From the perspective of comparative education, it has often been stressed that Chinese families hold high expectations on school achievement and believe in the pay-off of effort. However, the literature on the relationship between effort and academic achievement is limited. Individual effort is not widely considered a significant cause of educational disparities, which often is mainly attributed to structural and contextual factors, such as family socioeconomic status (SES). Using the China Education Panel Survey (CEPS 2013, 2014), this study examined the role of effort in affecting educational outcomes and investigated the interplay between effort and family socioeconomic status. The results showed that effort has a positive impact on academic performance, though to a lesser degree than family SES. The study also discovered that low-SES students tend to exert more effort than high-SES students and that the effect of effort is greater for low-SES students. These findings underlined the importance of individual effort for academic success, particularly for low-SES students, and suggested policies that aim at enhancing motivation and engagement.