Study Like “The Brightest Witch of Her Age”
If you’re a potterhead you must be familiar with this brilliant witch. Yep! Hermione Jean Granger!
Known as “The brightest witch of her age”Hermione always on the top of her class. She even brewed a difficult potion in the second year, solved Prof. Snape’s riddle, and the coolest of all, punch Draco Malfoy on the face! (Sorry, I just can’t help it)
In this article, I would like to share how we could be “The Brightest Student in The Class” just like Hermione. Okay, let’s start!
1. Prepare yourself before school
Well, back to the first time The Golden Trio meet at Hogwarts Express, Hermione confidently said that she already read all her books and practice some spells. Preparing yourself before school is really important. You will be step ahead from your friends. Take your books a week before the school start and take a look at chapters you will learn during semester. I always do that before I start school. I usually read the first chapter from each subjects that I will learn that semester and make a summary from what I read. It help you, really. Especially when you have 14 subjects that you have to take at school *huft*
2. Pay attention to your teacher
If Hermione didn’t pay attention to Herbology, Ron would be dead because of devil’s snare.If she didn’t pay attention to Prof. Flitwick, We wouldn’t see her make a feather fly. Pay attention to your teacher! You may find some information that you can’t get in your textbook but it come out during the exams. I have this kind of teacher, so whenever she say something important, I always write it down. And that’s why the next step would be…
Yes! Remember although some of the class are really boring, it won’t kill you if you take a note. And beside, taking a note make you stay awake during class. During Prof. Binns class, Harry and Ron started to play Hangman but Hermione keep writing down on her book, and when the exams start, the boys have to borrow Hermione’s note. See?You never know when you gonna need it. It doesn’t have to be clean and neat at the time, just write it as long as you understand what you have written. Then at home, you could take out your note and write it all over again.
Hermione asks when she wanted to know more about Chambers of Secrets. She even arguing with Umbridge because of that-kindergarten-DADA-Textbook. By asking and think critically we could understand what we learn better. You don’t have to shy, just ask your teacher, they won’t eat you anyway. I found this phrase that say “Just ask; you may look stupid for 10 seconds but better than look stupid for your whole life” and I agree with that.
Don’t hesitate to answer the question or aguing some facts with your friends or teacher during discussion. It helps you in many way. Especially in critical thinking, elaborate argument, speaking, and etc. And the bonus is, some teacher will pay attention to you and watch your back in the class and may give you some points in the end! Ten points to Gryffindor!
6. Practice, practice, practice!
Yep! Your knowledge have no value if you haven’t practicing. In the fifth year, Harry, Ron and Hermione along with DA members practicing their skills in Defense Against the Dark Arts. The results? an happy O.W.L report card! You don’t have to push yourself so hard. Just like them, start from small step. For example, you could practice math by anwering five question everyday. and after a week, you could adding to 10 questions/day. No need to study overnight for exams and you don’t have to be startled if your teacher suddenly said “Okay! Today we are going to have a quiz” because you always ready!
It’s hardly to miss during this series, but we always see Hermione with books, even when they’re on the run! That’s why Ron said this, “That’s Hermione, when in doubt, go to the library” Reading makes you smarter and I think everyone agree with this. Your memory will improve, more knowledge, vocabulary expansion and many others. What I mean with reading in this is NOT reading your textbooks. Reading your textbooks is a good thing, but better to touch books outside your textbooks. If you’re not a reading person, you could start by picking some classic children fairytale or magazines. If you’re into reading already, I dare you to try genres that 180degrees different from your shelf now. I’m going to give you links to reading list that I suggest you to try in another post.
Last but not least is to enjoy the process of studying itself. Hermione could survive her third year because she considering studying as a fun activities. She even take Muggle studies and still get excited about it! My online tutor said “The highest achievement of studying is when you found yourself enjoy it” Because when you enjoy it, you could understand it better and take you to the highest level of knowledge.
