of time. You won’t have to keep re-studying things.
Ask for help.
If your curveball was missing the strike zone all of a sudden and you couldn’t figure it out, you’d talk to your pitching coach, wouldn’t you? Or if you are having trouble with the footwork you need to get quicker at turning double plays, you’d ask someone about it. You know your weaknesses on the field and you work on them. Weaknesses in the classroom are no different. They are just something else to work on. People learn things in different ways, maybe you need a little (or a lot) of help in some of your classes.
You may not want to ask for help because you don’t want to seem dumb. But ask yourself this, what if a little help is all you need to get grades that are good enough to play ball at the school of your dreams? Wouldn’t it be pretty dumb to never ask for help? Are you willing to give up everything you’re working for? In college, the best student-athletes ask for help before they fall behind in the class. This is a practice you should start now. Ask someone you trust to help you get the support you need to succeed on and off the field!
