12 DG : High School Epipost 3
As of now, I’ve been a student for about 8 years and I think I’ve evolved a lot these past few years, a lot during my last year of primary when I had my UPSR. I’m far from being a genius but here are some things I’ve learnt along the way and would like to share with you.♡
When I was in Standard 6 and was in my UPSR year, I was struggling to find my studying “groove” and resolved to ask others or do research on the best way to study ( how many hours, how frequent etc )
Some of my friends studied more than 3 hours straight everyday and it honestly baffled me back then as I studied less hours and less frequently.
It took me a fair bit of time to realise that its not how much you learn/revise in a day but it’s how much you understand in a day.
Person A can study up to 5 chapters and not understand any of it whilst Person B can study a chapter and fully understand.
Don’t fret about how many hours you study in a day, or how many subjects. The most important, is how comfortable you are with your groove and how much you understand/ digest what you’ve revised.
A recent discovery of mine and I think of this, as my best discovery.
Basically, every time I finish a task ( homework, revising etc ) I’ll reward myself according to what I’ve achieved.
For example, if I manage to study 3 chapters in a day I’ll give myself some chocolate.
If lets say, you get really good results then maybe the cute dress you’ve been eyeing?
I think this works for everyone as you can customise your own reward system. Mine’s food hehe.
Sounds slightly weird but trust me on this.
It’s essential you set up goals/ work ethics/ rules for yourself that you follow and practise everyday.
Start small and slow and watch it become a habitual thing, wait a little longer and it’ll become behaviour.
My motto : Do it now, so you can become lazy afterwards.
4. Kindness, Respect and Truth
When learning, I think being kind, respectful and truthful is very important (among other values as well).
Kindness : Everyone’s facing their own set of trouble when learning, I’ve learnt to be kind,always. People do notice, people do care.
Respectfulness : I feel like certain parties in the school community are under appreciated ( the cleaners, lunch lady etc ) I realised that they contribute to our education as well. The cleaners make sure we learn in a conducive environment and the lunch lady provides food ( prevents me from getting hangry ) and teachers? They’re awesome! Think of it as magic, they give us magic and we use it to make our daily lives better & brighter. Your voice can help those who don’t have their own, your voice can inspire and heal. Your voice can.
Honesty : Cheating/Copying off someone’s work is a definite no-no. I learned that it’s okay if I feel like my work isn’t good enough. The fact that it’s mine and I put in hard work and dedication will always be good enough.
A common phrase, always heard and said.
As a student, the most reassuring thing is to be in the same position/situation as your classmates, to be all in this together (High School Musical pun intended )
I’ve always appreciated when a classmate helps me with a question I have absolutely no clue about.
If you see your classmate staring blankly at their paper/book, chances are, they really haven’t any idea of what they’re supposed to do so go ahead and ask if they need help.
6. Time Is Of The Essence
Time to me, is very mischievous. It just disappears. Especially when you want it to slow down.
I think this was the hardest lesson I had to endure because of how consuming it was to my conscious. I would ask myself, “ Is this worth it? Beneficial?” Sometimes it was, sometimes it wasn’t. I wanted to use my time wisely but I also wanted to have fun. In the past, I would almost always pick the former instead of the latter.
But sometimes, I would regret it. I wished I gave myself more time to relax.
So here’s what I’ll say : Prioritise what you have to, but keep the fun. Use time as best as you possibly can. Push yourself, but give yourself time to unwind.
I swear by this one. Very useful in class.
So, whenever you’re learning, pay very close attention. Avoid anything that might distract you from focusing.
This is probably my No 1 tip of all time, because when you focus - like really focus. It’s like the information just goes in your brain effortlessly, and with that comes the most satisfactory feeling : understanding what you’re learning.
So how do you focus? As for me, I like to limit my distractions.
I usually do this by preparing the essentials. Put your essentials on the table before the lesson starts. When the lesson starts, you’ll have everything at arm’s length to use.
Textbook? Check
Notebook? Check
Stationeries? Check
Water bottle? Check
Basically, think of the things that usually distract you from learning and think of how you can limit it.
This one’s from my dad. He used to always tell me how important it is.
Essentially, he’d always advise me to study/revise everyday. No matter rain or shine. It’ll wire your brain to keep you going, he would say.
It’s sort of like muscle memory, where you repeat something, an action for example and your brain’s just like “ ahhh okay yeah I know this”.
In the beginning, holy cheese was it hard. Especially on those days where I just wanted to take lots and lots of naps. But it’s very beneficial, especially in the long-run.
My advice, is to probably start small & slow and as time goes by, add up your speed. Let your brain warm up to it. For example, you can tell yourself to study one subject every day for a week. Then two the next week.
Customise it however you want.
This was very hard for me to fight off, especially during exam season. I would compare my marks or placing with everyone else’s and get really frustrated with myself.
Here’s what I learned : Everyone wants to receive the best results. It does hurt, especially when you really did try your best. But hey, everyone goes through different journeys. Some journeys are longer, more painful. Don’t compare yourself with anyone. The only comparison you should make is with your past self. Look at how much you’ve grown! I bet you’re awesome-er :)
Think of how far you’ve come. Keep going. You CAN and you WILL.
Last but certainly not least, try to be ahead. For example, you’re currently finishing topic 3 in class. After revising, try pre-reading topic 4!
I find this really helpful, especially when my teacher starts teaching new topics, my brain kinda goes “ ohhh!” and it’s much easier for me to connect the dots. If you have lots of time, you can pre-read the whole chapter and do some exercises. If you don’t have much time, you can pre-read a few subtopics.
Basically, do as much as you can when you can.
This is probably one of my favourite How-To so far, I hope this somehow helps.
See you soon.
Love always,
K
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