By Katie Azevedo, M.Ed. Getting good grades in school is about way more than being smart. In fact, being smart doesn’t have much to do with it. Students with the highest grades tend to have the most efficient systems for doing school. When your systems …
By Katie Azevedo, M.Ed. Some semesters are just harder than others. Maybe you’re taking more advanced courses, your professors are a little stricter, or you’re adding an internship or job to the mix (which is maxing out your time, making your semester feel harder as …
By Katie Azevedo, M.Ed. School can feel overwhelming for a million reasons, most of which have to do with the fact that school is hard. I’m dead serious. AP physics can feel challenging because AP physics is challenging. Advanced economics can feel difficult because advanced …
By Katie Azevedo, M.Ed. We all know that tests can be hard. Obviously. But for many students, the real reason school feels hard isn’t the work itself: it’s everything around the work that’s the real challenge. The things no one talks about. The invisible stuff. …
By Katie Azevedo, M.Ed. Many high school teachers and college professors assign final projects instead of final exams. Teachers and professors may choose a final project over an exam for several reasons. First, it may fit the subject better. Second, they want to see if …
By Katie Azevedo, M.Ed. Does this scenario sound familiar? You bomb a test and it brings down your class grade. That makes you feel bad, so you zone out during the next few classes because you think, “What’s the point? I already failed.” As a …
By Katie Azevedo, M.Ed. Most students will fail a test or an assignment at some point in their school lives. While this isn’t ideal, it’s normal and won’t likely jeopardize your overall class grade too much. If you fail a test, follow these strategies here. …
By Katie Azevedo, M.Ed. Whether you miss class because you’re sick, have an excused absence, or just choose to sleep in, missing school almost always results in missing assignments. And missing assignments lead to late assignments. Something else that causes late assignments? Not doing them …
By Katie Azevedo, M.Ed. Part of my job as a study skills expert and executive functioning coach is to stay current on the research around learning. Once in a while, I come across bogus study advice that is not only funny, but that does more …
By Katie Azevedo, M.Ed. You can find an endless amount of apps, games and programs that claim to help you study. And while some of these are fun and can be an effective way to do a final review of the material you’re learning, I …