Raise Your Grades This Semester With Some Tips From Cengage Learning

It’s Saturday night and you are dressed to impress. Your phone beeps constantly with incoming texts from friends eagerly talking about the night’s plans.

As you grab your phone to text back something witty, you see a calendar notification reminding you that you have a chemistry midterm on Monday. Defeated, you send out a mass text announcing your change in plans, slip into pajamas and crack open your chemistry book.

Has this ever happened to you? Have you had to cancel weekend plans, pull all-nighters or skip meals just to ensure your grades don’t suffer? You’re in college to get a degree, which means achieving high enough marks to graduate. But how can you see better results in the classroom without making major life adjustments?

Enter the following tips from Cengage Learning for some small adjustments you can make to help you improve your GPA, from this recent press release.

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1. Get Organized. I know what you’re thinking, but organization is one of the most undervalued study habits students can make to achieve better grades. Because you lead such a busy life, keeping everything in order seems impossible.

However, you’re in luck: edtech leaders are continually improving tools to help you get and stay organized. For example, Cengage Learning, a global education company, is conducting extensive student-focused research to ensure that today’s digital solutions support how you live and learn as a student.

Integrating student feedback allows developers of today’s digital tools to better assist with time management in traditional ways–such as tracking assignments, due dates and upcoming projects–but also by packaging study materials in digestible segments and convenient formats.

2. Work on Time Management. Time management is one of the hardest skills to master as a college student, but if you can achieve this feat, you will see vast improvements in your grades. Maintaining a detailed calendar, tracking time and creating a schedule at the beginning of each week can help you manage time and maximize efficiency. Managing your time will allow you to get the most out of your day in not only academics but all areas of your life.

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3. Use Digital Technologies. According to the press release, 80 percent of college students say implementing digital technologies in their learning has increased their academic performance. However, studies show that as much as 40 percent of students are not taking advantage of digital offerings available to them.

Instead of neglecting the digital components that come with your textbooks and course materials, try to see the value in these tools. Today’s online learning tools are designed to optimize the way you learn, and thus offer valuable opportunities to maximize your productivity and understanding.

Take advantage of the technology available to you, such as MindTap, Cengage Learning’s personalized e-learning platform; you’ll see your classroom engagement, information retention and grades skyrocket.

4. Remember Your Health. Maintain a healthy lifestyle to keep your mind and body at peak performance. Though it’s easy to put health on the bottom of your list, remember that regular exercise, a healthy diet and a consistent sleep schedule is essential to optimal brain performance.

Students who practice healthy habits see higher levels of energy, improved info retention and overall better focus.

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5. Get Engaged. The more actively engaged you are in your course materials, the more you’ll get out of class. According to Cengage Learning research, 77 percent of students attribute higher levels of engagement to courses that use digital learning tools.

This is often because technology-enabled learning tools foster collaboration between students, instructors and classmates, which allows for improved workflow, customization and visibility into individual progress.

Try incorporating these small changes into your study routine to see some positive results in your academic performance. It’s never too late to try something different that could be the difference between poor grades and exceptional grades.