Virtually all students who are in school hopes to someday graduate with flying colours at the end of their academic programme. But in the end for a large number of students, the case is always different while for a handy few their dreams do come true.

In this article, I am going to give you a practical approach to achieving your desired dream of graduating as an A student.

Before I proceed, I want to categorically inform you that it will require your persistence and faithfulness to the guidelines below for you to achieve the desired results.

Make the decision to be successful

For me, I see success as a deliberate act. It is not by chance. You have to decide what you want, consider the implications of your decision. You must be willing to deny yourself some activities that will not contribute to the bottom line (which is academic excellence).

Understand the best reading style that works for you
This is a very important factor that cannot be neglected. You need to discover the best reading habit suitable for your person. It could be all night reading (popularly known by Nigerian students as TDB- Till daybreak) or you could be among those just need to read for some few minutes or hours and they are good.

Make sure you don’t miss lectures

The thing about attending lectures is not all about getting the information or teachings from your teacher directly. It also gives the opportunity to get some points that will be mentioned during the course of the teaching and that are not found in the teaching manual/material/handout. It also helps you to accumulate the scores attached class attendance as being practised in some schools.

Study always or every day if possible
It is said that readers are leaders and I can confirm that it is absolutely correct from my personal experience as a student. Try to read every day and always, that way you will be prepared always. Don’t wait until two weeks to an examination or a few days to a test before you start reading. During my school-days, I designed my reading timetable such that what I read today will be what we will be having the next day in class, by so doing I have prepared myself against any impromptu test and I will be sure that I will not score zero when I write the test.

Always expect unannounced test

As a student, you should always expect the unexpected. You need to condition your mind that the lecturer will never “do your bargain”. So you need to program your mind-set to expect the unexpected. By so doing you will find out that you are prepared most times as a student.

Prepare for every test no matter how less important and see all courses as important
Many students do the mistake of categorizing some courses as less important thereby not putting more effort to see that they master the art needed to pass that course in flying colours. You need to understand that your success as a student is being determined by the accumulated successes recorded in all the courses you are offering as a student and as such, it becomes necessary for you to pass all of them in flying colours to achieve the desired result.

Get enough sleep/rest

The need for enough rest cannot not be overemphasized. Your body and mind need some occasional rest to enable them to carry on with the daunting task of an everyday student. But care must be taken to ensure that the rest is not at the expense of your core objectives as a student.

Always be on time

For any aspiring “A” student you must always be on time to your lectures, examinations and other academic activities.

Make friends with like-minds

Bad company corrupts good morals…….. I know some will say that they know themselves, they can be strong enough not to allow themselves to be influenced by bad friends. The truth is, for you to be successful in any field of life, you have to associate yourself with individuals of like-minds. This will help in a great deal in ensuring that you don’t get distracted and deviate from your set goal of becoming an A student.

Be careful with women

I can tell you boldly that a woman can make or mar you. I am not saying that you should avoid woman entirely but that you should watch the kind of women you associate yourself with. When I was a student, the best semester result I ever recorded was influenced by a woman. She made me study harder and made me want to be better every day because we shared the same ideology of becoming distinction students. In our schools today, some women are out there not to study but for other extra activities that do not add to the bottom line.

More importantly and unfortunately, in some of our schools in Nigeria, you can become a target by male lecturers once you perceived as a competitor….I mean once you are seen around any female student that interest them. They may go to the extent of messing up your result just to get you out of the way.

Consequently, I need you to understand that the keys to success are not a “one cap fits all” approach. You need to tweak the tips to suit your style and person because what works perfectly for me may not necessarily work for you when implemented straight ahead. This is because of our individual and unique difference.

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