Study Habits

I have got my own way of studying. This study habit is quite difficult to change at this stage of my life. It can probably be changed only in highly critical situations (not normal examinations 😛 ). Otherwise, I stick to that habit always.

Most people tend to expect a lot from me in terms of studies, be it my parents, relatives, friends or teachers. They expect me to study on a regular basis i.e. daily or they think that I study daily (in case of friends and relatives). Only my parents and my close friends know my real study habits. Infact, I can decide to call my friend ‘close’ only if he knows my real study habits 😉 . Still they expect a lot from me!!! To all others, if I say anything about my study habits, they would hardly believe it :(. Some would think I am lying; some would think I am showing-off; some would think I am playing a prank; some would think I am being humble.

Consider these:

• There is a chair in a tank. I am sitting on the chair and sleeping. Water flows into the tank and the tank is slowly filled. I would not awake from my slumber until the water is up to my nose level; sometimes eye level or head level or over head level. Then I try to swim in the water and try to find a way out.
• 6 runs are needed of 6 balls. I don’t even try to hit runs of the 1^st 5 balls. In the last ball, I would try to hit a six!! (strictly hypothetical situation).

My study habits are something like that. I don’t study until the last day (very rarely last few days) for the examinations. When I start studying, I barely have time to study all that I need. I start studying at what I call break-neck speed; maximum amount of knowledge should be gained in minimum amount of time i.e. optimum utilization of time.

Now, after knowing this, some may think I mug-up or by-heart…. Maybe…. Sometimes, on the last day before examination, with no time, such drastic measures are necessary if you aren’t able to understand anything; something is better than nothing. However, I am pathetic at memorizing without understanding (I was terrible in social studies during my high school 😦 ). On the other hand, I have always experienced better results with understanding first and memorizing that if necessary.

Most people wonder how it is possible to study well, with not even one day, a huge amount of syllabus!!!! I feel it is possible, for the examinations, as well as for knowledge. However, for knowledge, it would take more time than that for examinations. Only if the subject I am trying to study is alien completely i.e. I don’t know anything about it, then it may be difficult to do so and I will require more time or to do it in less time, I may have to mug-up or by-heart and in the end, suffer.

The credit for my good results in my II PUC and CET examinations should go to the tuitions I went to 🙂 . Due to the tuitions, I was constantly in touch with those subjects and I had understood it quite well. Regular tests were being conducted there and I was trying to study for them sincerely, though the study habit remained the same (previous day study). Since I had already understood them, I took very little time to study them for the examinations. This ensured that I achieved good results in the main examinations, even though I can’t say that I gave my 100% or my best efforts (maybe considerably more effort than other examinations, but still not the best effort I can put in).

Now, in engineering, attending some classes and understanding something, helps for the internals; and studying for the internals as sincerely as possible helps for the semester examinations (The studying habit hasn’t changed).

The results of II PUC and engineering examinations aren’t comparable as the efforts I have put in aren’t comparable (tuitions and tests throughout the year makes a lot of difference). Though I would say that if I put in the same efforts for engineering examinations as I had put in for II PUC, the results would be almost the same, though not the same as paper-setting and evaluation matters too.