You don't have to become a boring swot - your nose always stuck in a book, useless at sport and a failure with the opposite sex - to achieve excellent results at school.

Many students get top marks in the exams even though they have a very active extra-curricular and social life... in sports, drama, music or other activities.

What, then, are their secrets?

Brains, certainly, are not the only answer. After all, the most academically gifted pupils do not necessarily perform best in the exams.

Hard work isn't the whole story either. You may sit for ages with your books open, but if you don't use that time effectively you might as well be doing something else.

Here are 10 proven attitudes and techniques that can help you get good grades.

1. Get your priorities right. Top students make a deliberate effort to concentrate when they study. They do not tolerate intrusions or distractions. Once they open their books, the phone goes unanswered, the TV unwatched, the computer stays offline, and the fridge ignored. Work comes before recreation, but when it's time to play, they can do so with their minds at rest that they've put in some good quality studying time.

2. Study anytime, anywhere - but be consistent. Study times are strictly a matter of personal preference. You may want to study late at night when the house is quiet, or you may prefer to wake up early in the morning with a fresh mind. Some students prefer to study as soon as they come home from school, when the day's work is still fresh in their memories.

You may even want to use times when you're doing something physically but not mentally - say, travelling on a bus, walking somewhere or out on a run - to recall some facts and commit them to memory.

The important thing, however, is consistency: whatever you're doing, make sure to keep a free slot every day for studying. It's like saving money - if you put some away regularly you'll be left with quite an amount, but if you keep missing deposits, you won't be left with much.

3. Be organised. The busier you are, whether it's with homework or playing football, the less time you can waste looking for your pencil or your missing notes. It's essential you adopt some kind of system, whatever it is, to keep you organised.

For example, you may want to assign a different colour to each subject and keep all subject notes in folders of that colour, with dates and subject sub-divisions marked on the front to give an indication of what's in each folder. That way your work will be readily at hand when it comes to revising for the exams.

And make sure to keep your essentials together where you can find them easily - pens, pencils, paper and so on...

4. Take good notes. Your notes should be easy to refer back to and revise from.

One technique, for example, is to divide the page into two. The column on the left should be about one-third of the page wide, the right-hand column two-thirds. Write your class notes in the wide section and jot down in the left column any key words or phrases that give the significance or essence of each point. During revision this will be very useful because it will allow you to quickly see the relevance of the material, instead of being daunted by huge chunks of information.

Instead of slamming your notebook shut at the end of the lesson, take a couple of minutes to summarise the main points in two or three sentences. Have a look at the summary before the next class, so that you'll immediately get a grasp of what the teacher is talking about.

5. Schedule your work. If you've been given an essay or a project to do for the following week, spend a couple of days reading up about the subject first, then do a rough plan, then aim to finish a couple of days before the deadline so if it takes longer than anticipated, you would still finish on time.

Go over your notes on the day you've taken them, then a week later, and again a couple of times before you actually start revising properly for the exams. This will serve as a tremendous aid to your recall.

Start revising for the exams several weeks ahead. Set yourself small amounts to do every day so you won't have to cram everything into late nights at the end.

6. Be neat... and you're well on the way to getting good marks for your work. Teachers much prefer tidiness to sloppiness, and neat homework and notes will make it easier for yourself when you're revising.

7. Learn how to read effectively. Before you wade blindly into a text book from page 1, look at the book's table of contents, graphs and pictures first. That way you'll get a sense of the material and you'll understand it better.

Before reading through heaps of irrelevant material, see if the first sentence is relevant. If not, move onto the next paragraph.

Be an 'active' reader: ask questions as you read that lead to a full understanding of the author's message; pause after each chunk of text and paraphrase it to yourself or try to see it as a picture in your mind; try to link the information to the "bigger picture" of the topic or subject.

8. Speak up in class. Better grades come from better understanding. And the best way to help you grasp what the teacher is talking about is to ask questions.

The most obvious kind are those you ask when you actually haven't understood something, so that the teacher will clarify or repeat.

Another type of question is: "Are you saying that..." and giving the information back in your own words, to see if you've understood properly.

Or you can ask 'intelligent' or challenging questions, which would also help you get more interested in the subject - and increase your understanding.

9. Study together. As long as you're disciplined, putting your heads together in small groups of students can help you understand the material better, assist you with difficulties, try different approaches, learn different solutions, even spur you on to do better....

10. Test yourself. When you're taking notes, highlight any points you think might come up in the exam. During study time, give yourself a written 'exam' by asking yourself questions based on those points. If you can't answer them properly, go back and review the material. Students who make up possible test questions will find themselves much better prepared if similar questions come up in the exam.