One of the shortcomings of our educational system is the fact that student achievement is assessed competitively. The problem with such an assessment is that after a while individuals are categorized into strong, medium, and weak groupings where the former group soon realizes that it is out shined by others and hence loses all motivations for doing any effort. As a result, identification and utilization of effective strategies for preventing academic failure through attention to individual differences and building up motivation in the classroom seem inevitable.The present study aimed at comparing the methods of individual competition, individual effort, and group competition, utilized a sample of 195 high school freshman girls from the 11th educational district in Tehran who were selected through a cluster sampling method. Data were collected using teacher made tests through out the session and were analyzed using one way ANOVA. The results indicated that:1- The individual effort method is more effective than the individual competition method.2- Although the two methods of individual effort and group competition did not show any significant difference, the former is more desirable since it stresses student interests and helps with his/ her mental health.