Approach to study

This is my approach to University studies.

1) Know yourself.

2) Optimise your Assets.

3) Attitude.

4) Strategy.

5) Implementation.

1) Know yourself- Are you talented? Do you work better under pressure? Before I entered University, I actually seek friends that I know who did very well and requested for pointers. Apparently, different people have different approaches. You have to determine your style, that way it will help you narrow down the search for techniques useful to you.

2) Optimse your assets- Your body and brain. I did a study on how our brain works, short-term and long term memories, what type of food is 'brain food' and how long the body can last before underperforming. I'll leave the fun part of search to you if you are interested. (But I'll post up any relevant stuff if I come across them)

Some things I do:

1) Mind mapping works well for me.
2) Yellow paper enhances concentration.
3) Among many websites, the common brainfood are beans, fish and vegemite (yeast abstract)
4) The average number of items that a person can memorise at one time is 6-8.
5) I use association while trying to memorise.
6) I perform the best in the morning(proven theory) rather grinding late nights.

3) Attitude- How important is studying to you? I assume you take it seriously considering that you have reached the part of the post. Attitude drives your action. If you have no interest/faith in what you are doing, you will procrastinate.

Procrastination is a vicious cycle, the more you leave it till the end to do it, the more you will hate it.

Common answers from all the friends who did well - Interest in the subject is vital. If you are not interested in a girl, there's no way you would put in extra effort to woo her.

4) Stategy- Every unit have its own form of assessments. Projects, test, topic papers and so on. They have their own weightage. You need a strategy to tackle all of them, prioritise them and distribute your efforts accordingly. Besides, you will be tackling at least 3 units in a term, that's alot to handle and the worst thing is they clash. I hate group assignments the most- they really need alot of effort to yield the best results (especially when members are not as keen as you...). Anyway, what works well for me is to not put all my eggs in a basket. If I can clinch as much marks in my term assessments, I will try to get them all- that way, I feel less stressful preparing for the finals knowing that the probability of getting a distinction is high.

5) Implementation- Its funny how people usually come up with fantastic timetables and never follow them. It's common in marketing too. You can have the best strategy in the world but you cannot get it running, its as good as rubbish. Rehash the 4 points earlier, then come up with a practical plan. A plan you are confident that you can pilot.

Like they say no planning is planning to fail.

So why the hell should you believe in my approach?

If you are doing very well in your studies- don't! But if you are not doing well at the moment, you should think objectively about my general approach and come up with one that suits you.

"Stupity is doing the same thing over and over again, hoping that the results will somehow change."