a few days ago, as i was doing some "research" (read: surfing) online, i came across a nice site called The Teaching Company. URL: http://www.teach12.com
and from there, i looked at interesting things to "learn", basically i was just looking through the list of courses they have, and one thing captured my attention - How to be a superstar student.
Further research leads to the realization that, during my school days, I've never had an organized method of studying at all. I fared much better in primary and secondary school, because I was forced to study by my mother; although I never really know the reason why I should study other than my own competitive nature of wanting to be better than others. Well, it never really crossed my mind to think that far! If you look into my brains at that time you'll only see two Gs - Games and Girls.
At the risk of sounding like I'm bragging - I was a pretty good student in my primary school years. I used to get 1st or 2nd in class; to put it simply, after securing a meagre 8th position in class in my Primary 1 in the first semester, the next semester I got 1st or 2nd, and never looked back since. If I'm not mistaken, I think the I was 1st twice as much as I was 2nd.
Of course that made me feel like a star. And I didn't have to spend too much effort there, all I did was do my homework, fool around playing hide and seek like everybody else and getting 1st or 2nd became a second nature. But in hindsight, that's not a really an achievement of any sort, simply because we had only 2 classes of 40 students each in each year - I was the top of only 80 people every year.
Now, when I got to secondary school, I had more competitors, each with that brilliant twinkle in their eyes (or nerdy spectacles). 7 classes, averaging around 40 people each, and suffice to say that I didn't get into top 3. I was 5th in the best class (well, there was a strange way of how they mix and match students but I can safely say I was in top 10 overall), and disappointed. All I could think of was, oh, there are people smarter than me, and I accepted that.
But then here's the funny part. Art was compulsary, its scores were taken into consideration for placing and I was damn bad in both drawing and painting. Whatever beautiful that goes in through my eyes, comes out shit on paper. Throughout my secondary years, I averaged probably around 50 - 60 in art, while the others happily scoring in the upper 80s or 90s. Considering that an additional 20 marks would've propelled me to 1st or 2nd, well.. what can I say, life's a bitch. :)
But again, in hindsight, I never had a proper organized way of studying. All I depended on was my mum's nagging for me to study and do my homework. And literally, all I did was finishing my homework, taking the textbooks, flipping it over and reading it (without making notes), and buy a few workbooks and practising answering the questions. Well, I did make notes, but I never looked back at the notes, so making notes only served as a method for me to physically write what I've just read, and solely that. And with this erratic way of studying, I breezed though secondary school in the top 10s, and scoring an okay 7 As out of 10 for my SPM (equivalent to the O Levels).
When I went to the university, I brought this erratic method (if it can actually be considered a "method"!) along with me. I fared pretty well in the pre-university years, scoring in the high 3's in my GPA. When I got into first year, I lost my will to study - and with that goes my GPA. I won't go into the details of why, it probably deserves a whole post by itself.
In my worst, I scored 1.97 in GPA, and in my best, maybe 3.3. I stopped going to classes, and my studying method degraded into not doing my homework nor following lectures. Instead what I did was collecting lectures notes maybe 1 week before the exams, "proof read" the lecture notes - often without comprehension, and went to take the exams.
Sometimes I would fail, and had to take supplementary exams, but most of the time I got away with a pass. And the 1 or 2 times I had to take supplementary exams, it's amazing how I passed because although I am an Engineering graduate, I can't draw an NPN (nor PNP for that matter!) circuit diagram even if it meant my life.
I think it's safe to say I survived university solely on my brains.
...
5 years on, I am still reading (I love reading!), and I am actively pursuing knowledge and lifelong learning. The difference now is, I'm learning and doing active study because I'm actually interested in it. Basically, I'm learning BECAUSE I'm interested, not just because I *have* to, as with the school years.
And with this comes the realization that I have shitty study methods. I don't pre-read, I don't make notes, I don't review, I don't formulate correct questions to ask - basically I have a very erratic way of learning, which has been instilled since young, partly because it had worked so well in the past, and I never really had to re-look into the ways I study. But I think it's mainly because I never realized that there is such a thing as a "method of study". I mean, come on, there actually IS a method of study? Are you serious???
See? I'm sure you get what I mean.
It may have done its damage; I've taken around 4 certifications, but I never really properly studied them. Up until now, the normal practice for taking certifications is, identify areas I don't know, search for those documentations, read them, then go take tests. I've managed to pass, yes, but never with flying colours. It seems like "flying colours" has been a has-been for me, hehe.
I am a little scared - ok, maybe really scared that this study method of mine may have ingrained itself so much into me that I will find it difficult to seek and retain knowledge as fast and as much as I wanted to.
But I'm willing to change. And as a start, I have set a few objectives to achieve within this year and the next - several certifications just so that I have a drawing board to go back to, in order to re-introduce myself to a more organized method of studying. And I've also bought a book - "How to study in College" (at a hefty $50!), just to see if there is any way I can methodically improve my study habits.
Imagine that, studying methods - a science in itself!
