Final Words

There is a saying, “Children don’t follow what you teach, but follow what you are.”

This quote is absolutely true. I also agree with it. But remember, you aren’t a small child anymore. You can differentiate what is wrong and what is right, can’t you? So, don’t limit yourself with this quote.

But, many people even adult are limiting themselves with this quote. Whenever someone give them good suggestion they try to find out if that person is doing what he is saying or not? If not, then they ignore that person and even criticize him/her. This is not a good habit.

Let’s take some examples if your teacher motivate you to be an astronaut and to touch the moon, then is it right to ignore him saying he himself is not an astronaut? Is it right to ignore your parent’s requests to avoid the use of alcohol and cigarettes saying they themselves are using alcohol and cigarettes? No, it isn’t.

So, avoid this kind of habit. If all people in this world had just ignored their senior’s suggestion and had done exactly what their seniors had done then there will have not been any improvement in this world.

Remember, people give you good suggestions thinking that you will avoid the mistake that they had done and they want you to be better person. Great people are able break the records continuously because they accept the suggestions of their seniors and try to avoid the mistake which their predecessor had done.

It is not necessary that if a father is alcoholic then son also should be alcoholic. But instead that son should learn from his father’s mistake and try to avoid alcohol throughout his life. Moreover that son can even try to create awareness against alcohol. If you hold this type of attitude then you will certainly progress in life.

So, if anyone gives you good suggestion, then accept it and try to apply it and even ask for more suggestions. Don’t try to be like the person who is already born in this earth but try to be better than anyone who has ever born before.

Note: Remember, all suggestion and seniors are not good so, try to find what is good and what is not. Ignore the bad one and listen and apply good one.

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Chapter: 35 Exam Tips

Even though how hard you study but if you are unable to present yourself properly in exam then you will not get the proper marks.

So, it is very necessary to present yourself properly in exam. Some of the tips which can help you to present yourself properly in exam are:

1. Be well prepared ahead:

Don’t depend on cramming whole night before examination day. This will not only make you more confused and stressed but also decrease your efficiency. By being well prepared before examination you will not only improve your grades but also improve your knowledge.

For this reason study daily and don’t let your work to be piled up for exam.

 

2. Have a attractive handwriting:

In this world, generally attractive things get more priority. So, the student having attractive handwriting tends to get good marks than student without attractive handwriting even for same answer:

Some tips for having good handwriting are:

1. Motivate yourself to improve your handwriting.
2. Hold the pen in your own way which is familiar to you.
3. Pattern of all your handwriting should be same. Either all should be slanted or straight.
4.  Size of letters should be same. Size of all capital letters and all small letters should be same.
5. Try to create equal gaps between two words.
6. Don’t squeeze the letters in a words and words in a sentence too much.

While practicing to write in good handwriting don’t give up due to failure. Be slow and steady. Take adequate time to write and don’t hurry.

Once you get in the habit of good handwriting you don’t have to make more efforts.

“We are what we repeatedly do, excellence then is not a act but a habit.”

–Aristotle

 

3. Check out the past question papers and specification grid:

Be familiar with the format of a question paper. Find out the type of questions which can be asked. And develop a strategy ahead of examination to solve question paper. Use the specification grid to study in effective and productive way.

But don’t depend only on past question papers and specification grid.

 

5. Miscellaneous:

• Be well rested during exam and don’t get stressed but stay positive.
• Be aware about your health and food during exam. Because if you become ill during exam then you won’t be able to do well in exam.
• Enter the exam hall at proper time to avoid rushing and stress.

6. During exam:

• Do a memory dump. After beginning of exam write down the things in your answer sheet which you may forget later. But don’t write before beginning of exam otherwise you will be regarded as cheater. While writing answer of one question if facts and ideas about another question get popped into your mind then note it down quickly.
• After finishing examination and coming out of exam hall, don’t discuss with your friend about questions of exam. This will only make you doubt over your answers which can make you stressed and tensed. Thus, this stress and tension can decrease the concentration and efficiency for preparing other exam.

 

Avoid cheating in exam. By cheating you may get good marks but you will lack knowledge. By cheating you can’t get inner satisfaction and fulfillment. Cheating habit makes you more lazier and you will lack pressure to study well due to dependency on cheating.

“It is dignity to be fail than to be passed by cheating.”

-Abraham Lincoln

If you have only certificate you will get good job but can’t progress. But if you have both knowledge and certificate you can create job for yourself and other and do more progress.

Treat your exam as a scanner to detect flaws and weakness and try to improve such flaws and weakness. Realize you are studying to make your own future better not others.

Sometimes results may not come as expected. In such case don’t let the paper known as mark-sheet or certificate to judge you and don’t allow it to limit you. Be happy on how much knowledge you gained rather than being unhappy for low grades. Instead of thinking ‘if’ think ‘next time’.

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Chapter: 34 Improve Your Memory

Our brain is highly flexible and is made up of plastic like substance that changes on the basis of our experience, emotions and behaviours. So, the more we use our brain the more it will develop.

Some of the things you can do to improve the development of brain and memory are:

 

1. Avoid too much stress:

Stressing over positive things, personal development and things you can do is good for up to some extent. It helps to find new solutions and ideas. But stressing over things which is out of your control can destroy the brain cells and damage hippocampus.

 

2. To allow your brain to operate fully give priority to adequate sleep, exercise and meditation:

 

3. Try to breathe more deeply and stay in fresh environment as much as you can. This helps to increase blood oxygen saturation which can enhance memory function:

 

4. Eat well and eat right:

A healthy diet contributes a lot to make brain healthy and developed. Food containing antioxidants and omega-3 fatty acids such as colourful fruits, milk, fish, green vegetables, broccoli, etc helps in brain development. Drinking enough water is also necessary for enough brain functioning.

 

5. The more we utilize our brain the more it activates and grow. So, keep on learning new things for whole life. Learn to play music, learn new language, read new book, etc:

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Chapter: 33 Improve Your Focus

Good focus can help your brain to grab something more easily and effectively in short-time. Some tips to improve focus are:

1. Avoid distraction:

Avoid watching TV, listening music or doing other tasks while studying. If you can’t control the noise coming from outside of your house then use the white sound to replace such noise. You can download white sound from internet. Sometimes clutter of your studying room can be distracting. So, try to make studying room clean and tidy.

 

2. Manage breaks:

Studying continuously for hours without break can decrease your efficiency and waste your effort. Try to have breaks of 2-5 minutes after studying for 20-30 minutes. During break-time drink water, do stretch or take a short walk. But during break time don’t watch TV, listen radio, use internet nor do chat or gossiping with friends because such activity generally attracts you for long time and waste your time. By having proper focus you not only can increase your efficiency but you can also remain fresh and alert. But if you think you can study continuously with same level or more efficiency for more than 20-30 minutes without having break then keep on studying beyond 20-30 minutes.

 

3. Be well rested and stay hydrated. For that, sleep about 7-8 hours daily and carry a water bottle with yourself while studying:

 

4. Set a separate time for worrying or thinking:

If you think that you worry or think too much while studying then set separate time of your day for worrying or thinking. For this, note down topic of thought that popped into your brain while studying and postpone it to the time separated for thinking and worrying. But if you are worrying about the thing that can be done within about 2 minutes, then do it.

 

5. Do meditation regularly and choose a comfortable position to study but not so comfortable that you may fell asleep. Always stay motivated and interested while studying:

 

6. Change your studying position or studying subjects periodically to prevent feeling of boredom and to stay alert:

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Chapter: 32 Get Motivated to Study

Motivation is something that can push you to keep going and doing better.

Some of the ways to get motivated are:

1. Have a goal:

Having a goal not only motivate you but also help you to move in right direction.

Recite the target of your goal daily as much time as you can. The more you recite it the more motivation you will get.

It will be even more better if you publicize target of your goal to your relatives, friends and people around you. This will create pressure on you to achieve your goal and motivate you to keep going. But if you think you can’t handle such pressure then don’t publicize.

 

2. Imagine:

At least once a day especially in morning close your eyes and try to imagine you have already achieved your goal. Imagine about the pleasure you received after achieving your goal, imagine about opportunity you gained and so on. The more clearly you will imagine the more motivation you will get.

 

3. Think study as an investment in your future. The more better you study the more better opportunity and good future you will get. The more easier your life will be in the future if you study well:

You can do one thing, generally a wage worker can earn Rs 400 for about 8hrs i.e. Rs 50 for each hour. So while you study 1 hour, record that you have earned Rs 50. Like this, add as much money as you read.

 

4. Reward yourself:

Set a target or lists of work and rewards for each week or each day. Then after achieving the target give yourself a reward. Remember for bigger target, reward should also be bigger and for smaller target, the reward should also be smaller. But don’t give yourself a reward if you fail to achieve your target. It will be even more better if you give half reward for half accomplishment of target, 25% of reward for 25% accomplishment of target and so on.

 

5. Five minutes commitment:

Many students who want to study well feels very hard to begin studying. The main reason behind this is that they say, “I will study for 1 or 2 hours continuously”. This makes the studying to appear more boring and hard. To avoid this type of illusion say, “I will only study for 5 minutes”. This will make studying appears to be more easy and effortless. Once you get started to study keep studying as much as you can, don’t stop even after 5 minutes.

 

6. Try to enjoy:

Try to enjoy while studying. Make studying tasks more interesting. For this don’t think studying as a task but think studying as a thing to get better. You might have heard about Spiderman, superman, ironman etc, like this think yourself as studying man. I know this sounds little funny but even though try to do it. Think exam and obstacles as a villain and think studying as a practice to get better and stronger to defeat such villains. Think the more you study the more better and stronger you will get. In this way, try to enjoy and make studying more interesting.

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Chapter: 31 Way to Study Effectively

Do you think only studying can give you good marks? But, I don’t think so. In past people used to say, “Practice makes man perfect”. But time has changed a lot and competition has increased a lot. So, what should be said is, “Perfect practice makes man perfect”.

Some of the ways to study effectively are:

1. Create a time table:

By creating time table you can increase your efficiency. Time table helps to reduce the gap of time between two tasks and helps in the time management. And it is also not so hard to create a time table.

If you are reading this then you might have already created time table but might have failed to apply it. Some major things to remember in order to make time table effective and applicable are:

1. Don’t underestimate yourself and try to balance the things like recreation, sleep, etc. Treat yourself like human not as a machine.
2. Be imperfect. Don’t get stressed about past activity which you failed to complete. But, try to accomplish and focus on the current and upcoming tasks.
3. Be slow and steady. Don’t expect yourself to accomplish all the activity of time table within a single day or week. It needs a lot of practice and patience.
4. Treat your time table as a reference point. So, ignore the small mistakes or errors but try to avoid such mistakes next time.
5. Be prepared ahead for the things which you can’t control like load-shedding, delay of bus, illness etc. Even if you weren’t prepared ahead then, try to find the solution to deal with such situation and don’t forget to apply it later also.

 

2. Take a note:

Many teachers tell the student to write the note. And note taking also helps a lot in learning. You can have all the necessary studying material packed inside a note-copy which can make very easy to study. Even though, if teacher don’t make you to write note, try to write it by yourself. It will be even more easier to study if you create your note in your own writing style. If you get confused what to include in note copy then ask to subject related teacher or look at the past exam’s questions papers.

 

3. Listen carefully in class and don’t get afraid or hesitate to

    ask the questions if you don’t understand:

 

4. Don’t procrastinate:

As far as you can, study daily. This will prevent your work to be piled up for exam and gives you enough time to get prepared. It will be even more better if you study the studied material in the same day at home. If you do so, then you will have better understanding and studied material get stored for long time in your brain.

 

5. Review:

You can’t stay alive by eating only one time, can you? No, you can’t. Like that you also can’t remember the studied material after a long time by studying only once. So, set separate time to periodically review the studied material. The more you review the more you will remember.

 

6. Write down:

Some studying materials can be very hard to memorize by just reciting. In such case, write it down in a separate copy until you memorize it. As far as you can try to memorize everything by writing down because it will not only helps you to get good practice for exam but also helps you to memorize for longer time.

 

7. Use the mnemonic devices:

 

a. Visual image:

Associate a visual image with word or name to remember better. It can be used especially for remembering the process of something.

For example, in biology if you want to remember blood circulation process then you can do this easily by making well labeled diagram of heart and describing it. Or you can create images of heart and different organs related to blood circulation inside your brain and try to describe it.

b. Acrostic (or sentence):

Make up a sentence in which the first letter of each word is part of or represents the initial of what you want to remember.

For example, for remembering, Sin=P/H, Cos=B/H and Tan=P/B, you can prepare a sentence like this, “Some People Have Curly Brown Hair Turned Permanently Black.”

c. Acronym:

Acronym is a word that is made up of by taking the first letters of all the key words or ideas you need to remember.

For example, the word “HOMES” can be used to remember the names of Great Lakes like: Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie and Superior.

d. Chunking:

Chunking helps to break a long list of numbers or other types of information into smaller and more manageable chunks.

For example, to remember a long number make it more manageable by dividing into small chunks like this 555-867-5309 (as opposed to 5558675309)

e. Make a story:

You can also remember the facts that are to be listed serially by making interesting story.

 

8. Create a clear plan and try to learn from others:

Create a clear plan and set a goal for yourself. Try to create your own way to study which suits you more.

Ask the senior students or teachers about how to study effectively. Convince them to share their method of study and ask for their suggestion.

Always remember that,

Studying is 99% perspiration. So in order to achieve good knowledge and good marks, study hard.

 

9. Be happy and enjoy while studying:

The more you become happy and excited while studying the more you will learn easily and efficiently. For this imagine how studying will help you to make your life better.

That’s why you remember more from watching T.V, listening songs or story because you become more excited and happy at that time.

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