Since I was in secondary school (1bout 14 years old), I always believe that learning in class is secondary to self study at home/hostel until last year. During that time, I believed that learning in class is just to top up my knowledge which I got primarily during self study. I strongly believed that to study at home is the key of success. Most of my night in secondary school I took extra hours to study things that I learned in class, that I usually go to sleep late at night around 1, 2 or sometimes 3 a.m. This behavior is peaking near the exam period.
Yes, undeniable that my exam result is excellent (maybe) that I got straight A's in my PMR and my SPM (Malaysia High Education cert). However, despite of having flying colors in exams, I feel that study is so difficult that only by burning midnight oil could have costs me to success. As I was getting tired of these study difficluties, my performance in premedical school is getting worse. I am burdened by the heavy load of works that I don't even know how to settle all of them in one time. in the morning I have to attend the lecture, in the evening there is extra class and at night there was Karate-do. Then when will I do my self-study? Sometimes, after my Karate-do lesson ended around 11 pm, I took bath and start my self study in tiredness. about 1 to 2 am I went to sleep.
You know what happened the next morning, I felt so sleepy, I went to class with homework undone, and I face the terrible day. This problem continued until I finished my premedical course 2 years ago. I started to think that International Baccalaureate (IB) is a tough school and I can't catch up with it.
But wait a minute (ale cekejte chvile), how could that man, I mean that excellent man (my friend) be so success in the IB program? what's the secret?
Yes, the secret is always DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME.
But, am I ever waste my time? I hardly go to cinema, of playing sports, how am I going to waste my time?
Yes, there is a kind of unseen wasting time we never notice = POOR MANAGEMENT
But what poor management I had done?
See, here, when you thought that studying at home is more important than learning in class with your teacher, then you had very poor time management. You can imagine how much time you wasted when you go to class but you got less than 100% knowledge that your teacher told you in class. this inefficiency is brought by feeling of sleepy during attending the class, feeling of demotivated in involving with the lesson and the feeling to finish the class early. All of this is caused by our thought that says 'I will study this thing at home', 'i am not going to understand what teacher is saying because this topic is so hard', 'I have free time to study this at home', 'I am so sleepy, when this lesson is going to finish?', 'I promise to study this thing at home', 'I really need to study this thing at home'..
I had depend on self study for a long time during my lifetime, and ignore the importance of involvement in class and homeworks. The result is = I AM NOT BELONGED TO THE ORGANISATION (MY CLASSMATES AND TEACHERS). I was feeling lost in the class, I don't know how to solve many mathematical problems in the class etc.
So how do I improve myself in study so much that now I have a lot of free time to study many other things I am interested in and being successful in every subjects I studied?
The ultimate key is of course:
INVOLVE AND UTILISE TIME TO THE MAXIMUM IN LECTURE AS IF THERE IS NO TIME FOR US AFTERWARDS TO REVISE ANYTHING FROM THE LECTURE. LECTURE IS THE ONLY TIME WE HAVE!!!
You should set your mind that you are not going to read anything about the topic after the lesson and you are going to enjoy your evening with watching movies, do prayers, playing games, etc. You have to realize that by everyday full concentration and involvement during the lecture, will REDUCE THE TIME OF SELF-STUDY FOR THE FINAL EXAMINATION. From this objective, you will find that you have to concentrate during the lecture to the maximum 100% concentration. Then, this 100% concentration you give will bring you the motivation during the whole day to ask question whenever the point is unclear, to try most of the practical part yourself before other students, to answer the questions by your teacher no matter right or wrong just to clarify your knowledge, and to sleep at night happily..
Other very very important thing why the lecture is much more important than self-study is that.. before that I would like to ask: which of this makes you remember most:
1. reading about the UFO
2. experiencing the UFO
then, of course the better memory you'll have is experiencing the UFO where you can listen to the sound of UFO, smell the smoke of UFO, and see the shape of UFO. The example is:
1. you read about a disease
2. there is a doctor who teach you about a disease in the hospital practical lesson
Then, of course the better memory you will have is when there is a doctor teach you in live situation. This is also true in 100% in-the-class involvement. If you listen to what teacher says, at the same time you see his face and reaction in the class, at the same time you see his presentation with pictures, and you drink some coffee, then these collection of input by different senses and emotions will be what we call EXPERIENCE, which we cannot get if we study alone with book at home. WE EXPERIENCE THE KNOWLEDGE IN THE LECTURE, NOT JUST READING IT.
One last thing that is so important in attending the lecture, with full concentration is that, remember, teachers know best what is important and less important in the particular subject. If let say you study alone, you might had spending a lot of time studying things that are less important for you (less realated to you and your field). An example is that when I studied medical biophysics, i do self study a lot instead of giving full attention during the lecture. then it come the exam period, I study a lot of 'biophysics' for a long period (having no holiday) with less stress on medical applications of the biophysics. Result is bad. My friend, believe me that lecturers best know about the course you are attending.
Logically, you can ask yourself, why do the university make the lesson the whole day? (from 8 am to 7 pm in my case) Then when will I enjoy my day and do other activities, managing my house etc? The answer the university will give you = you can do all that after the class finish, you don't need to do much revision since then because the university expect students to fully utilize their time during the lesson from 8am to 7pm. The key point is always USE YOUR TIME TO THE MAXIMUM IN THE CLASS THAT YOU DONT WANT TO MISS EVEN A WORD FROM YOUR LECTURER. 100% ABSORPTION IS WHAT WE NEED! And with this attitude, believe me, you will develop the interest in your subjects and your lesson because YOU WILL FEEL INVOLVED AND BELONGED TO THE ORGANISATION. this will motivate you up every day and make sure that you don't feel lost during class.
NO MATTER IT IS LECTURE, PRACTICAL CLASSES OR WHAT, GIVE YOUR 100% FOCUS ON WHAT THE UNIVERSITY/SCHOOL PROVIDE YOU WITH (INCLUDING HOMEWORKS). BELIEVE ME, THEY DON'T TEACH YOU SOMETHING THAT THEY FIND USELESS FOR YOU. BELIEVE ME YOU DON'T HAVE MUCH TIME (IF YOU STUDY MEDICINE)
The idea of 100% concentration in lecture is triggered by: Puan Salma Ahmad, Lecturer in Mara College Banting.
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