How to be a Top Performing Student in your class

Becoming a top performing student among other students is one thing most students wish for, achieving that, however, is what many don't know how to go about it. But, it's not a mystery. You can do it! In this post, I want to share with you a few open secrets that will help you become one of the best students, academically, amoung your peers. What are the secrets?...

Go extra miles

I'm trying to remember some words from a Glo add that featured Anthony Joshua. It says something like: "champions go the distance and they goes further". In other words, to become a champion you need to push further than the average person do. I loved that ad because those words are quite motivating and above all makes perfect sense. This also applies to you as a student. If you do just what an average student does, don't expect yourself to be that A-class, best in the class student. Things don't work that way. The amount of effort you put into your studies and overall academic life greatly determines the result you can get. If you aim for the top of the class performance, put extra efforts to what you're doing now. Study a little bit more. Read a little bit more. Of course, putting extra efforts doesn't mean you should stress yourself out with reading or have no rest. In everything it is important to take your health and wellbeing serious and know when to rest. The idea is to work harder than the average student.

Be consistently committed

To some students, being committed is seasonal. They are serious with their studies only when exams are around the corner. This is a quality of an average student. But for you who is working hard to be among the very best, you have to understand that consistency and commitment is key. You perform better in exams when you're well prepared for it. This is common sense but unfortunately many students don't take consistency seriously. Trying to learn all there is to learn a couple of days to the exams is not a smart move at all!

Reduce your distractions

Tiktok, WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, etc. What about hanging out, party and events? Distractions will always present themselves. What matters is how you manage them. While it is important to give yourself enough time to relax and have fun, you should also know when the fun time, social media time and similar distractions are affecting your studies and set your priorities right. Many students are so addicted to social media these days that they can't read one page of book without opening a social media app. To be the A-grade student of your dream, avoid things that make you not to focus when studying. Social media is a common one. There is time for everything. Have fun when it is time for it, be fully focused in your study when it is time for it. A little distractions here and there and you might end up below average. You definitely don't want that!

Avoid procrastination

Procrastination is tricky. Instead of doing that assignment now, you tell yourself "I'll do it in the evening." Then evening comes, "I'll do it tomorrow." Eventually you keep procrastinating until you have just little time to do the assignment and end up not doing it the best way you could have The same is true for other academic stuff. Don't make procrastination a habit. It's counterproductive.

Work smart

You have to understand that one of the goals of being in school is to pass exams. In as much learning should be the most important thing, learning without passing your exams in flying colors can make things more difficult for you, even after school. Therefore as a student, working smart include:

• Make friends with students who are better than you academically. This way you have brilliant students you can study together with and learn a lot from. This doesn't in any way mean you shouldn't be friends with anyone you think is less capable academically. The idea is to learn from those who know better so you too can join them as top perfomers.
• Study the materials the teachers share because exam questions will likely come from there. Reading other textbooks on the subject is fine. My point is that smart students take the handouts and course materials from the teachers seriously. There is a reason for that.
• Attend lectures is not for "weak" students! Attending lectures has other benefits in addition to making understanding easy. When you attend lectures you get to know where the teacher lays emphasis or focused more. Most times this helps you know what to focus more on and what will likely appear in exam questions.
• Take good care of yourself. "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." Overworking yourself can be counterproductive. Stress and other health issues might start coming up. So, make sure to take good care of your health and general wellbeing.

Believe you can

Finally, believe you can do it. The most effective motivation you need is the one that comes from within you. When you say to yourself "I can become one of the very best students" and go for it, the sky will be your starting point. All the best!