How to Quickly and Effectively Improve Academic Grades

In my second semester of ninth grade, I started studying hard after the Qingming Festival. Before that, my chemistry score was 19, and my total score was just over 200. Later, I scored 530 in the high school entrance exam. Throughout eleventh and twelfth grades, I was consistently at the bottom of the school, scoring 317. Starting around May Day (late April/early May), when I returned from Beijing, I would sit outside the classroom by myself to study. I ended up scoring 530 on the college entrance exam. I left nearly 150 points worth of questions unanswered. In math, I only finished the first application problem and then fell asleep. In the science section, I barely did any chemistry (though biology/chemistry were nearly full marks). I also fell asleep there.

Chinese, History, Politics, English.

For these liberal arts subjects, the core is in the essay questions. Multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank questions depend entirely on your daily accumulation and whether you’ve memorized the key facts. In the gaokao, I scored 106 on the Chinese section. I almost completely bombed the multiple-choice questions (I think I got one right). On the six memorization/recitation questions, I only got one correct (I was too lazy to memorize). My normal level would be 120–130 if I nailed the multiple choice, and 100–110 if I didn’t.

• The key principle for these liberal arts questions is this: the point value determines the structure of the answer. For example, if an essay question is worth 6 points, the answer likely has either 3 or 6 scoring points—meaning either 2 points per idea or 1 point per idea (you can figure this out if you have access to standard grading rubrics). So when answering, number your points (1, 2, 3, 4), and you’ll clearly see whether you’re hitting the scoring criteria.
• These essay questions are quite forgiving: you just need to identify the scoring points. Back in my student days, we had a saying: “Write more, and you’ll get partial credit.” In reality, that’s not quite true. You get points because somewhere in all those words you’ve brushed against the reference answer. There are two ways to improve your scores. First, strengthen your ability to synthesize and summarize efficiently. I once compared answers with my deskmate on Chinese and history essays—my answers were the shortest, yet I scored higher. When your summary is sharp, you don’t need to ramble to earn a couple of points. Second, write slightly more points than strictly necessary. For a 6-point question with three scoring points, write four, building in a margin for error. (For liberal arts essay questions, leaving out a required point will definitely cost you points. But adding extra points—even if slightly off—will never deduct points.)

The easiest points to earn outside of essays are in the composition section:

For essays, the trick is to have an uplifting, positive core message; write smoothly without ambiguity; and use a structure that stands out. In middle school, I had a friend whose essays were always used as model examples. I studied his approach and noticed his secret: unconventional structure.

Most students write essays the conventional way—straightforward storytelling followed by a positive moral. My friend was different. Every essay had a fresh twist: one time it was a dialogue-style short story, the next a diary format, and another time structured like a thread on the Tianya Forum. I then found the structure that suited me best: the “dual narrative thread” structure. I used it several times across both middle and high school.

A “positive and uplifting” core means your essay must convey constructive values: optimism, hard work leading to success, and the promotion of truth, goodness, and beauty.

With an uplifting theme, an original structure, and clear, unambiguous language, you can safely expect a good baseline score. Adding rhetorical devices like metaphors and parallelism helps even more. (On the gaokao, I only reached the 600-character mark because I’d fallen asleep, so I didn’t even have time to write a conclusion.)

Translation, classical Chinese reading (classical Chinese and poetry—these I rarely lost points on; I read the Classical Chinese version of Romance of the Three Kingdoms in fourth grade, and though I never practiced it again, I still performed well), and fill-in-the-blank sections are straightforward: just do more problems and memorize more during your morning reading sessions.

Try doing three full practice tests (make sure they include detailed answer explanations—the more complete, the better). Mark your mistakes. Start by reviewing the written-answer questions to identify scoring patterns and techniques, training yourself to earn points efficiently with concise, targeted responses. Then focus on your wrong answers (for example, in history, some events have standardized conclusions, so making up your own answers won’t work). Review topics where you made the most errors. If time allows, aim for conceptual understanding; if not, memorize thoroughly. Strengthen these weak areas through targeted practice. (I have a poor memory, so I rely entirely on understanding rather than rote memorization. This slows me down—I can barely cover two pages in a class—but it works well. Most of my answers are my own phrasing, but they stay close to the reference answers, so I rarely lose points.)

English: I’m awful at it, but my scores are stable, within a 5-point margin.

Understanding and memorization don’t really help; I tend to overthink the questions. Since I don’t memorize vocabulary, I can’t read the passages well. My strategy is to pick the answer that looks most like something from the passage—whichever option overlaps most with the text. Also, if you understand sentence grammar, you can answer multiple-choice questions without knowing every word. You just need to pick the grammatically correct form. Some words pair with verb-ing forms; others take past-tense -ed forms; some require adverbs; some require adjectives. This boosts both speed and accuracy.

What about the essay?

A good friend told me to use parallel structures—parallel sentences, parallel sentences, parallel sentences… and “there be” constructions. Write three or four of these, plus some memorized inversion patterns (or even fixed phrases). As long as the meaning is clear and you haven’t misused any words, you’re guaranteed a high score.

Math, Geography, Physics

I’m not great at geography. Before tracking, my lowest score was 78. Middle school geography is easy—you just need to memorize a few maps. In high school, I chose science, and before tracking my score was around 80. Much of it is memorization, but topics like climate and airflow require conceptual understanding. (Conceptual understanding means knowing why—understanding the reasons behind outcomes.)

I already knew this before tracking. (When we split into streams, my liberal arts scores were 80 points higher than my science scores… quite frustrating.)

Let’s talk math. This part is more interesting (on the gaokao, I slept through much of it but still scored 96 on the 100 points I attempted).

First, let’s look at scoring points. The first 10 multiple-choice questions are generally not difficult. Question 11 is manageable; question 12 is the one that wastes the most time. You can guess on it and move on—don’t linger. I usually get at most one multiple-choice question wrong. On the gaokao, I guessed on question 12 and got it right, so I actually scored perfect on multiple choice.

The multiple-choice section maps directly onto specific topics. After doing three or five practice tests, you can figure out what topics are tested where (for example, questions 9 and 10 often involve spatial coordinates; questions 1 and 2 often feature functions). Your teachers will usually point this out—just ask them, and you’ll be set.

Do plenty of practice problems, review your mistakes, and then focus on targeted topic improvement while doing full papers for routine practice. Don’t fear making mistakes. I highly recommend learning to reverse-engineer solutions using the answer explanations. Understand why each step is correct by working backward from the answer to the solution process. It’s fascinating, though slower—after going back and forth on about a dozen problems, you’ll get the hang of it. Only ask others for help when you’ve exhausted the explanations on your own.

Fill-in-the-blank questions are similar but slightly easier than multiple choice, since both the result and the process are less complex. Usually the last one is a bit harder, but still easier than the final multiple-choice question, so you should be able to finish it in a few minutes (you might want to leave it for later, after tackling the higher-confidence questions).

For the application problems, save the final function problem, ellipse, and hyperbola questions for last—they’re time-consuming and prone to errors.

Do the earlier questions in order. For the final question, tackle part one first—that’s free points. Then move on to the application problem involving function equations; part one is just setting up the equation, also free points. If you’re feeling confident, continue; if not, switch to the final part of the last question. It’s usually more approachable than the hardest multiple-choice or equation problems. For function equations, it’s all about feeling—if it clicks, it’s easy; if not, give up quickly and don’t beat yourself up over it.

Other topics like spatial geometry and probability are also relatively straightforward. (Check whether the answer explanations award partial credit for application problems—if so, you can still earn points from the solving steps even if you don’t reach the final answer.)

If you skip question 12 on the multiple-choice section, you’ll lose 55 points; save the final question for last. For the four fill-in-the-blank questions, skip the hardest one and do the other three—that’s 15 points. For the application problems, skip part two of the final question to save 4 points, and skip the final hyperbola part to save 8 points. That’s a total of about 22 points sacrificed. If you study earnestly and review your mistakes on everything else, you’ll likely score on those remaining questions. Even in the worst case, you’ll lose no more than 35 points. If you can nail the final multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank questions and manage the application problems with time left, you’re looking at 130–140 points.

Don’t fear your mistakes. Start by doing three practice tests, identify the testing points and patterns, and recognize where your weaknesses lie. Then do targeted practice and more problems. Remember: mistakes are where your points come from. Make more mistakes, learn more deeply.

Physics (I’m weaker here; I usually only score on the steps for the second part of essay questions and work carefully only if time permits) is not far removed from math. Do lots of problems, focus on specific topics, and review your errors. Use formulas in your answers (physics solutions award points for procedure—writing the correct formulas earns points even without the final result. Check the answer explanations carefully to see how points are distributed. For example, in magnetism problems, you can skip the final numerical result and still earn full procedural points by writing the relevant formulas.)

The most important things in chemistry are the chemical formulas (similar to algebraic manipulation in math—elements on both sides of the equation must balance, and quantities must be equal. Master this concept fully; it’s the foundation for earning points on the final question and across other sections) and experimental procedures (be clear on which instruments are used, how each step is performed, and the chemical equations involved). Ask questions shamelessly, understand the “why,” learn conceptually, then reinforce with practice and review. It’s quite achievable to reach near-perfect scores this way.

Every exam has scoring criteria, and these patterns can be found in detailed answer explanations. Do more problems, focus on scoring points, and maximize your gains. The difficulty of going from 90 to 100 is very different from going from 30 to 80. The core of test-oriented education is maximizing your total score, not excelling in a single subject. So plugging gaps yields far more visible results than extending your strengths, and it’s much easier to improve.

Scores below 500 depend on whether your study direction is correct; scores from 500 to 600 depend on how hard you work; scores above 600 are where natural talent comes into play.

Overall: exams are essentially about ranking and scores, which means test-oriented education remains the reality. Within this fixed framework, doing practice problems is the most effective approach. Right now, the best materials for both drill and detailed solution explanations are the “Five Years of Entrance Exams, Three Years of Simulation” series.

High School Entrance Exam》Five Years of High School Entrance Exams, Three Years of Simulation (choose the edition matching your textbook in the store)

College Entrance Exam》Five Years of College Entrance Exams, Three Years of Simulation (choose the edition matching your textbook in the store)

If you follow your own pace, memorize the key points within half a year, finish all the practice problems, rework your mistakes, review and supplement your understanding, and memorize what needs to be memorized, you’ll be no more than about 150 points away from a perfect score across all subjects. If you’re careful and don’t slack off, the gap to perfection drops to under 100 points. The final 100 points really depend on talent—whether you can apply what you’ve learned to solve unfamiliar problems. Those last 100 points are what separate you in the entrance exams; everything before that is foundational and achievable through consistent effort.