Many self-help articles discuss tips on how students can survive and excel at school. To give you something new, here's a list of habits that are common among highly unsuccessful students and what you can do to avoid such tempting habits. Not looking at the bigger picture Highly unsuccessful students do not look at the bigger picture. For them, failing an exam isn't a big deal because it's just one exam. They don't think much about getting excellent grades because for them, the main goal is to just finish their studies. When you apply for college or graduate school, having high grades ha ...