How Long Does It Take To Improve Your Grades

How long does it take to improve your grades? Spires’ latest student results give us a useful place to start: in 2025, 93% of students improved their grades, with an average improvement of 1.8 grades after 33 hours of tutoring.

Of course, academic progress isn’t measured by tutoring hours alone. Your starting grade, target, subject and level of study all matter, as does how effectively you use your time between lessons. A student aiming to turn a B into an A may need a very different approach from someone working to rebuild their knowledge after receiving a lower grade.

What the results do show is that focused, one-to-one tutoring can form part of a manageable route towards meaningful improvement. Rather than simply spending more hours studying, the focus is on identifying what is holding you back and directing your attention towards the areas most likely to improve your performance.

In this guide, we’ll look more closely at our student results, how progress differs across levels of study, what research tells us about the effectiveness of tutoring, and the study habits that can help you make your time count

How Long Does It Take to Get a Good Grade at A-Level?

According to our 2025 results, 61% of students achieved an A or A* (2x the national average) after completing an average of 37 hours of tutoring.

What improvement looks like can also vary between different subjects. An A-Level Maths student, for example, might understand the theory but struggle to apply it to unfamiliar problems under timed conditions. An English student may know the texts well but need to improve their analysis, structure or ability to write the essay expected at the top of the mark scheme.

Through one-to-one support, our A-Level Tutors can accurately assess your current performance, identify the specific gaps in your knowledge or exam technique and focus your attention on the areas where improvement is most likely to translate into a better grade.

How Long Does It Take to Improve Your Grades at University?

Our 2025 results show that 40% of undergraduate students achieved a First-Class result after an average of 32 hours of tutoring. Notably, none of those students were on track for a First before working with Spires.

At university, improving your grades in college or university can depend as much on how you apply your knowledge as what you understand. Moving up a degree classification might mean developing greater breadth and depth in your analysis, responding more effectively to feedback from your professor, strengthening an essay or refining your approach to an exam or assignment. Identifying which of these areas is holding back your marks can help you take a more focused approach to your studies.

With targeted support, you can then spend more time developing the academic skills that matter most for your particular course and assessments. Spires’ Undergraduate Tutors include qualified tutors across a wide range of university subjects, allowing students to find specialist support suited to their module, current level and academic goals.

Does One-to-One Tutoring Really Improve Your Grades?

Spires’ results aren’t the only evidence suggesting that personalised tutoring can support academic improvement.

The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) currently estimates that one-to-one tuition can provide approximately five additional months of academic progress on average compared with similar pupils who do not receive the intervention. Its evidence review also finds that tutoring is more likely to have an impact when it is targeted at a pupil’s needs and linked with their normal learning. 

Separate 2024 research reported by FE News examined data from 2,616 parents and students across seven European countries, including the UK. Three in four students improved by up to three grades with personalised online tutoring. Among students who took fewer than 10 lessons, 44% improved their grades; among those who completed at least 36 lessons, that rose to 79%. 

The study also found a relationship between tutoring and confidence: 90% of students who reported increased confidence also improved their grades. In Maths specifically, 80% of students receiving consistent tutoring over 12 months improved by up to three grades. 

The evidence doesn’t mean that simply accumulating lessons produces better results. Instead, it supports the value of sustained, personalised support that responds to an individual student’s needs.

Quality Over Quantity: Revision & Study Habits

If you’re trying to get good grades, it’s tempting to assume that the answer is simply to study for longer, but the quality over quantity approach is more effective.

Five focused sessions built around active problem-solving, feedback and exam practice may be more useful than spending the same amount of time passively reading and rereading your notes.

Effective studying begins by understanding why you’re currently losing marks. For example:

Problem	More effective response
Gaps in knowledge	Targeted content review and active recall
Poor exam timing	Timed papers and practice exams
Weak Maths technique	Worked examples followed by independent practice
Essay structure	Planning, model answers and targeted feedback
Forgetting information	Active recall and spaced practice
Careless mistakes	Error logs and systematic checking

Working with an Online Tutor can make revision easier. By identifying where you are losing marks, your tutor can tailor lessons to the areas that need the most attention, helping you make better use of your time and focus your independent revision more effectively.

The Value of Higher Grades: Could They Increase Your Lifetime Earnings?

A good grade can matter long after you leave the exam hall. Better results can influence progression through education, university opportunities and future employment – and research suggests there can also be an earnings premium associated with stronger academic attainment.

According to Department for Education research, one higher GCSE grade is associated with around £23,000 in additional undiscounted lifetime earnings on average. The research also found substantial variation by subject: a one-grade improvement in Maths was associated with a discounted return of £14,500, compared with £7,300 in English. 

At university, the difference between degree classifications can also be significant. Institute for Fiscal Studies research found that, after controlling for observable characteristics, a 2:2 was associated with 6.9% lower earnings for women and 10.9% lower earnings for men compared with a 2:1. Five years after graduation, median annual pre-tax earnings for graduates with a 2:2 were around £3,800 lower than for those with a 2:1. 

The gap was particularly large at the most selective universities. Graduates from Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial and LSE who achieved a 2:2 earned 20% less on average at age 30 than comparable graduates achieving a 2:1. For Law and Economics graduates, a 2:2 rather than a 2:1 was associated with more than 15% lower earnings. 

FAQs About How to Get Better Grades in School or University

What is the 50/10 rule for studying?

The 50/10 rule is a time management technique that involves studying with focused attention for approximately 50 minutes before taking a 10-minute break. It can make a longer revision session feel more manageable and help you maintain concentration rather than trying to work for hours and hours without stopping.

There is no requirement to follow those exact timings. Some students work better with five short sessions, while others prefer longer periods of focused study time. The best study routine is one you can realistically follow and stay consistent with. Whichever timings you choose, use your breaks properly: get away from your desk, move around and avoid turning a 10-minute break into an hour on YouTube or social media.

Why am I studying a lot but my grades aren’t improving?

More study doesn’t automatically mean good grades. If your current revision consists mainly of rereading, highlighting or copying notes, you may recognise the material without being able to retrieve and apply it independently in a test or real exam.

Instead, look closely at the feedback you get from your teacher or tutor and identify the reason marks are being lost. Are you struggling to memorise key information, applying your knowledge incorrectly, running out of time or misunderstanding what a question requires? Once you know the problem, you can choose revision techniques that address it.

Active recall, practice questions and timed exam work can all make your way of studying more active. If your grades on tests still aren’t changing, asking for help can also give you another perspective on what is affecting your academic performance.

How can I improve my exam technique?

Start by completing past questions under timed conditions, ideally using the same time and format you will face in the real exam. Mark your work carefully and identify why marks were lost rather than simply looking at the final score.

For example, you may need to:

• Answer the question more directly.
• Show more working in Maths or science subjects.
• Improve your timing so every section is attempted.
• Include greater analysis in an essay.
• Learn how much weight to give different parts of a question.
• Practise recalling key information without relying on study guides or notes.

The aim is to make your exam prep increasingly specific. Practising the skill you’re missing is usually more useful than simply revising more content. This applies whether you’re improving GCSE performance, preparing for A-Levels at sixth form, or working towards university assessments.

How do I stop procrastinating when revising?

If you procrastinate, make the first task smaller. “Revise Physics” is vague; “complete questions 1–10 on electricity” gives you a clear starting and finishing point. Breaking your work into specific tasks can make it easier to start improving rather than continually putting off work.

It can also help to set your tasks before each study session, remove obvious distractions and decide how many times per week you will revise. Having a consistent plan can reduce procrastination because you don’t have to decide what to do every time you sit down.

Don’t forget to leave room for sleep and social time, too. A productive revision plan shouldn’t depend on sacrificing your wellbeing. If anxiety or another mental health concern is making it difficult to study or meet deadlines, consider seeking appropriate extra help rather than assuming you simply need to work harder.

How can I improve my grades if I don’t have much time?

Prioritise. If you only have two weeks before an exam, trying to cover the entire syllabus for each class in equal detail may not be the most effective use of your time for revision.

Start with the topics carrying the most marks and the weaknesses that repeatedly appear in your work. Then use study strategies such as active recall, past papers and targeted questions to test what you actually know. If you’re tempted to cram, remember that effective learning usually requires you to retrieve and apply information rather than simply reading as much as possible.

The same principle applies to the hours outside of class. With limited time, focused practice can be more useful than trying to do everything. These practical tips won’t guarantee a particular grade, but they can help you study smarter and use the time you have more effectively.