Being confident in school doesn’t come naturally to everyone.
You might feel like you’re worried about the subjects you struggle with, where to sit at lunch, or where you stand with your teachers.
But you should know that you can learn how to be confident in school, even if it’s not second nature for you.
From tips on how to study, how to get motivated, and how to not worry about what other people think, these are the life-changing tips about confidence in school to help you make the rest of your year or the start of the next one a success.
Must-Read Book for Finding Your Confidence
After scouring the world of self-help books, I’ve found the best one for embracing who you are, not apologizing for what you do or what you believe, and achieving more.
It’s called “You Are a Bada**: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life.”
This is seriously going to change your life, and you can find it here.
1. Be Prepared
You don’t have to be the best student ever to feel confident in school.
You could be naturally bad at all subjects (but you won’t be, promise), but you can still feel confident in answering questions and asking them by being prepared.
This means making sure that you do all of your homework, even if you struggle through it, read all of the readings that will come up in class, at least attempt all of the math problems, even if you know you didn’t get them all right, etc.
Obviously this goes for tests – how are you going to be confident in taking a test if you haven’t prepared?
But it also goes for the day-in/day-out assignments.
It feels harder at the time to complete all of the reading and be prepared for the next day, but it will cause you way less stress in the long run.
Use a bullet journal like this one to make it more fun to stay organized.
2. Open Up to Your Teachers
We’ll talk about asking for help in the next section, but right now, I just want to talk about developing positive relationships with your teachers.
It doesn’t mean you need to constantly be asking questions, but be a pleasant person to them and start conversations with them.
Ask them where they got the trinket you’ve always noticed on their desk.
Ask them how they enjoyed their break after everyone gets back to campus.
Teachers can feel like one of the most intimidating parts of school for many people, but they’re just people too!
Smiling at them and engaging with them on a human level, or sharing photos with them of things that are special to you like your pets or the spot you went to for vacation, is a nice way to build a relationship and feel more confident in interacting with them.
3. Ask for Help
Asking for help is one of the best ways to build confidence in school, which sounds counterintuitive because you’re admitting that you’re struggling, but admitting that you need help is one of the bravest and strongest things you can do!
You’ll feel so much better for it, and many teachers will take all of the time you need to go over the concepts with you again to make sure that you really understand it.
They might pair you up with a student in the class who is exceling at that subject, and learning from them will help you gain confidence in yourself as you’ll soon be able to complete the assignments too.
Floundering and not telling anyone you need help is a surefire way to feel insecure and horrible at school.
4. Join Clubs or Organizations that Interest You
If it’s the overall social scene in school that’s making you nervous in school, join clubs or organizations that interest you.
They don’t have to be anything serious, they can just be for fun like the Spanish Club I joined in middle school which basically just meant we ate nachos in our Spanish teacher’s class with our friends after school.
This is going to help you find your tribe, the people who will connect with you and help you feel more confident.
Whether it’s robotics, a language, a reading group, volunteering, or anything else, search out those extra curricular activities and force yourself to join.
It might feel scary at first, but no one is going to judge you and everything in that club is in the same boat as you with the same interests!
5. Take On Extra Projects in Subjects You Like
I’m terrible at math.
Absolutely horrid.
It was never my favorite subject, I was never the person who did the best on the tests, and I had to have lots of extra help to get through.
Instead, I was great at English.
And so instead of trying to excel in everything and be the school’s greatest Math whiz, I accepted that Math wasn’t my thing and instead I took on extra projects and classes in English.
By high school, I was taking as little Math as possible and instead focusing on things that interested me in English and Language Arts.
Even if you can’t take extra classes, but can just do more outside reading or ask your teachers for more recommendations, more practice problems, or more resources in your favorite subject, focusing on what you’re good at instead of worrying about what you’re not is the key to success in school…and in life!
6. Change Your Attitude
You really have to learn to change your attitude towards school if you’re trying to be more confident.
You can’t go in down on yourself and saying negative things about yourself and expect that you’re going to succeed or exude confidence or be someone that people want to hang out with.
It doesn’t matter if you’re not the valedictorian or the world’s best scientist or whatever the case may be.
You are still worthy and great and deserve to get an education like everyone else in the school, so stop putting yourself down or telling yourself that you can’t do it.
This self-love workbook is a fantastic way of realigning your own thoughts and outlook on yourself, which is important to do before you can really deal with anyone else’s feelings or thoughts about you.
7. Put it In Perspective
Sometimes, it’s the nerves of school that get to us.
We are afraid of tests, we’re afraid of bad grades, we’re afraid of everything going on our “permanent record” because that’s what’s drilled into us over and over again.
Well I’m here to tell you – most of it doesn’t matter.
There is no “permanent record” in elementary or middle school that is going to impact your future, your high school grades will become old news the second you graduate, and no one goes into the office and talks about their SAT scores, or even what college they went to.
The important thing in school is that you’re showing up and trying to learn and make the most of the opportunity to grow as a person, make new friends, develop confidence in speaking to people, finding a joy in learning new things.
You might graduate and still have no idea what you want to do as a career.
You might fail English in 7th grade – and it’s not going to doom you for eternity.
The stakes are much less high than you might think, so take some of that pressure off of yourself and just focus on being the best person and student you can be and letting the grades, the test scores, and everything else fall as it may.
