10 Secrets Your Teacher Won't Tell You: How to Get Better Grades

I have been a teacher for nearly 20 years. I have marked thousands of essays.

Students think the marking process is a scientific formula. They think we sit there with a calculator, analyzing every single word, weighing every argument with precision.

We don't.

The truth is, teachers are human. We get tired. We get bored. We get hungry. We have biases.

Most importantly, we have secrets. There are things we look for that aren't in the official "grading rubric." There are shortcuts we take.

If you know these secrets, you can hack the system. You can get a better grade not by working harder, but by writing smarter.

Here are ten things your lecturer is thinking, but will never say to your face.

1. We Skim-Read Most of It

This hurts to hear, I know. You spent three weeks writing that middle section.

But if I have 100 papers to mark and only three days to do it, I cannot read every word slowly. I am speed-reading.

I read the introduction carefully. I read the conclusion carefully. For the middle, I am scanning. I am looking for topic sentences (the first sentence of a paragraph). I am looking for keywords.

The Fix: Make your structure obvious. Use clear headings. Ensure the first sentence of every paragraph summarizes the argument. If I can understand your essay just by reading the first line of each paragraph, you will get a good grade.

2. We Know You Wrote It the Night Before

You think you hid it well. You didn't.

When an essay is written in a panic at 3 AM, it smells of panic.

The grammar gets sloppy near the end. The referencing style changes halfway through. The arguments stop making sense.

The Fix: If you leave it late, don't just type until you hit the word count. Spend the last hour editing. A short, polished essay is better than a long, messy one.

3. Formatting Equals Effort

This is a subconscious bias.

If I open a document and it looks professional, clean font, perfect margins, neat spacing, I immediately think, "This student cares." I start marking with a positive attitude. I am looking for reasons to give you an 'A'.

If I open a document and the font is Comic Sans, the spacing is weird, and there are no paragraphs, I think, "This is lazy." I start marking with a negative attitude.

The Fix: Spend ten minutes making it look pretty. It matters more than you think.

4. We Love It When You Agree With Us

In lectures, we tell you to "think critically." We tell you to challenge ideas.

But honestly? We love it when you use our own ideas back at us.

If I spent two weeks teaching you about a specific theory, and you use that theory in your essay, I feel validated. I feel like a good teacher because you listened.

The Fix: Look at your lecture notes. What topics did the teacher spend the most time on? Focus your essay on those. Quote the authors they mentioned in class. It flatters us.

5. The Bibliography Is the First Thing We Check

Before I read a single word of your argument, I scroll to the bottom.

I look at the reference list.

If it is short, I know you haven't read enough. If it is full of old websites, I know your research is weak. If it is formatted badly, I know you lack attention to detail.

I usually have a grade in my head just by looking at the list. The essay just confirms it.

The Fix: Pad your bibliography. Make sure it is formatted perfectly. It is the easiest way to signal quality.

6. We Hate Marking as Much as You Hate Writing

Imagine reading the same answer to the same question 50 times in a row. It is torture.

By the time I get to the 30th paper, my brain is melting. I am bored.

The Fix: Be interesting. Use a surprising example. Start with a quote that isn't the standard one everyone else uses. If you wake me up, I will reward you.

7. Office Hours Are Legal Cheating

I sit in my office for two hours a week for "office hours." Usually, nobody comes. I sit there eating biscuits and checking emails.

If you come in and ask about the essay, I will basically tell you what to write.

I can't write it for you. But if you bring a plan, I can say, "Don't do that part, do this instead." I can steer you away from a bad grade before you even start.

The Fix: Go to office hours. It is the biggest cheat code in university.

8. We Want You to Pass

There is a myth that teachers enjoy failing students. We don't.

Failing a student is paperwork. It means we have to write reports. We have to justify the fail to the exam board. It is a hassle.

We want to give you a pass. We are on your side.

The Fix: Make it easy for us to pass you. Cover the basics. Answer the question asked. Don't be clever; just be clear.

9. Length Does Not Equal Quality

Some students think that if they write 3,000 words for a 2,000-word assignment, they will get extra marks.

You won't. You will annoy me.

It shows you cannot edit. It shows you cannot be concise.

The Fix: Stick to the word count +/- 10%. If you ramble, your grade goes down.

10. We Recycle Old Material

Here is a secret from the staff room. We are busy. We don't write new lectures every year.

We often use the same slides for five years running.

The Fix: If you can find students from the year above, ask for their notes. Ask what was on the exam. The chances are, it will be exactly the same this year.

The Bottom Line

Grading is subjective. It is not a machine process. It is a human process.

You are writing for an audience of one: your teacher. You need to make their life easy. You need to make your work look clean, clear, and researched.

If you play the game, you win the prize.

And if you really don't know how to play the game? If you don't know how to format a bibliography or structure an argument that keeps a tired teacher awake?

That is where Instant Assignment steps in. We know the secrets because we are the experts. We can help you craft the paper that teachers want to read.