In any school term, you are meant to receive class lessons on certain subjects, and then sit for subject exams that are based on these class lessons. At the end of the term, your exam score in any subject indicates how well you have learnt the particular subject during the term. Certainly, the highest result in any subject is excellent score (say, 80% and above, depending on your school’s grading system), and the highest result in any term is overall excellence, that is, an excellent score in every subject.
If you got an excellent score in any subject, it meant you had learnt the subject very well. To achieve an excellent score, you have to prepare your mind for it, especially by setting for yourself an excellent target in every subject and committing yourself to the achievement of your impressive target. In practice, you have to establish your excellent target in your mind, and one way to do this is to write down your targets on a piece of paper and take this paper around with you; or, paste it on your bedroom wall, bookshelf etc – then always look at it and assure yourself that you can make it real.
At the beginning of every school term, you should target overall excellence, because this outstanding target would help you to focus your mind on achieving superb academic results.
In an arrow-shooting contest any contestant gets to win a prize by hitting anywhere on the far-away target board, which consists of several concentric circles. Hitting the smallest and innermost circle earns the highest prize, while the outermost circle fetches the smallest prize. Obviously, every right-minded archer would aim at the innermost circle so as to win the highest prize.
In a relative sense, your situation at the start of your exam prep should be similar to that of the archer who is just about to shoot an arrow. Like the right-thinking archer, you must be aiming at the most worthwhile goal that is actually possible for you to achieve.
In your academic situation, however, your goal is defined by the exam result that you are trying to make, and overall excellence is definitely the best result and the most worthwhile goal you can aim for. All in all, you should start your exam prep by targeting an excellent result, which represents the highest and most favourable prize any candidate can target in any scholarly test.