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Super Sis
Dear Super Sis
I'm an ‘O’ Level student and I will be appearing for seven papers during summer. The problem is that my cousins have come from Canada and are staying at my house for about a month with their four children. I have to attend every party and since I am my parent’s only son they are expecting ‘A’ grades in all the papers. This puts me under great pressure as with all my cousins around I don’t feel like studying. What shall I do?
Worried Libra
Libra, to gain something you have to lose something. You’re a responsible person, and I’m sure you don’t need chiding from your parents to make you study. Of course, living with your family, you need to balance work with leisure, and just because your cousins are over isn’t any excuse for you not to study.
The way it seems to be, you are really close to your cousins. Well, that’s even better; in fact, this can actually be a blessing for you. Talk to your cousins and tell them that no matter what fun activity they are doing together, they must give you at least two to three hours everyday to yourself, and they themselves should make sure during their stay that you don’t waste your study time. Tell them that since you are so easily distracted, you will need everyone’s efforts to make you study and get good grades. Of course they will understand.
If you can’t set a fixed study time for yourself every day, be flexible and squeeze out two to three hours daily during any part of your day. During that time, close yourself to all interaction with everyone; shut your room’s door and focus on the task at hand.
I keep telling you guys this and I will repeat myself now: you can only work properly if you keep proper, realistic goals for yourself. While it is important to keep your long term focus (i.e. finishing up your course work well in advance of your exam date), your day to day study should entail that you go through a shorter, set list of topics/subject areas/exercises that you MUST finish every day. That is why your daily list of ‘to do’ things must be realistic and yet sufficient for you to complete your syllabus until your exams. Remember, while studying, take breaks after every, say, 20 minutes or so; by ‘breaks’, I mean stretch break or water break or loo break or a short munch break. NO television or music, kappish? And nothing beyond five to seven minutes.
Another important thing to keep in mind is to switch between two TYPES of subjects: those that require extensive reasoning (like arithmetic, physics, chemistry, etc.) and those that require you to memorise certain points (like history, geography, literature, etc.) If your brain is too exhausted to reason or solve tough mathematical problems or chemical equations, take a break, and switch to something that doesn’t require you to burn your grey cells a lot … like the 12 points of Jinnah, etc. You get the idea, right? This way, you’ll be able to sustain your energy levels for a longer time.
Finally, whatever you study, MAKE POINTERS. Use a rough journal or a note book and jot down the gist of what you are studying. No need to make long, verbose notes. Use flow charts, rough sketches, little keys, anything that you feel will make you recall the concept with one look. It is crucial to revise these points close to your exams. The best thing about this technique is that revision takes very little time and you recall pretty much everything like clockwork.
Once you are through with your daily studies, relax and have fun around your cousins. Don’t panic over how little time is left because panic never helps. Hopefully, using these little tips, you’ll manage to wrap your things up by your exam time. Good luck!
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