It can be hard to get straight As, hold down a demanding job, and manage your family. But, with a little diligence (alright, a lot of diligence) it is possible to develop grade-improving habits. A new article from Pick the Brain offers several suggestions for improving your GPA this semester.

While many of these study habits are tailored to traditional students, I think distance learners can benefit from several of them. Here's one of the study skills the article suggests:

"Do a weekly review - A common problem students encounter is trying to learn an enormous amount of material right before the midterm or final exam. This is practically impossible. You'll find it much easier if you take a gradual approach to studying. At least once a week, review your notes starting from the beginning of the course. This only needs to take 15 or 20 minutes, just enough time to build familiarity with the material.

By doing a weekly review you'll gradually memorize everything and will better understand how one concept builds on the next. Putting in small amounts of effort on a consistent basis will drastically reduce the amount of studying you need to do right before the test."