How to be a Better Student.

It is time you make your dream of becoming a star student a reality.

You want to study and learn well but along with this you want to play with your friends and have fun too. But you don’t know how to do it or where to start. Here are a few tips to get you going on the right road to becoming a better student.

Pay Better Attention in Class

If you’re thinking of becoming a better student, the first thing you need to do is to pay better attention in class. No matter how tempting the world outside the classroom’s window is, you need to focus on your teacher and his/her words. If you cannot resist looking outside or daydreaming, try to sit in the front row. This way you’ll always be in your teacher’s eyes and refrain from putting your attention at something else.

Make a Timetable

Sunday is the best day of the week. We all like Sunday because of the free time we get and the fun things we do. But we need to realize that Sunday gives us the time to plan the whole week that is ahead of us. Take half an hour or so to make a timetable of the whole week and plan the things you want to do. This way you’ll be relaxed and tension-free the whole week because you know which things you need to do. Try your best to keep the pace with your planned timetable.

Once you start studying don’t study continuously for hours. Instead of this, study for 50 minutes and take a 10 minutes’ break. This technique will keep you refreshed during your study session.

Be Prepared Before the Lecture

Sometimes you just don’t get what the teacher is teaching. You feel lost. You look at the blackboard and the words written on it look gibberish to you. This happens because of your unpreparedness. Try your best to be fully prepared before the lecture. Skim through the topics that your teacher is going to teach you and try to understand them. By doing this you’ll know what the lecture is about and understand it better.

One more advantage of skimming through your textbook before the lecture is that you get a chance to clear your doubts. If you have questions about the topic or you think you don’t understand it clearly, you can ask it during the lecture/class.

Take Good Notes

Most of the time our teachers, while teaching, tell us many extra yet important things that are not written in the textbooks or sometimes we understand some topics better through our own wording/re-writing than that of the textbook. For these things you need to take better notes. But the problem is, most of us just mindlessly record everything our teacher says and while we are writing furiously on our notebook we forget to learn the stuff.

The solution to this problem is to first understand the topic and then write the main points. At the end of the class or in your free time, organize these notes and check if you might have missed something that you need to add. This way you will have clearer and more understandable notes.

Ask Questions and Find Answers

Your teacher is teaching you about something very important. During it you realize that you don’t understand something in it. You have a question. But you don’t ask it because you fear that your friends or the teacher will say it is a stupid question. If you find yourself in such a situation, keep this phrase in mind: “There is no such thing as a stupid question.”

If you have a question, try to find its answer. Look it up in your book or on the internet. If you still don’t find the answer, ask your teachers about it. But don’t let it go unanswered. Realize the importance of questions. If you have questions about something, it means you are at least trying to understand it. Whenever you find yourself afraid of asking a question just because you might look stupid, remember this Chinese proverb: “He who asks a question is a fool for five minutes; he who does not ask a question remains a fool forever.”

Fight Procrastination

Procrastination is the most common reason why most of the students fail to study adequately. “I’ll do it tomorrow” is your worst enemy. The first step to breaking this procrastinating habit is to stop saying, “I don’t feel like it”. You need motivation and will power to break this bad habit. It will be a little difficult at first but then if it was easy it will not be worth it.

The most effective solution to procrastination is to organize your studying environment and creating a routine. Make it a habit to study daily. If you have a long project which you know can’t be completed in one day, try to begin that project and work a little on it instead of putting it on the next day. This way you’ll have something from which you can continue the next day.

Discipline

One key element that students usually forget about becoming better student is discipline. Nobody likes a know-it-all student that doesn’t have any discipline or manners. A disciplined student with average intelligence is respected more than an undisciplined student with high intelligence. So keep in mind discipline is just as important as your studies. Try to be very polite when talking to your youngers and be very respectful when talking to your peers or elders.


-Amar Kumar