Do not believe me??? Go Google it and then tell me I do not know what I am talking about.
First let me tell you, since preschool all the way until 7th grade, I hated school and studies. In fact the word hate doesn't even come close to describe the feelings I had for school all those years. Unlike some lucky nations, we here had school 6 days a week and only Sunday's off, I used to look forward to Sundays as if my life depended on it.
School life and studies back home was a stressful affair. The education system and parents had made sure I look at studies as a gross bad medicine, very early in life. I never could concentration for more than 5 minutes at a stretch and this was frowned up on by everyone. Still somehow I managed to never fail in any subject and that was because I always wrote in exams the gist of what I had heard in classrooms. Homework( If managed to remember at all to at all ) and studies later on did very little to enhance my knowledge or learning capabilities.
It was around 8th grade when I started to figure out what subjects I like, what subjects I could graze by with out studying and what needed attention.
The trick was to go to any class fully prepared before hand. Yes you heard me. Study before you step in to the class.
See you need not grasp very concept or every formula, every meaning being each paragraph. You need to go over the topic that would be discussed in the next class. Remember, this is the best time to use your imagination. No pressure of understanding the topic, just stress free exploration of something new. Now you need to do what works for you. For eg: I need music to paint. No music no art. I need absolute silence to study and any noise would result in me having am melt down ( not proud of it).
Use cue cards, or colour concept fr visual topic exploration. Write everything in yellow( yellow triggers memory) if you have to. Draw charts, what ever you want. Key is to experiment, It all takes surprisingly less time to do than it really seems like.
Now you will have certain doubts and questions about the topic. Jot them down and take them to class.
When the class progresses you will be surprised at how less of effort it takes to concentrate on subject. It almost feels like your concentration is on autopilot and learning the subject is as easy as breathing air in to lungs, now this may or may not happen immediately. It will take a bit of time for you to settle in to this momentum of pre study. But during the class, you will have most of the question you have in your mind answered or you will be the one raising specific questions. There will be no stress to grasp any concept since your brain is already familiar with the concept. You can concentrate on developing new angles or new ways to solve a problem etc..
you thought that is good? wait.. it gets better, the "go home and study" step is eliminated. Yes I am not kidding. You just finished 2nd cycle of study of the topic in discussion with the class just finished, you will be doing your 3rd cycle of study while doing the assignment related to the topic.
Wala! You are done. Now you may never have to touch the topic again ever. You can walk to the exam confident, by just referring to the cue notes you make while doing the pre study and running note you might have jotted down during the class. Feel to refer back to notes if you feel the need. Depends on what it takes for you to remember. But the core concept is for sure has settled nicely in to you brain.
Your answers in exam will be confident, clarified. You just avoided hours of rote memorization and last minute cramming stress. All this with the minimum effort with Pre-study.
P.S: It is said that Einstein finished all the chapters in maths and trigonometry even before the school year began, of course he was a genius to grasp everything with lighting speed, but his pre study most definitely should have helped him stay a head of the rest of class in his favourite subject. And what more, he aced mathematics and became one of greatest minds of 20th century simply because he studied what he loved the best and had fun doing it. If some one relentlessly forced him to study latin and biology( both subjects he hated) and insisted he became a doctor I doubt he would have become the awesome mathematician that we now remember him as.
First let me tell you, since preschool all the way until 7th grade, I hated school and studies. In fact the word hate doesn't even come close to describe the feelings I had for school all those years. Unlike some lucky nations, we here had school 6 days a week and only Sunday's off, I used to look forward to Sundays as if my life depended on it.
School life and studies back home was a stressful affair. The education system and parents had made sure I look at studies as a gross bad medicine, very early in life. I never could concentration for more than 5 minutes at a stretch and this was frowned up on by everyone. Still somehow I managed to never fail in any subject and that was because I always wrote in exams the gist of what I had heard in classrooms. Homework( If managed to remember at all to at all ) and studies later on did very little to enhance my knowledge or learning capabilities.
It was around 8th grade when I started to figure out what subjects I like, what subjects I could graze by with out studying and what needed attention.
The trick was to go to any class fully prepared before hand. Yes you heard me. Study before you step in to the class.
See you need not grasp very concept or every formula, every meaning being each paragraph. You need to go over the topic that would be discussed in the next class. Remember, this is the best time to use your imagination. No pressure of understanding the topic, just stress free exploration of something new. Now you need to do what works for you. For eg: I need music to paint. No music no art. I need absolute silence to study and any noise would result in me having am melt down ( not proud of it).
Use cue cards, or colour concept fr visual topic exploration. Write everything in yellow( yellow triggers memory) if you have to. Draw charts, what ever you want. Key is to experiment, It all takes surprisingly less time to do than it really seems like.
Now you will have certain doubts and questions about the topic. Jot them down and take them to class.
When the class progresses you will be surprised at how less of effort it takes to concentrate on subject. It almost feels like your concentration is on autopilot and learning the subject is as easy as breathing air in to lungs, now this may or may not happen immediately. It will take a bit of time for you to settle in to this momentum of pre study. But during the class, you will have most of the question you have in your mind answered or you will be the one raising specific questions. There will be no stress to grasp any concept since your brain is already familiar with the concept. You can concentrate on developing new angles or new ways to solve a problem etc..
you thought that is good? wait.. it gets better, the "go home and study" step is eliminated. Yes I am not kidding. You just finished 2nd cycle of study of the topic in discussion with the class just finished, you will be doing your 3rd cycle of study while doing the assignment related to the topic.
Wala! You are done. Now you may never have to touch the topic again ever. You can walk to the exam confident, by just referring to the cue notes you make while doing the pre study and running note you might have jotted down during the class. Feel to refer back to notes if you feel the need. Depends on what it takes for you to remember. But the core concept is for sure has settled nicely in to you brain.
Your answers in exam will be confident, clarified. You just avoided hours of rote memorization and last minute cramming stress. All this with the minimum effort with Pre-study.
P.S: It is said that Einstein finished all the chapters in maths and trigonometry even before the school year began, of course he was a genius to grasp everything with lighting speed, but his pre study most definitely should have helped him stay a head of the rest of class in his favourite subject. And what more, he aced mathematics and became one of greatest minds of 20th century simply because he studied what he loved the best and had fun doing it. If some one relentlessly forced him to study latin and biology( both subjects he hated) and insisted he became a doctor I doubt he would have become the awesome mathematician that we now remember him as.
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