How to Get Smarter as a Teenager: 10 Habits That Work
Here's how to get smarter as a teenager: sleep enough, keep learning hard things in school, practise the specific reasoning skills you're weakest at for a few minutes a day, and protect your focus from constant switching. Those habits have real evidence behind them, and your teen years are a time when your brain and even your test scores can still change a lot.
The fastest start is knowing exactly which thinking skill slips for you, and IQ Tester finds that in about two minutes. Find my weak spots
What "smarter" can mean
Before the habits, a quick reality check. "Smart" isn't one thing. When people ask how to become smarter as a teenager, they usually mean one of these:
- Learning faster in class
- Remembering more of what they study
- Thinking more clearly on tests and in arguments
- Solving new problems they haven't seen before
- Explaining ideas well
The good news: all of those are skills, and skills improve with practice. Research backs this up. A 2011 study at University College London found some teenagers' IQ scores shifted by up to about 20 points over four years, and a large 2018 review found each extra year of education adds roughly 1 to 5 IQ points. We unpack both in can IQ change over time.
So yes, can you get smarter? You can. Here are 10 habits, grouped by what they do.
Sleep first (habit 1)
It's not glamorous, but it's the foundation. Tired brains lose focus, forget faster and make more mistakes.
Habit 1: Guard 8 to 10 hours. That's what the American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends for ages 13 to 18.
How to get smarter every day starting tonight:
- Pick a fixed wake-up time, even on weekends (within an hour).
- Charge your phone outside your bedroom.
- Stop new studying an hour before bed.
More detail in does sleep affect IQ test scores.
Practise your weak spots (habits 2–3)
This is the habit most "how to be smarter" lists miss, and it's the one that moves the needle most.
Habit 2: Train the skill that breaks, not the one you like. People naturally practise what they're already good at. If you love word puzzles but freeze on number series, the number series is where your points are hiding.
Habit 3: Keep it short and daily. Ten focused minutes a day beats a two-hour session once a week. Spreading practice out is one of the best-supported study techniques there is.
Common weak spots to watch for:
| Weak spot | What it feels like | A drill that helps |
|---|---|---|
| Working memory | Losing track mid-problem | "Chunk it": group items into bigger units |
| Rushing, then freezing | Speeding up, then blanking | Read the whole question before starting |
| Pattern spotting | Staring at a sequence, seeing nothing | "Name the rule out loud" |
| Mental arithmetic | Slow or error-prone sums | "Estimate first", then calculate |
| Putting reasoning into words | "I know it but can't explain it" | Explain every answer in one sentence |
| Logic chains | Tangled in "if this, then that" | Write each step as a short line |
| Scattered attention | Mind wanders every minute | Single-task timer, phone away |
The problem: guessing your own weak spot is unreliable. You might blame "being bad at math" when it's really rushing under a clock.
IQ Tester does the diagnosing for you. You answer 16 questions in about two minutes, get a reasoning tier, and see which of those 7 problems is yours. Then every day you get one tip and one 10-minute drill, weighted toward your weak spots. Find my weak spots
Read with a question (habits 4–5)
Habit 4: Read something long a few times a week. A chapter, a long article, a novel. Reading builds vocabulary and knowledge, which feed verbal reasoning.
Habit 5: Read with a question in mind. Before a chapter, write the question you expect it to answer. After, answer it in two sentences. That turns reading into thinking.
Want the details on what reading does and doesn't improve? See does reading increase IQ.
How to get smarter in school with reading
- Before class, skim the chapter headings and guess the main idea.
- After class, write the three most important points from memory.
- Check your notes. Whatever you missed is what to review.
Do mental math (habit 6)
Habit 6: Calculate in your head every day. Mental arithmetic is a common weak spot, and it's one of the easiest to train.
Everyday ways to practise:
- Work out the tip on a restaurant bill.
- Estimate your grocery total before checkout.
- Figure out how many minutes until your next class.
- Double and halve numbers while waiting in line.
The trick is estimate first. Before you calculate 48 × 21, say "about 50 × 20, so around 1,000." Then work it out (1,008). Estimating catches big mistakes and builds number sense.
Protect your focus (habits 7–8)
How to focus better is really how to switch less.
Habit 7: One task, one timer. Set a 20-minute timer and do only one thing. When your brain wanders, notice it, and come back. That noticing is the skill.
Habit 8: Make distraction harder. Phone in another room. Notifications off during homework. One browser tab.
A focus checklist for homework:
- Phone out of reach
- Water and snacks already at the desk
- Clear goal written down ("finish questions 1–10")
- Timer set
- Break planned after, not during
Explain things out loud (habit 9)
Habit 9: Teach it. If you can explain something simply, you understand it. If you can't, you've found a gap.
Scripts to try:
- "The rule here is ___, because ___."
- "I ruled out ___ because ___."
- "The first step is ___, then ___, so ___."
Say it to a friend, a sibling, your dog, or your empty room. Putting reasoning into words is a skill of its own, and it's one of the 7 weak spots IQ Tester checks for.
Track progress (habit 10)
Habit 10: Measure, then retest. Without tracking, you can't tell if something's working. You'll either quit too early or keep doing something useless.
Simple ways to track:
- Keep a streak of days you practised.
- Note your hardest problem each week and whether you solved it.
- Retest your reasoning every few weeks, not every day.
What doesn't help much
Plenty of hobbies are great for their own sake but won't make you smarter across the board. Chess, music and sudoku mostly improve those activities themselves. Keep them if you enjoy them; just don't rely on them to fix a weak spot.
Is any of this different for guys or girls?
No. How to get smarter for girls and how to get smarter for guys is the same list. Brains respond to sleep, practice and focus the same way.
Start getting smarter in the next two minutes
The best way to get smarter as a teenager is to stop guessing and train the right thing. In the next two minutes, IQ Tester gives you a reasoning tier, pinpoints your weak spots, and hands you today's tip and 10-minute drill, with a streak, a history and a drill library that unlocks day by day.
FAQ
How to get smarter as a 13 year old?
Focus on the basics: 8 to 10 hours of sleep, taking school seriously, reading something longer a few times a week and practising your weakest thinking skill for about 10 minutes a day. At 13, your brain is still developing, so habits you build now matter a lot.
How to get smarter as a 12 year old?
The same habits apply: sleep, reading, daily mental math and explaining things out loud to someone. Keep it fun, short and consistent rather than long and stressful.
How to get smarter fast?
There's no instant trick, but you can perform better quickly by sleeping well and cutting distractions. Real skill gains come from short, daily practice over weeks, focused on your weakest area.
How to be smart for school?
Preview the chapter before class, take notes in your own words, review from memory afterward, and explain what you learned to someone else. Ask questions whenever something doesn't click, because that's where learning happens.
What are the habits of smart students?
They sleep enough, study in short spaced sessions instead of cramming, work on what they find hard instead of what feels easy, and check their understanding by explaining it. None of these need special talent, just consistency.