September 15, 2018
The Art of Studying (And How the Smartest
Students Do It)
Consider the fact that the end-of-year examinations are
approaching and that if you haven’t started revising for
examinations, it’s about time you got started. As chronic
procrastinators often tell themselves: better late than never.
Furthermore, do consider the fact that, with ever-increasing
demands on our time, and with our second digital lives ever ready to
steal attention away from our studies, it’s never been more
important to focus and study as efficiently and effectively as
possible.
Do consider that some students manage to pull together incredible
feats of effective studying while others pore over books endlessly to
no avail. The truth is that not all time spent studying is the same –
indeed, it’s not the amount of time you spend staring at your files
but how you use that time to actually achieve your goals. Smart
students don’t just grind away at their books but also make sure
that that time is actually productive.
Therefore, we ask you to consider the proposition that studying
efficiently is an art. Here are 5 mistakes most students make – and
what the smartest students do instead.
① Just reading your notes for hours is completely pointless.
What most students do: We often hear students telling us
that they have, truly, spent hours revising for their examination. “I
spent five hours flipping through my notes / files / worksheets
yesterday!” is the rallying cry. However, scientific research has
shown that merely reading through your materials will not enable you
to retrieve that information later on. In short, you won’t be able
to remember anything you’ve read during an examination.
What you should do instead: Take those undigested notes and
do something with the information in it. For instance, write out the
grammar rule or vocabulary definition. Rewrite a composition or essay
from scratch, or at least do a couple of plans. You’ll activate a
different part of your brain which will make the information
accessible during your examination.
② Focus on your mistakes and understand why you made them.
What most students do: A typical student will try to
memorise answers / essays / model responses and attempt to
regurgitate them as accurately as possible during the examination.
This is obviously a recipe for disaster in the modern context: your
examinations are carefully designed to ensure that rote learners can
be easily filtered out from those who actually respond to the
particular needs and requirements of the questions before them. (Go
off-topic or fail to address the requirements of the question and you
will almost certainly fail.)
What you should do instead: Look at your mistakes and try
to understand the reason why you made those mistakes. For instance,
do you have an issue with subject-verb agreement? Are you prone to
misspelling certain words? Do you panic when you see a topic that
seems unfamiliar (but which, on further reflection, would actually be
manageable had you not panicked in the first place)? Then, put in
place a plan to avoid making these mistakes during the examination.
When it comes to high-stakes examinations, your strategy for managing
that examination on the day itself is everything.
③ Organise the information you need to remember in a format that
is helpful for your examination.
What most students do: Many students try to memorise the
information they need to know in the format that is given to them in
their textbooks, worksheets or notes. However, depending on who has
created or structured those worksheets or notes, what you memorise
may not be in a form that is easily recalled, applied or analysed
during an examination.
What you should do instead: “Consolidate” (collective
sigh audible). Yes, you’ve heard this advice before, but this is
what that word means: as you work with your notes, reorganize them
into a structure that is isomorphic to (in other words, applicable
to) your examination format. Elite students reorganize their notes
into essay plans, for instance, rather than long nested lists of
ideas that have to be further restructured in your mind during the
examination.
And a quick tip from us: we really don’t like mind maps, which
are messy, unstructured and a waste of time. But more on that some
other time.
④ Practise as if it’s a performance.
What most students do: Read and regurgitate information.
They see examinations as pure information retrieval or, worse still,
some form of self-expression or path to validation of one’s
intelligence / intellect / creativity etc. That’s not what an
examination is.
What you should do instead: Sitting for a written
examination is no different from a musical performance or an athletic
competition – you need to actually practise doing the thing itself.
Time pressure can make or break your score. Write out those essays
and time yourself, because being able to physically perform on the
day itself and having the psychological fortitude to get through it
makes a surprising difference.
⑤ Don’t skip steps during the exam. You’ll regret it.
What most students do: Panic during the examination. Change
their time-tested examination strategies. Take shortcuts and
unwarranted risks due to the adrenaline rush. We’ve seen it all
before and yes, disaster looms around the corner.
What you should do instead: Follow the examination
management strategies you have been taught and don’t stray from
them during the examination – you’ll end up regretting it. Take
the time to read the question carefully and brainstorm. Do a brief
plan or outline. Circle your clues and highlight your sources.
Following a plan of action is the only way to ensure that your
examination performance doesn’t get derailed.
Good luck; and to Academia students, we know you’ve been
well-prepared.
1. For the interest of the public, WHY did you leave Victoria Institution before completing your A Level?
2. I understand from your parents and Vincent ST Chan that you could not cope with the stress, A Level work and for some other reasons best known to you. You seek Vincent STChan's help to find other JC such as CJC for you to continue your A Level .. But you turned it down for reasons that
( and I quote) "NO other JC in Singapore is good enough for you".. Subsequently you opt for the Poly.
So you felt that you were talented/gifted "Scholar" and deserved to be better than others.
WHAT A JOKE!!
