FUNDAMENTALS FOR HIGH GRADE PERFORMANCE IN SCHOOL AS A STUDENT.

When one speaks of the fundamentals of anything, one is basically talking about the principles, foundation or the important factors required for that thing to thrive.

In this case, we are speaking of the fundamentals for High grade performance in school as a student, meaning, we are talking about the principles or the important factors required for (to achieve) high grade performance as a student.

Put in the simplest of terms, we are talking about the things you need to have so you can have high grades.

The first thing required, to me as a high- grade performance student myself, it is to know the "why".

By this, I mean, you need to know why you should be a high-grade performance student before we even begin to look at HOW to become a high- grade performance student.

The world is a highly competitive place and every organization and country are on the look- out for the best in all fields or works of life.

It is true that succeeding in life requires more than high grades, but every organization and country thrives on the capacity of their most high performing citizens.

Being a high-grade performing student already forms in you most of the attributes required for a successful life, it is just unfortunate that many times, high-grade performing students do not inculcate the other attributes required for a successful life.

So, if you go to NASA, it is the hig-grade performing students you will find there, same with USGS, or CIA or the MI5.

The same applies if you go to Intel, Apple or Google and even Facebook; virtually in every organization of international repute, it is the best high performing students you will find there.

 If you have a dream, to work with international organizations, then you need to be a high- grade performing student.

From the WHO to UN to FAO to the World Bank, it is the best performing students you will find there.

Even in gaining admission into Universities in Nigeria and the world over, so long as there is the talk of sharp practices in getting into Universities in Nigeria, Universities always reserve slots for the best performing students.

No University wants to be filled with dullards. So, they always make room for the best performing students.

When you get your “why" right, then you can constantly stay motivated to aim and pursue the highest performances possible.

And the greatest "why" is that you want to make sure that you are among the first to be considered in every opportunity or platform.

So, whether you are seeking admission into Higher institution, or you are seeking a qualification into any professional body or you are seeking employment or an appointment, or even if you are seeking to start your own business, you need to be a high- grade performing student.

To be at the top of the competition chain the world over, you need to constantly be among the best. The best grade performing students.

With the steep competition in life, if you do not find yourself among the best, then know that you will need to struggle a whole lot more to make it and then you will need to begin to seek connections and relationships to help you secure whatever it is you desire in life

With the "why" cleared out of the way,

Here are a few basics or fundamentals that will aid your pursuit to becoming a high-grade performing student:

1. KNOW THE BASICS OF EVERY SUBJECT/COURSE.

Many times, students find themselves at higher levels of study without first understanding the basics or elementary aspect of subjects or courses they are studying.

If you ever find yourself in such a situation, be sincere enough with yourself and go back to the basics.

Take English language for instance as a subject, if you do not understand what the different parts of speech are, and what figures of speech are, or what verbs and pronouns and conjunctions are, it will be ever difficult for you to tell what an adverbial clause is, or to be able to understand syntax when you are taught.

Or take factorization in mathematics, when you have not understood simple algebra or simple simultaneous equation.

Or is it protein synthesis in biology when you do not understand the organelles in a living cell.

If your educational foundation is shaky, and you missed getting understanding of the basics in the courses or subjects you study, you need to go back to them and rebuild your knowledge of the basics.

If you do not, you will never become a high-grade performing student.

2. COMMITTED TO READING:

This should already be known to every student that you cannot be a high performing student without putting the hardworking to read.

You must not just be committed to reading; you must also understand the various skills involved in reading.

Reading entails first understanding what a topic says, glancing through the material to get a general knowledge, proper reading with points noted and written out, rereading to discover points missed, rereading points noted and self-testing of understanding of what was read by rewriting what is understood without the reading material.

The above is just a summary of a reading style or method, and other reading styles are mainly just minor alterations to what is stated above.

You need to understand and know what you read and not just cramming for exam retention purposes.

So, you must be committed to reading, put in the time and hardworking to reading and read correctly.

But more importantly, we need to understand our individual body systems and with that determine the reading pattern that best suits us.

Some people read better at night, some read better in the mornings, while others read better when there is noise. Just know what suits your system, but you must read.

3. FOCUS

This is a very important factor and need in the life of every high-grade performing student. Focus is keeping your gaze on a particular thing or object. It is the ability to ignore distractions.

Every high-grade performing student knows that they need to ignore things that distract to be the best or among the best.

Distractions vary, and are multiplied now in this present day of the Internet. The content available on the Internet are infinite. So, the tendency for it to be a distraction is a present and ongoing reality.

Every student desiring to be a high-grade performing student needs to know how to sieve through all the plenty distractions and stay focused on studying.

Movies, friends, social media, trends, parties and their likes, all have their places in our lives, but focus helps you know when to keep your eyes on your goal and push aside those niceties that can become distractions. Even romantic love is a very big distraction especially to youths and teenagers.

Staying focused and being able to say no to distractions is a sure way to achieve the high- grade performance.

A friend, no matter how good, can become a distraction, and you need to know when to stay away or when to say no to a friend.

The Internet, despite such a vast resource, can also become a huge distraction. Knowing what you are looking for on the Internet and focusing on it for the sake of your studies is a major key to being a high-grade performing student.

4. ORGANIZATION

Next on my list of required qualities to becoming a student of high-grade performance is organization.

No matter who you are, you always have things to do other than reading and studying. You need to sleep, you need to rest, you need to eat, you need to bath, you need to clean or arrange your room or house, you need to do so many other things in life other than to study.

Some need to also work to make a living or trend to family needs or the needs of close friends.

To be successful at anything in life, we need to learn to organize ourselves and follow the plan we drew up.

You need to have a reading plan, a time to work, a time to sleep and a time to do all you have to do.

Like the timetable used at schools, you need to have a plan or schedule for your life daily. It may not be written out as obtains in schools, but you have a worked- out plan in your head and life to guide you.

Have a wake- up time or wake up time range. Have a sleep time range. Have a planned time you do your laundry. Have a planned time to do your praying or prayers and worship.

And in organization, when you see the time is not enough, then you begin to cut out things that can be cut out.

Maybe cut out visitation time or movie time or social media time; you just need to cut out things from your schedule when you see that you do not have all the time for everything according to your organized plan.

 You need to be organized as a person to be a high-grade performing student.

5. REAL LIFE LEARNING

This is a quality that is most times not really taught, it is caught. And what does it mean?

It is the application of learned knowledge or knowledge by observation, to everyday life.

So, this is it, if I learn something about the operation of the electric bell for instance in physics, every time I get to see a bell in real life, I relay or replay the mechanism of its operation in my head.

 I see a bottle of water that is frozen and expanded and I begin to relate it with what I learnt in chemistry about the properties of water, and how it expands when it freezes.

Or when I see steam rising from a kettle with boiling water, I remember how in physics it was spoken about how there is more energy in steam than in hot water of the same temperature.

The bottom line is this, I use whatever I have learnt to explain or relate with natural happenings around me.

What this does is that it keeps the knowledge fresh and it helps you to have a deeper understanding and appreciation of all you learn.

Try linking all you learn to things happening around you and watch how your understanding and retention of all you learn will spike.

The next time you see a flower in real life as a biology student, try to name all its parts and describe their functions based on all you have learnt from your biology class or biology textbook and then watch how you become a high -grade performing student.

6. CURIOSITY AND PERSEVERANCE (GRIT)

Any student desiring to be at a high- grade performing level, needs to inculcate these two qualities.

You need to develop a natural interest in whatever you are studying.

Curiosity can be built or developed by seeking to see and understand the usefulness of such a subject to man. When you see how what you are learning helps humanity and the world, interest develops and the need to know more arises and that is curiosity.

When you are curious, to learn and to know becomes a joy, it will no longer be a labour even though you are putting in effort. It will be an effort that you enjoy.

And in being curious, you need to learn to persevere as being curious alone does not just provide or give you the answers you seek.

You may read and not understand, you may search and not find. If you do not have the persevering spirit, you will quit because you do not understand or you will quit before you find the answer(s) you seek. So, you need both curiosity and perseverance working together in you for you to be a student of high -grade performance.

7. TEACH/MENTOR/TEXTBOOKS

This point cannot be over emphasized. You need all three to be what you desire, a high- grade performing student.

You need textbooks or learning materials, either hard copies or soft copies sourced from the Internet or other means.

You cannot learn without the material to learn from; and many times, you will also need someone to teach or explain some concepts to you that otherwise will not have been completely clear to you.

You need someone many times too to guide you, a mentor. Someone that is either a motivation from far and their life and lifestyle is a guide and motivation to you, or they are in close contact with and to you to constantly provide you guidance, counsel as well as motivation.

You may be a good motivator to and for yourself, but having someone that has walked the path you wish to walk is an advantage. And even if it is not the same path, the fact that someone has gone ahead of you in life or in related fields or have had to face oppositions, challenges and succeeded, they are always a great asset to have in one's life.

So, to be a high-grade performing student, you need textbooks or learning materials, a teacher (who can be a friend, family member or even classmate) and a motivator/guide/counsellor (mentor).

There are many more attributes, materials and other assets one needs to be a high-grade performing student, but with these alone, if properly followed, you will still be a high-grade performing student.

Most important of all is the fact that you must get your "WHY" correctly. If you know why you should be a high-grade performing student, you will certainly find out ways to become one.

Like they say, where there is a will, there is a way. And there cannot be a will (determination) if you do not know WHY you should be a high-grade performing student.

Thank you.