Advice from an average student

Throughout my ‘student life’, which I am still living currently, I’ve never had  stable academic performance. If you plot my Percentage VS Time(in years) graph, it will appear as good as a randomly drawn zigzag line. But what matters is I’ve survived and surely will continue to.

There are many batch mates, seniors and juniors who have been just awesome in their performance and are quiet consistent too. I’ve tried to be like them, well who wouldn’t want to right? But thinking like that was my undoing. I've come to a realisation that being inspired and motivated by someone is fine, but trying to be them and following what they do isn’t the best way to go about it. There are many people who try to imitate or be someone else, sometimes it’s rewarding in some way or the other, but being your true self, being authentic, being original, that’s what counts! Let me tell you about a standard or rather a basic procedure a student should follow and then ill tell you about how I go about it.(I’m not the perfect student myself,being an engineering student, its all about ‘Jugaads’)

I do not remember from where I got this info, It maybe some article online or some TED talk from where I’ve collected some points and written it down. The topic is “study less, study smart”. It says that typically a student can concentrate fully on something for around 25 minutes. So if you plot a graph of Efficiency VS Time (in minutes), you’ll see a drop in your efficiency to understand the thing you’re reading after around 25 minutes time. So if you continue beyond this 25 minute mark, you would just be reading and not actually following and not understanding it enough to remember the concepts or whatever it is you are reading.

Now, how do you tackle this problem? Seems kind of obvious right? You just stop studying hehe. Well yes, you do stop studying but then it requires you to be back at your study table or study area to continue from where you had stopped previously. It means you need to take a break of around 5-10 minutes to do something fun, get your mind of the studies, but with a promise that you’ll be back to your books or notes soon. The idea is to celebrate and treat yourself for your effective study time and further to refresh your mind for the remaining part of the study. So what we observe in the efficiency VS time graph is a small drop, a 5 minutes break and then continuation of the efficiency graph as before or maybe at a lower level, depending on how much effective fun you have hahaha.

Additionally I’ve written about two more important things, first being the concept of SQ3R. This pneumonic simply means: Survey, Question, Read, Recite and Review. It tells you about how a student needs to approach a study material and should follow that exact order. Second is the importance of proper sleep. We as engineers do a lot of procrastination and end up staying up late nights before exams and then feel sleepy while answering the paper, and surely it’s not the best way to approach an examination. In relation to the above mentioned theory, we are studying effectively for a very less time during late nights. Hence we find ourselves with very less concentration power in the morning for the paper (the fear does help us boost the concentration XD but that’s because we have no other choice but to store as much as we can in the last minutes before the papers).

Now let us consider my approach towards this problem. It includes the SQ3R approach plus something I call “intentional procrastination”. Our engineering studies require us to practice drawing graphs, diagrams, equations, and a lot of solving. From the SQ3R approach I first take the S, where I go through and try to understand what I need to learn, then I go to Q, here I do not ask questions to myself or generate questions expected from the students as per the theory, but I simply refer the past Q papers and write them down at one place with the frequency at which they have been repeated denoted by a star mark. In engineering we have papers in form of modules which further helps in categorising these questions. Then I go through d questions and get a grip of what I am to learn from the already surveyed notes. Then I read it again properly, now with respect to only the questions I’ve written down. Hence now I have a good understanding of the lesson or chapter. Next step is writing stuff, the things I’ve mentioned above. The numerical can be done from the question papers later when you are done with the theory or concepts.

By intentional procrastination it means that I do procrastinate but in a planned manner. We usually have gaps between our semester papers of some 3 to 4 days. So before the whole semester exams season starts, I do the S and Q part of at least 2 modules of each subject. So when those 3 to 4 days gaps come, I’m ready for the remaining part. Hence I manage to complete the portion in time without the need to stay up late nights beyond my capacity.

Well, I’m not the best person to take advice from, nor am I qualified to teach you how to study, i just wanted you to know how I approach exams. The advantages of the above approach are proper sleep, better grip of the topics because of multiple surveys of the chapters and decent marks (above average). The disadvantages are that I start finding subjects interesting and then I realise that the exams are in 2 days and then I’ll never be studying it further, kind of sad, but then I further realise that I have to concentrate and follow the same procedure for the next paper hehe.

mentors?

They say you always need a teacher or a mentor if your starting off new at something or stuck at some stage of that something. At school and college we have our teachers (though we fail to realise their importance sometimes), a sportsman has a coach, a musician has a teacher, companies and businesses have their business teams and consultants and so on...

So why am I talking about mentors and teachers? The thing is that whenever we do something and we fail in it or take some wrong decision, sometimes we have the courage to get up or take the other path or figure something out; but what if we fail to see what lies ahead? What if we are stuck there itself sobbing and worrying that we would never be able to rise and step up to the challenge and move forward? That is the time we need a person who has faced similar problems and difficulties and is willing to share his or her knowledge and experience, hence can guide you in dealing with your ongoing problems.

The funny thing about finding a mentor is that we are either shy or we fear that the person will reject our request. I know rejections are sad, but that’s how life is, just coz your girlfriend rejected you doesn’t mean you’ll stop trying right? Hehe... I know you’re smarter than that! U never know your new girl may turn out to be an angel and you would be thankful that you were rejected. Similarly even if your request does get rejected u never know that the next person you meet and ask for help may turn out to be a gem of a person, and would help you fix your problems more effectively and teach you a lot more than what you asked for in the first place. When the student is ready, the teacher will appear!

 The next factor is us being too embarrassed or shy or just scared to ask. I mean c’mon, it surely couldn’t be as bad as asking a girl or guy out right? But you have to understand that this is important and you’re in need of advice, guidance and help, hence the situation requires you to take such a step immediately! So man up! Gather some courage and search for the right people who are experienced and can provide solutions to your problems.

You would then say to me, “I could easily find a solution on the web”, then my reply to you would be “sometimes our problems are more mental than about just pure information in form of texts n pretty images from some article or blog posted by some person who doesn’t know my problems and difficulties!”. But truly I’m doing the same currently, I’m trying to convince you that mentors are important coz  I’ve realised their importance and I know how I’ve come out of difficulties by simply following their advice and eventually figuring it out. So go out there and find that person. Remember to never settle for an average or just a good mentor, if you want to do something great, you’ll have to learn from someone who is great! So don’t be scared to ask for help from people at the top. They have reached this greatness by starting from scratch, and facing similar problems at the stage where we currently maybe.

Speaking about text and pretty images, it reminds me of books. If you wish to learn something about ‘Gravity’ or the ‘Theory of general relativity’ and you want someone to guide you in the above topics, probably someone who is an expert in the field, you would probably have to wake up Albert Einstein from the dead. That sounds funny but the joke is on you LOL! The answer to this is reading up books and papers related to these topics. Hence you will find your answers indirectly from the vast research done by Einstein himself. Another awesome thing about these books would be that you could read up and digest the concepts with a week or a month, the content that took Einstein a decade or more to figure out! Now u will have learnt and be as knowledgeable as Einstein was in that topic in a such a short period.

Ill keep this post short, but surely all the above things I’ve talked about are important and you will realise the same when u start applying it in your life. Maybe I’ll try to give short summaries or just short notes or points from some books I’ve read or reading currently in my upcoming posts...

LIFE after college

In India, we usually do engineering first and then find our passion for something completely different... this has become a cliche statement now.

But I myself will pass out from my engineering soon, I do have many interests and I would like to have these interest to continue to exist till forever, but does it necessarily mean my interests should be converted into career options? 

The funny thing about our interests is that they continue to evolve with time, for example...

As a kid in my primary school days, I would tirelessly ride my bicycle with my friends, showing off, attaching bright led lights and horns on my bicycle and so on (I believed I would be a 'motorcycle racer' some day). When it came to high school, I was all about PC gaming, everything from FPS shooting, strategy games to role playing, I had covered almost the whole "gaming spectrum" (I believed I would be 'the greatest gamer' in the world some day). In my course of electronics engineering, I was all about robotics, mobile phones and other gadgets and programming (I believe I will contribute and put lots of effort when i finally start working in some company, but then, my college placements aren't the best, and I have heard a few seniors giving feedback about their experiences, and they are not good!)

As u may see my interests varied according to the different stages of life I went through, the different situations my life put me in and just the level of maturity one attains as we grow up (well, my maturity is quiet low, but don't tell that to the HR's of any company... hehe) . 

Certainly I do not mean any disrespect to the great artists, actors, musicians and sports personalities who have chased their dreams from the very beginning and have achieved success in their fields. But let me remind you that, what they chased was their 'passion' and not 'interests' , there is a huge difference which is evident when you pursue them in the long run.

I've been reading a few books, looking up Youtube videos for some inspiration and as expected I have found a new interest. But this time its the real deal, this time its 'business', well I am no commerce or management student but the very idea of planning out your money, businesses and resources is quiet interesting if you ask me. so now i ask myself the following question...

What you wanna do?: Corporate job? Business or entrepreneurship? Investing?

then I say to myself...

Whatever it is, I just got to be ready, both mentally and physically for the days ahead. Physically doesn’t simply mean hitting the gym, having big biceps or a flat stomach; its about having more stamina, regulated sleeping habits and ability to work continuously for long a duration, additionally you have to develop good speaking skills and a friendly yet attractive appearance . When we talk about being mentally prepared, it simply doesn’t mean reading books or watching interesting and knowledgeable YouTube videos, its more about applying those principles you’ve read about and realising that the principles are indeed useful and effective in your life; it further also means that you have to develop your memory, your mental abilities, thinking power, dealing with stress and so on...

I am gonna mold myself into one of the best knowledgeable and smart business persons ever, Ill be rich not just with respect to money, but also knowledge, people, family, happiness and all other non materialistic things that would make me a happier man.

This is indeed the next stage of life. The marks aren’t that important now, a 75% is more then enough, 70% being the maximum requirement of most companies. The main challenge now is how you’ll face the world and people; after all if you wanna survive in the industry you should know your stuff well, work on your assignments with full concentration and last but not the least, you should get along with people and win them over.

Life isn’t that easy if you want great things, but its your choice if you want it to be on a path full of struggle or on a path where the journey is fun and worth taking. It wont  be easy, there will be many challenges and set backs, but I know, I believe if we have the persistence, skills, passion and patience we will be successful no matter what career we choose.

  -from pika to pika