Many members of the youngest generation of credit card users know their credit score is important, but a sizeable portion feel they don't have a solid grasp on how to manage it properly, according to a recent FICO study.

About 60% of adult Gen Zers, defined as those ages 18 to 27, say understanding how their credit score works is one of the most important aspects of financial literacy, per FICO's September study. However, around 20% of them say they don't have the knowledge or tools to do so and nearly 30% don't feel that they're in control of their credit score.

Despite that, Gen Zers' average credit score isn't too shabby.

As a reminder, your FICO score can fall anywhere between 300 and 850. Here's how Experian classifies scores.

• Poor: 300 to 579
• Fair: 580 to 669
• Good: 670 to 739
• Very good: 740 to 799
• Exceptional: 800 to 850

Gen Zers average credit score was 667 as of the second quarter of this year, per TransUnion data shared with CNBC Make It, which places them in the "Fair" credit range.

That gives young people some room to improve. A higher credit score in the "Very Good" or "Exceptional" range can unlock better interest rates when you apply for things like personal loans or a mortgage, which can save you hundreds to thousands of dollars in the long run.

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Regardless of where your credit score sits currently, the good news is that credit scores aren't set in stone, and it isn't too difficult to build and maintain a healthy one.

"Managing your credit scores and credit reports is actually very easy and, almost, can be done without any overt effort on your part," John Ulzheimer, a credit expert who formerly worked for FICO and Experian, tells CNBC Make it.

Here are the two most important factors that impact your credit score and how understanding them can help you give your score a boost.

These two factors impact your credit score most

Your credit score is calculated using five factors, which each receive different weightings. Here's how that breaks down, according to FICO.

• Payment history (35%): This tracks how regularly you've paid your credit card bills on time
• Amounts owed (30%): The total amount of debt you have as well as how much of your available revolving credit you're currently using
• Length of credit history (15%): The amount of time you've been using credit, also known as your credit age
• Credit mix (10%): The various types of credit you're maintaining, such as credit cards, mortgage loans and installment loans
• New credit (10%): How recently you've applied for new lines of credit

Since your payment history and amounts owed account for 65% of how your credit score is calculated, these are the two main elements you should focus on maintaining, Ulzheimer says.

Consistently making at least the minimum payments on your credit cards will help you avoid dings to your credit score. You can even set this to "autopilot" by scheduling regular online payments, he says.

However, be aware that only making the minimum payment means you may end up carrying a balance from month to month which can lead to higher interest charges that can increase your overall debt load.

To that point, you should also aim to keep the amount of credit card debt you're carrying low, Ulzheimer says. This is because as your balance increases, it can become more difficult to pay it down and make on-time payments, which can make it riskier for lenders to extend more lines of credit to you, according to FICO's website.

And remember, it's not uncommon for younger credit card users to have lower scores since the length of time a person has been using credit accounts for 15% of how their credit score is calculated. That means even young consumers with the best credit card habits are unlikely to achieve a perfect 850 credit score since they haven't been managing their credit for very long.

"As long as you make your payments on time and maintain respectable amounts of credit card debt then you're going to have solid credit reports and solid credit scores," Ulzheimer says.

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