Desperation

Now that exams are over, the books lying around the house have to be packed properly and orderly since there is a chance that I might need to use it again (you wish I da bao) for my CFA exam later this December.

Some of my peers are still suffering the long and arduous ride sitting in the exam hall or losing the battle halfway through. Thinking back, it was tough during the last week of exams. However, no matter how unfavourable circumstances are, I do not waste time in blaming anyone, instead I use it to work doubly hard. No point whining since no one can change that.

I was desperate during that last burst of revision. To conquer that, I woke up almost every other day at 6am, studied for 2 hours and napped till 9am, afterwhich proceeded to the library for the rest of the day. As I said before and say again, I do not believe in burning the midnight oil. Go ahead and be part of the study-late gang if you like.

I used everything to boost my own morale. Chicken essence, visit to temple and whatever not. I use these unseen forces to deceive my brain that I am one level higher than my previous body. How stupid does that sound, right? You can program your brain for more of that if you know how to.

I even drew up my own timetable to ensure that I was on the right track.

Not a very humble student, I must say.

How to be Exam Smart - Part 17

This is going to be harsh. It's the day of the exam and you still revising, hoping that you can as much more information as possible.

You are telling yourself that you are not prepared enough. YOU HAVE ALREADY LOST HALF THE BATTLE. Yes, even before the paper starts.

Keep your mind clear and tell yourself you are going to conquer every single question. Good luck.

How to be Exam Smart - Part 16
The month of Exams

By now, most of undergraduates from our local universities would have finished their exams and tomorrow will be the start for students from the university I am studying in. Primary and Secondary school students should be having their mid-year exams at this period too.

As such, I will sum up this series of articles and resume posting for the next school term beginning in mid August. For the time being, stay tuned for other useful postings on time management and useless postings on pieces of my life.

So, it's the day before your exams....

Tip

Do your last bit of revision by 10 pm.
Sleep early and keep a clear mind for the big day.

If you are well prepared, you should be confident enough already. This last few hours of studying won't bring you anywhere anyway. You will only confuse yourself further. Might as well spend this time to sleep and repeat the subject next year, right?

Good luck.

How to be Exam Smart - Part 15

Welcome back. Today we have no advice for you. Just a fact for you to ponder and act upon. Previously we said that you should not tune in to your mp3 player while studying.

Now I'm telling you that plugging in that earphones is good. When you sleep. And obviously, listen to useful stuff and not shit. The brain, as I said before, is a very powerful component of the human body. During sleep, there are bursts of brain activity going on, thereby aiding the absorption of information. My point is that your brain is not totally inactive, so you can try to tune in to your recorded lectures while you're asleep.

Some factual acticles to prove that:

We Learn While We Sleep (Innovations Report)
Brain Basics: Understanding Sleep (National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Strokes)

I remember myself having some friends who listen to pop music when they go to bed. And in my opinion, they sing quite well. Is it a coincidence? You judge for yourself.

How to be Exam Smart - Part 14

Many times when we see people do revision or study for exams, we see them reading their notes over and over again expecting to understand what the text means, but not catching the concept at all. Worse, they plug in their earphones listening to their mp3, expecting their pop singer to sing the answer to them. Stupid.

Tip

Know what you can do and what you should not do.

In this aspect of listening to music when you study, stop pretending to look cool and making study seem like a breeze. Males can really do it damn well when they jolly well know that they suck at multi-tasking. And my dear females, don't be too happy, cos Justin Timberlake really doesn't have the answer to your question.

In the next part, I shall tell you under what circumstances should you plug in your earphones. Until then, live your life with passion.

How to be Exam Smart - Part 13

Today, we shall talk abit about time management. This technique, if you apply it with discipline, I am very sure you will live a life more fulfilling.

Tip

Split that 7 days of a week into 5 focus day, 1 buffer day and 1 free day.

Once you have identified that, start planning what should constitute a focus day. These days ought to be intense and being loosened up on the buffer day. The most important day is the free day. You have to let go of work, and by that I mean you should not even engage in any thoughts about it.

This is being told to me by a well-known director in Great Eastern. And this piece of advice was given to me during our first meeting and I was really sucked in by his charisma. I don't know about you, but it works for me since the day it was introduced into my life.

How to be Exam Smart - Part 12

Last issue we talked about changing your mindset. Today we are going to change the body. More specifically, that clock in your body. This is the most simple thing that nobody thought was important, and they thought they are right by working that way.

The most common statement I hear is, "I don't sleep early cos night time more quiet to study ma," and the most absurd I've heard is, "I absorb better at night."

Let me tell you that you are so wrong. Unless your exams are in the night, there is no reason for you to stay up late at all.

Tip

It is not the length of your sleep. It is the time you go to bed every night.

My chinese physician gave me that advice, and she reminds me to sleep before 12 midnight everyday. 7 hours should be sufficient and anything less than 5 hours of sleep is bad for your concentration.

Stop burning the midnight oil. Make use of the sunlight instead.

(I am giving advice based on my experience. I hope to find scientific backing for my claims and will appreciate if anyone has the info, or would gladly prove me wrong.)

How to be Exam Smart - Part 11

Today's tip is on managing yourself. I have heard too many people telling me that they are stressed out by school or work. Usually, I ask them,

"Who is stressing you?"

To which they reply, "school work, exams, my boss, deadlines, my parents" and the stuff goes on and on and on.

It doesn't make sense to me. How can people stress you? They can only give you pressure. You are the person stressing yourself out.

Tip

Pressure does not equate to stress. Take note of where the source of your ineffectiveness comes from and eliminate it.

Some people can make pressure work to your advantage.
Stress can only come from yourself.

Similarly, inspiration does not equate to motivation. People can inspire you, but you can only motivate yourself.

How to be Exam Smart - Part 10

Techniques to mind map

Today's tip is on efficient studying, using a method called mind maps. This method is made famous by Tony Buzan and there are many books by him on this subject matter. I use it and I find it very useful, especially for subjects that are heavily loaded with theories.

The basic idea of mind maps is to capture keywords and linking it effectively from one branch to the other. Many people like to link a word to a big paragraph of explanation which doesn't serve them the purpose of mind mapping, instead they had to memorise everything which doesn't make any sense to me.

A simple search over the internet would have yielded many samples of mind maps that are colourful and with pictures. Pictures that you draw act as "anchors" to better remember a keyword. The weirder it is, the more likely it will stay in your brain. Colours are good for clumping related topics. Personally I think adding colours waste quite abit of time so I do not practise it.

For me, a session of mind mapping will take quite some time but it is worth it. First, I will read my notes and textbook for understanding, then I will go back to the first page and start drafting. By the time the draft is completed, I would have read the main text two times. Usually I will stop there and go on to other subjects, coming back to it few days later to finish up the mind map. This acts as revision. Once its done, everything is already inside my mind.

Some samples of my work. Every mind map is unique to yourself.

The draft


A poorly done mindmap

Top down approach

Best piece of work so far

Feel free to take it if you want, it won't help you in any way anyway. Do share with me your work. Leave a comment and we will keep in contact. Have fun studying.

How to be Exam Smart - Part 9

Apologies for keeping the blog idle for a week. Been busy with re-organisation after prelims. Pulled out materials that needs more coverage and starting working on them, at the same time looking through my scholarship application wondering if I should rewrite the essay. I promised to show my mindmaps but I am not done with scanning, so it will come in the next issue.

_________________________

Interacted with some friends these few days, quite glad that Aik Meng actually remembered what I told him some time ago... Words that leave such impression on a top student must be useful, so let me share with you these words of wisdom.

Tip

Reach for the stars. For if you fail, you will still hit the sky.

First of all, I have to say that I don't know what does "fail" means. This word has been erased off my dictionary long ago, and it's even more confusing in this context.

Do you know why some people aim for 70 marks and they don't get it? The reason is very simple. It's because they give themselves 30 marks to fail.

Get it? It's not really easy to understand if your aim is always the passing mark, cos we are talking about the sky here. You realise the mindset of top students are always getting 100 marks. The moment you tell yourself that 90 marks is acceptable, you will miss out studying some important info cos you already give yourself 10 marks to lose, so it's ok to miss a little of this and a little of that and you end up not getting the results you wanted initially.

This is really what's going on inside your brain. It's time to retune that wonderful gift of yours.

How to be Exam Smart - Part 8

This is not going to make sense to some of you. It works for me and many others.

Tip

Isolate yourself during the learning process.

Those who disagree say that learning alone is stupid because friends are there when you do not know something or miss out on critical information. My question to them is, why rely on them in the first place? Do they really value-add to your learning process?

Learning alone and knowing that you do not have anybody to fall back on will keep you in tip-top learning condition.

Next part of this series, I will share with you the skill of doing mind maps. One of the best learning methods around.

How to be Exam Smart - Part 7

This is going to be harsh. But it makes the most sense.

Tip

The people you meet in school will determine what kind of student you are. Choose them wisely.

School is not the place to make friends. Trust me.

I call them school mates. And the function of school mates is to help you in your studies. But that doesn't mean you must keep away from those who can't score well. Identify those who work hard. Find students that are cleverer than you. Stay away from people who come to school to play.

Drop me a comment if you are following. Tell me if it helps.

How to be Exam Smart - Part 6

Needs no explanation

Tip

Repetition is the mother of skill.

To be skilful, keep practising. But make sure you are doing the right thing. And do it right everytime.

How to be Exam Smart - Part 5

This instalment of advice will be seen as stupid to some of you. The other few of you whom have been following closely will do your own research to validate my claim. I will not show you any evidence as I'm the best evidence.

Tip

Throw away all your highlighters. Keep the yellow one if you must.

The highlighters is a great piece of invention. Whoever started using it to colour their school work is the greatest idiot. If you want to use that highlighter, make sure you don't miss out any keyword, for you will only focus on words you have highlighted and miss out the rest.

And studies have shown that yellow highlighters are more useful than other colours.

Study smart and stop wasting your time highlighting words with different colours. We are not in a colouring lesson.

How to be Exam Smart - Part 4

Many times, students go to lectures unprepared. This is not the way as you will lose your way when the lesson is ongoing (ie. catch no ball). So......

Prepare for every lesson.

You will realise that you have already know what the lecturer is teaching. Take this time to start doing your tutorial as you listen for new information.

Success feeds on success to generate more success.
Simple advice, yet so effective. Try it out today.

How to be Exam Smart - Part 3

When you are listening to lectures, do not just fold your arms and listen. This is the fastest route to dreamland. Instead,

hold your pen and jot down notes.

I know you have your notes in front of you and your lecturer loves to read from it word for word. Jot down your thoughts about the lesson then. This spurs you to think deep.

Until next time, please stop dreaming about Brad Pitt.

How to be Exam Smart - Part 2

Part 2 of this series is on about mindset and values. They form a big part on your goal setting. Some people set the passing mark as their goal, whereas some others set themselves up to fight for the top spot.

Tip

If you think you can, you can.
If you think you cannot, you are right.

Until next time, study hard.

How to be Exam Smart - Part 1

From today onwards, I will be posting one or two parts every week on how to be exam smart. A person can be damn hardworking but flunk when it comes to exams. So let me share a few tips with you on how I transformed from a student that everyone was rushing to laugh at, to someone who seem to achieve mission impossible.

Tip 1

The path to excellent results start from day 1. If you have missed it, it's never too late to start now.

However, if your semester is halfway gone and the damage is more than halfway done, read this all over when day 1 comes along again.