I don't really have any qualifications on how to make you a better student, all of this is simply what I have learned through personal experience and I am suggesting it to you. I'm a second honors student in College Prep. classes in 10^th grade. I am NOT I repeat NOT a genius. I'm not a nerd, I'm not even thought of as being one of the "Smart Kids," though I do get my share of question on Jeopardy and Who Wants To Be A Millionaire right, and occasionally beat out Ben and all his contestants on Win Ben Stein's Money. I'm simply here to suggest and pass on ideas.

I'm sure you've heard it a million times, "Homework is 80% of your final average." Fact is, it's true. If you don't do your homework, it knocks your grade down a lot. Even if you score high on tests, it still does. You could score 100% on a 20 point test. Now, figure you miss 5 homework assignments worth 2 points a piece within a 2 week period, but you handed in an additional 5 and got full credit for all of them. That would bring your average for those two weeks down to a 75%. Now, assume that you didn't hand in any of the 5 assignments assigned for a 2 week period. That would bring your average down to a 50%. Not good. Homework is VERY important to your grade, and it's best if you do them yourself, instead of copying off of someone else. Sure you hand it in, BUT you still haven't learned anything, which is the point of homework, isn't it? You could very well fail the test on that information because you have no clue about it.

Sleep, don't cram, music, and association. Sound familiar? I bet most of it does. Anyway, sleep is the key to a rested mind the night before the exam. Simple huh? Don't cram. Instead of studying all in one night, study your notes every night and over time. It helps you remember stuff a lot better too. Music, that's one that you may have heard. It's been proven that listening to classic music, like Beethoven or Back helps you study better, and college kids just buy it up. It helps you relax a bit and take in what you're reading… but it doesn't only have to be classical. It could be light or mood music. Anything that makes you feel comfortable, but mostly musical. Singing can just be distracting. Association is also really helpful in studying. If you don't know what something it, try an association. It'll help you remember better. For example, in biology in 7^th grade, my teacher taught us a sentence to remember the order of animals… Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family Genus Species. The sentence was Kings Play Chess On Fine Green Silk. It really is helpful, and if you're as weird as me, you can think up some really weird, funny, and helpful ones, for example Kissing Poor Cheetahs On Family Grounds Sucks. You know. Stuff like that.

ALWAYS start with an intro to the report. Tell what you're report is about and what it's importance in the universe is, like why should everyone know what Cinnabar is used for. Then in the body, separate ideas and such. Don't go from the creation of the atomic bomb to blowing up ten gazillion people in Hiroshima all in one sentence. ALWAYS check your information twice. One source may have wrong information than another, especially if you're using the net to find information. Always end with a conclusion too. Have a works cited page where you tell where you got all your information and stuff like that. Typing reports always makes them nicer and easier to read, and putting them into a report sheet is helpful too. Title pages always make a good impression too.

Try to do something creative that no one's ever done in your school, but you can always search the net for good ideas. If you're trying to make an invention, think of something everyone needs, but doesn't know they need, like toilet paper or toasters. No one used those before they were invented. What did they use? Sponges and fire. Not too bad huh? You could even combine two inventions to make one for example, spoon + fork = spork.