Tips From a San Diego English Tutor: 4 Things Students Can do to Improve Their Grades in English Class
English is one of the core subjects and will be a significant part of any student’s life throughout their school experience. English class covers valuable skills such as reading comprehension, writing, and research. Many students find themselves in need of a little extra help when it comes to this challenging core subject and may need to improve their overall comprehension of the English language, work on study skills, or improve concentration to raise their grades. Although each learner is an individual, there are some universal tips and tricks students can use to improve their grades in English class – our experienced San Diego English tutors are here to help you improve your grades.
1. Reading step-by-step
If students try to improve their reading skills too quickly, they may become overwhelmed and start to avoid the subject altogether. It’s better for students to work on their reading skills one step at a time so that their brain can process everything they’ve learned. Younger students may still be sounding out words while older students might be working on expanded vocabulary or jargon use within a specific field. Students can work on reading a little bit every day with the help of a parent or tutor but should take time to celebrate the completion of each step and receive plenty of praise for their efforts so they can keep their self-confidence high and persevere through difficult assignments (READ: 4 Reasons to Hire a Private Tutor Before the End of the Semester).
2. Try different reading material
If a student is primarily assigned long and difficult novels and research texts in their English class, they may become overwhelmed with this particular type of assignment and want to start reading altogether. It may be time to try out a different type of reading material. For example, magazines and news articles help students improve their reading just as much as full-length books, but they can be less frustrating and are written for an audience who doesn’t have a ton of time to sort out word usage and language types. Students will have to tackle the novels on the Great Books list eventually but, for now, they may want to learn using reading material that they find interesting and is that their current reading level.
3. Use varied language when writing
Many students write a response to a prompt only to find that their paragraphs are a little bit choppy and lack good flow. They may also use the same two or three words over and over again to describe a situation or person. One of the best things students can do to improve their writing is to vary their language usage. For instance, if they use the word “good “five times in a paper they should go back and replace the last four words with a synonym. Words like “great,” “wonderful,” “fantastic,“ and “positive” can be used to make the paragraph more interesting. Additionally, students should count how many words they have in each sentence they write. If most of their sentences contain the same amount of words, they should try to combine a couple of sentences or break up other sentences to vary the lengths of each sentence. After a little practice, students will start to make these improvements without thinking, and it will make their writing easier to read.
4. Assess learning style
Some students can listen to the teacher and hold all that information in their mind indefinitely. Other students need to see words written down to understand and remember them. It’s a good idea for students to assess their learning style to determine if they are an auditory, visual, or kinesthetic learner. Figuring this out may greatly change how a student studies and completes assignments and can end up improving their grades in their English classes, or any class for that matter.
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