Who Cares Trust

People think the world is divided into two groups: smart and stupid. WRONG! It's smart and lazy!

OK that might be over-simplifying things a little, but the point is that pushing yourself for a couple of years will pay off once you're out there on your own.

Exam results shouldn't be your only focus but there's no getting away from the fact that good grades are going to come in very handy.

There's loads you can do to help yourself by doing the proper reading and research for your assignments, practising for exams and by taking advantage of school trips and work experience opportunities.

Read and research

Check out the library, go online, whatever, but making the effort to find out just that little bit more, to double check your information, will make you stand out from the crowd.

What would you do?

You're doing History. Second World War. You've been set an essay. Cool.

1. Lazy:

You kinda remember it started sometime or other and lasted, hmmm, about five years, yeah? Some geezer with a moustache, bad man. Nice. Scribble that down, hand it in. Ker-ching: F grade.

2. Smart:

You kinda remember some stuff but take a couple of hours to go online to refresh your memory. Got the dates, got the stats, got the facts. Even got some info that you found kinda interesting and think you might slip into the essay just for the helluv it. Nice. Scribble it down, hand it in. Ker-ching: A Grade!

Exam Practice

Exams are strange creatures. Unless you've had loads of practice, nothing prepares you for sitting in a massive room, deadly quiet, desperately trying to remember tonnes of info. It's stressful, even for the coolest customer so go to a study club, take a look at past papers and get the knowledge.

Need some extra help? Check out BBC Bitesize which has loads of help with revision and practise questions.

Trips out

A lot of lessions have trips or out-of-school activities. Don't miss out!

These not only give you extra knowledge, they're a good laugh and can be a great way of making friends with your classmates. Ask anyone over the age of 20 what they enjoyed about school and chances are they'll talk about a Geography field trip, or French exchange.

If it looks expensive, don't be put off. Most local authorities will be more than happy to cough up if they think it's something that's going to help with your education. Get your carer to check it out.

"A single year of primary education can increase a girl's wages by 10 to 20 per cent in life"

Shakira (Singer)

Study skills

It also well worth taking advantage of the work experience opportunities at your school - this is a great way to learn some new skills and get a taste for what you might like to do when you leave school.