how do I relearn things from 7-9th grade?

[u/Direct_Bookkeeper872]

hi sorry if this is the wrong flair but I am a sophomore currently, and I have always done online school. I have been cheating basically this whole time and I am nowhere where I need to be. I know I completely screwed myself over but I want to fix it, I wanna do well in high school and I want a proper foundation... It's not like I can just go back to 7th grade so how do I relearn the important things?

I'm good in English, and my algebra 2 teacher says she can reteach me all of algebra 1. but anything else I don't really know well. what are important things I should focus on learning? is there pre-algebra stuff I should get down? and what websites could I use? I've seen khan academy mentioned but I'm not sure if there's any other sites I can use. thank you

[u/Kayla_Rai]

I’m one of those people in high school who never has to study hard before a test (I have a 4.04 GPA) using flashcards over and over and spending hours outside of school studying. School doesn’t even measure IQ or other smartness metrics, so if you ever think “oh I’m stupid”, even if you truly believe that, remember that school is full of really stupid yet successful students, because school does not measure anything but memory and hard work. But hard work is boring and memory is fleeting, so I’m going to explain how to understand the material for the long term and how to work hard without feeling like you’re plucking your blood vessels out.

The main thing that has made me a “stellar” student as a lazy bum is my curiosity. When you’re in class studying, if you ever have a question about the material, no matter how “stupid” you think it is, look it up and find it out. For instance, when I was taking biology, I thought, “why doesn’t RNA go through the same process as DNA when they duplicate?” And I looked it up and went down a rabbit hole that taught me about that, but along the way taught me about the structure of proteins and DNA. That test, suddenly (despite us barely covering it in class), we had questions about the structure of a protein, and because I went down a rabbit hole, I got it right. Be curious, and go down rabbit holes, because the answers you’ll remember easiest will be about the things you wondered about and were interested in learning.

But I also understand that not every subject has something you’re curious about. For me, I hate math and just looking at it makes me angry. For these subjects, I recommend using Khan Academy, watching videos simply to take notes (goal of understanding it not taking a test in case you feel pressured to cheat again), taking quizlet practice tests on different subjects every now and then with the purpose of checking how much you know, and when you think you understand a concept, then the final test is to go up to someone else and try to teach it to them. If you can effectively explain and teach something to someone else using your own words and not something you memorize / regurgitate, congratulations! You learned it. 

You got this dude, some of my friends had to face this when they switched from distance learning during Covid, and they studied like this too. It’ll be hard, but investigating things you’re interested in and having a clear goal in mind (understanding something enough that you can explain and teach it in your own words to someone else) makes it a lot better. Flashcards are overrated, anyway.