The marking period is ending on Friday, January 26th  at Overbrook High School, here are some ways you can boast your GPA just before it ends. The University of Arkansas states that the first step to getting your grades up is to assess where you are currently in the semester. This means looking at the current grade you have now, looking at how well you’ve done on previous assignments in order to understand why your grade is the way it is. Look at all the classes in your schedule and form an idea on how to get the grade up. The second step it lists is to assess your current study techniques and behavior throughly. This means that you as a student must ask yourself, “Am I doing enough to better my grades?”, “How often am I studying?”, “How am I studying?” Questions like these are what allow you to have an understanding of your habits and to recognize negative behaviors impacting your grades. The third step it lists is to talk to your teacher. At Overbrook, students can stay after school for extra help in the after school program, Project Success. It’s important to ask your teacher when they are available after school for the subject/subjects you need to improve upon. Lastly, more than just studying alone, it’s important to have healthy mind that can approach the academic world clearly and concisely. Practicing mindfulness techniques like meditation and breathing techniques can help improve mental clarity and activivate cognitive processes, allowing you to be more aware and present in school. This is important because being unfocused in school makes up much of the reason for why students have bad grades, not because they aren’t smart, but there’s an outside factor impacting their successs, one that needs to be fixed. Perhaps it’s the teacher who is failing to teach the subject effectively to you, perhaps it’s your parents that are lowering your self esteem and that negative image they are building upon you, is being showcased in your grades. Either way, improving your grades before the marking period ends this Friday is a difficult task and with the help of project success, tutoring of some kind, and mindfulness practices, you’ll be on your way to become a successful student before you know it.