Smart Study

Every article I come across for exam preparation, irrespective of the subject or branch, has shown that a student needs to ponder over the attributes that ascertain smartness in studying, rather than a guinea pig work hard attitude. If the guinea pig somehow would have known that its energy is being used to drive some instruments that would benefit humans more than itself, it would have stopped rotating the cycles. Rather, they would have used them for its own benefit, like running, searching for food and mating.

Let us bring ourselves on track, on the topic of this article – The need to study smart. If we discuss hard work here, it will become a moral issue for some, as people will agree that hard work always pays. But my focus is on smart work, so I do not state any juxtapositions in order to prove one side of the story correct and other wrong.

Smart study means knowing our pieces before we make the first move in chess.

Work hard in assessing the characteristics before the onset of examination – The duration, The time of day it will happen, The competition – how many compete for it ? The cut off ? The passing marks ? .

Then work hard for calculating the designing – How many questions ? What type ? What topics are covered the most ? What topics occur seldom ? What topics are known ? What topics are unknown ?.

Then work hard for gathering resources – How big is the syllabus ? How much reference material must I have ? What reference is easily available ? What reference I can go without ? What reference is not available but is essential and I need to spend time and money for it ? What type of questions can be helpful with references I have ? Any other extra material I can get ? Whether I need class notes ?

Probably, most of the students do all these things, and it is an inevitable task that all have to do.

The question now is how smartly one can study. Is studying an entire unit with about a 100 similar questions better than studying 4-5 units with few but different questions ? Is studying a hard topic the most essential thing or studying the popular topic that is commonly asked ? Is studying  a topic thoroughly the  better deal than studying an overview of every topic ?

The next smart question is time. Should I read a topic that interests me or the one that will fetch me marks ? Should I avoid the topic everyone avoids or go against the flow and make effort to read it ? Should I study entire day without having proper food and bath or I collect ample time for daily activity, get afresh, have ample food and go back to study ? Should I study more than my friend does or I make my own path and plan ?

Studying smart is just like bullet train, it is expensive, involves a great deal of effort in the making, but once done, runs smooth and swift and renders passengers to their destinations in quickest of time. Or it can be Mumbai local, so overloaded, that sometimes it may break, causing a lot of havoc. 🙂

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