I am sure you have heard of study group. This method has been proclaimed as the most productive and beneficial for studying. Let me give you a bit of shock. I found it the most inefficient, ineffective and unproductive way of studying. Complete waste of time. But hey, that is just me. May be this method is suitable for you. Let me share with you my experience. I have tried studying in group in Medical School. Our group consisted of all the Malaysians studying in my class. This was to ensure no language or cultural barriers in our discussion.
When we met, everybody was supposed to share on what they have learned from a particular subject. Then each person was given a task to study a topic. When the members meet again, we supposed to share what we have learned, hoping that one did not have to go back and read what the other guys have researched.
However, because of the nature of our study (medicines), we were very critical and thorough in every topic. This made us wanting to know more and often not trusting the person who presented the topic. Everyone thought that there could be more to learn. On top of that, everyone was hoping that everyone else has done a better job than himself and waiting to be corrected or filled up with a better way of understanding. This resulted in everyone start flipping the books and looking for facts to support their statements. Soon the meeting was very quiet with everyone fixing their eyes on the books and occasionally making a remark. Before long we were essentially studying on our own while sitting in a group. At the end of the meeting, often there was more confusion. Slowly each member started to learn on their own, and only start discussing for very critical topics. In the end, everybody agreed, studying on our own was more productive. The discussion, we left it during our outing in a beach, coffee shops and movies.
Once again, study group was not for me. However, it doesn’t mean it could not be yours. You just have to find the right way of studying, for you.
STUDY SMART - REVISION
When I did my revision, I always do it in at least 3 cycles. The first cycle would be reading and accessing the material at one goes. I tried to absorb as much as I can, getting the whole picture. If there were something I could not understand, I simply skipped and proceeded. I would do this for every subject. Depending on the study load and the length of time available for revision, first cycle usually last about 3-4 days. Then I would start the second cycle. In this cycle, I would skip the topics which I have already understood before starting the first cycle, re emphasis that topics I have just understood in first cycle and trying to understand the topics I have skipped in first cycles. This usually takes 2-3 days. The third cycle would be just going through the topics which I have just managed to grasp in second cycle and some of the most difficult topics which seemed I could never understand. At this stage also I would decide which topic I should get help from friends or tutors. Third cycle is usually very fast. No longer than a whole day worth of work.
The whole three cycles takes at least a week and should not be more than 10 days. Revision longer than 10 days is not a revision anymore, but just an ordinary study. (Revision by definition is the study you are doing in the last week before exam and strictly studying AGAIN on what you have studied before).
NO SHORTCUT AND NO CHEATING!
There is no short cut; you have to work hard to succeed. Even if there is a short cut (cheating or leaked questions etc), the success you will get is only a superficial and temporary. If you cheat, you may score all As in you exams, but still do not fully grasp the important issues and thus make you life more difficult in the next stage. This will prompt you to even more involved in cheating you way to ‘passing’ the exams.
For example, you may do not understand what F=Ma is, and instead of trying to understand it, during the exams, you happened to be so lucky and managed to copy the whole solution from your much brighter friend sitting next to you. Sure you will pass, but the next stage (you are now in matriculation, after passing Form Five from cheating), you will find that not only you have not understood F=Ma, but now you have to understand various other formulas which needed you to grasp the basic F=Ma first! Here you will find yourself suddenly in hell!
The same case applies in university life, example are abounds where students work hard to cheat all his way throughout the university life. After ‘graduation’, he suddenly finds himself very difficult to secure a job due to failed interviews. Even if he is accepted in a particular job, the chances are, he will be having a hard time working in a place where he is only ‘paper-qualified’ but not ‘brain-qualified’. These cheaters will endlessly cheat in trying to secure jobs, in trying to secure promotions and ranks and ultimately in handling financial matters. Soon time will catch up with them, and they will find themselves breaking the laws.
As you can see, the shortcut to success will eventually brings you to no success at all, but possibly humiliation and jail.
STUDY SMART!
Study smart simply means studying in the most efficient and effective way, for you. For me, these are my way of studying smart: (to be continued ... )
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