---
title: Improving Academic Performance | Mark Skoskiewicz (4)
description: "Mark Skoskiewicz holds a B.S. in Business Administration with a Major in Finance from the Indiana University Kelley School of Business, (he received additional minors in Philosophy and History). At IU, Mark was an undergraduate economics instructor teaching supplemental small group sessions for the department’s introductory economics course. During his junior and senior years, he was a private economics, finance, and accounting tutor. After Indiana, Mark spent 8 years working for Marakon Associates before creating MyGuru in 2009 while earning his MBA at Northwestern Kellogg to make it easier for parents and students to find high quality yet affordable tutors. While Mark wants MyGuru to always be known as a source for excellent tutors, we also aim to be a thought leader on how to improve academic performance through shifts in mindset, well-defined study plans, improved study habits, and even stress reduction strategies. Mark believes these ideas are a powerful, critical complement to working with an expert private tutor. Mark currently shares insights, advice, and information about how to improve academic performance in MyGuru’s improving academic performance blog and in an eBook Plan, Prepare, Perform: A Personalized Approach to Test Preparation. (4)"
---

# Improving Academic PerfORMANCE

Learn how to improve yourself through targeted learning and improved study skills.

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## Posts by Mark Skoskiewicz:

[mindset](https://www.myguruedge.com/our-thinking/myguru-blog/topic/mindset) [study skills](https://www.myguruedge.com/our-thinking/myguru-blog/topic/study-skills) [how to improve my grades](https://www.myguruedge.com/our-thinking/myguru-blog/topic/how-to-improve-my-grades) [improve study habits](https://www.myguruedge.com/our-thinking/myguru-blog/topic/improve-study-habits) [study tips](https://www.myguruedge.com/our-thinking/myguru-blog/topic/study-tips) [study strategies](https://www.myguruedge.com/our-thinking/myguru-blog/topic/study-strategies) [improving academic performance](https://www.myguruedge.com/our-thinking/myguru-blog/topic/improving-academic-performance)

![habits.jpg](https://www.myguruedge.com/hs-fs/hubfs/habits.jpg?width=284&height=177&name=habits.jpg)We write a lot on this blog about how academic success (and other types of success) is much more a function of the choices you make and the effort you put in than a function of your intrinsic or genetic talents. In other words, most recent research suggests, and we firmly believe, that academic skills are built through practice and success comes through developing better strategies and making better choices. 

[growth mindset](https://www.myguruedge.com/our-thinking/myguru-blog/topic/growth-mindset) [mindset](https://www.myguruedge.com/our-thinking/myguru-blog/topic/mindset) [Carol Dweck](https://www.myguruedge.com/our-thinking/myguru-blog/topic/carol-dweck) [study skills](https://www.myguruedge.com/our-thinking/myguru-blog/topic/study-skills) [improve study habits](https://www.myguruedge.com/our-thinking/myguru-blog/topic/improve-study-habits) [psychology of success](https://www.myguruedge.com/our-thinking/myguru-blog/topic/psychology-of-success)

![Screen Shot 2017-11-28 at 12.04.49 PM.png](https://www.myguruedge.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Screen%20Shot%202017-11-28%20at%2012.04.49%20PM.png?width=288&name=Screen%20Shot%202017-11-28%20at%2012.04.49%20PM.png)As many readers of this blog know, MyGuru tries to be much more than a place where parents and students can look for a private tutor. We are trying to build a community of parents, students, tutors, and other experts where ideas about how to be healthier, more productive, and academically successful are exchanged.

[study skills](https://www.myguruedge.com/our-thinking/myguru-blog/topic/study-skills) [improve your grades](https://www.myguruedge.com/our-thinking/myguru-blog/topic/improve-your-grades) [improve study habits](https://www.myguruedge.com/our-thinking/myguru-blog/topic/improve-study-habits) [improving academic performance](https://www.myguruedge.com/our-thinking/myguru-blog/topic/improving-academic-performance)

 

[study skills](https://www.myguruedge.com/our-thinking/myguru-blog/topic/study-skills) [improve your grades](https://www.myguruedge.com/our-thinking/myguru-blog/topic/improve-your-grades) [how to improve my grades](https://www.myguruedge.com/our-thinking/myguru-blog/topic/how-to-improve-my-grades) [improve study habits](https://www.myguruedge.com/our-thinking/myguru-blog/topic/improve-study-habits) [time management](https://www.myguruedge.com/our-thinking/myguru-blog/topic/time-management) [Brain Rules](https://www.myguruedge.com/our-thinking/myguru-blog/topic/brain-rules) [improving academic performance](https://www.myguruedge.com/our-thinking/myguru-blog/topic/improving-academic-performance)

![studying-2.jpg](https://www.myguruedge.com/hs-fs/hubfs/studying-2.jpg?width=320&name=studying-2.jpg)Few people like to do homework or study for a test. But it’s obviously important to do these things to perform well in school. And if you must engage in these activities, you might as well be as efficient and productive as possible. You want to get as much benefit from each hour you invest in studying as possible.

[IQ](https://www.myguruedge.com/our-thinking/myguru-blog/topic/iq) [deliberate practice](https://www.myguruedge.com/our-thinking/myguru-blog/topic/deliberate-practice) [Strategy Development](https://www.myguruedge.com/our-thinking/myguru-blog/topic/strategy-development) [effort](https://www.myguruedge.com/our-thinking/myguru-blog/topic/effort)

![Working Hard-2.jpg](http://s3.amazonaws.com/cdn1.hubspot.com/StockImages/Working%20Hard/7K0A0246.jpg)Over the past few years I’ve been doing a lot of reading, and a fair amount of writing on this blog, around what truly drives academic performance. One of my favorite (and most important) insights has been that IQ, or natural intelligence, is far less important than people assume it to be. This article considers that insight from a different angle, and introduces an interesting new book about how it may be possible to improve your IQ through targeted training.

[growth mindset](https://www.myguruedge.com/our-thinking/myguru-blog/topic/growth-mindset) [deliberate practice](https://www.myguruedge.com/our-thinking/myguru-blog/topic/deliberate-practice) [grit](https://www.myguruedge.com/our-thinking/myguru-blog/topic/grit)

---

[![grit.jpg](https://www.myguruedge.com/hs-fs/hubfs/grit.jpg?width=117&name=grit.jpg)](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1501111108/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=myg096d-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=1501111108&linkId=e1d6d7f1f53c73146940140736171cca)Over the past five years, I’ve done a fair amount of secondary research (reading articles, books, etc.) on academic performance. Two of the most interesting and actionable discoveries I’ve made are that A) a student’s mindset is far more important in explaining academic success than I would have imagined and B) a concept called Grit is what seems to power the performance of a student with the right mindset.

 

The “[Growth Mindset](https://www.amazon.com/Mindset-The-New-Psychology-Success/dp/0345472322/ref=as_sl_pc_qf_sp_asin_til?tag=myg096d-20&linkCode=w00&linkId=6KEYIWLORGVCJILI&creativeASIN=0345472322)” is a concept invented by Dr. Carol Dweck, a Standford Psychologist. Her research shows that individuals can generally be placed into one of two buckets: a) those that have a growth mindset and b) those that have a fixed mindset.

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