Recess Week is here

Hi all, firstly if you are reading this, thanks :) As i’ve not blogged for a while now (and you check back !) ,it’s been 7 weeks into the second semester in NTU , SPMS/CBC , apparently this semester was supposed to be different from semester one where I was supposedly “adapting”.

However, it turned out that I got into the same old vicious cycle of not studying.. again. I havent been studying as much as I want to, and I’ve actually found out the supposed reason for this procrastination.

After reading zenhabits’s post , the one deadly sin of changing habits ,  I realised that I’ve been too focused on the “planning” and neglected the actual “doing” of the habit, sometimes when a plan is too complex it becomes difficult to execute because there are so many factors that must be “right” before anything can happen.

And now it is the recess week (1 week holiday) , i’ve decided to keep things simple and not “plan” so much ahead as opposed to “do” so much ahead. I know this advise does not apply to everyone because everyone is wired and build differently, however if you are a person whom “plans” alot but seems to accomplish little, it’s always worth the while putting more effort into “doing” than “planning” .

So for this recess week, i’ve decided to take things slowly but consistently, I used to set “study 10 hours per day” targets (and didnt wind up studying more than 10% of my intended target) , instead, i’ve divided my study hours in blocks of 2 hours ( 3 times a day from 9am – 11am , 2pm – 4pm , 7pm-9pm) and I am allowed to be flexible as long as i clock the 2 hours!

I definitely think i’ll succeed and hopefully I get to blog about it ^^

All the best to all my course mates !

Examinations

Hi all my readers,

in view of my examinations, I may not be posting for the duration from now till 2nd december (my last paper).

I also won't be frequenting facebook/msn/websites-i-usually-surf =)

Do drop my some tags !! :)

20 days to exams

It is 20 days to my first paper (CBC 113) ,and i’ve decided to keep a small log of how things goes on a frequent basis (if possible daily – depends on my schedule). It’s a bit LATE to start preparing, but nevertheless, better late than never , so goes the sayings! (there’ll be photos below… phew!)

Also I intend to form some new habits… I wont list them here… If i do post about them you’ll see ^^

Here’s the initial planning stage…

1) Prepare study area that’s conducive and comfortable

1.1 – Table , Side table, notice boards, stationeries , well organised desk

1.2 – Conducive Music (Soft Pali Chants Is Chosen this time)

2) Prepare a flowchart

This is important.. to gauge what NEEDS to be done.. as mdm yaw (my sec sch teacher said) ,

If you want to get As, plan – that’s the first step !

So this part is going to scare me off.. because I’ve alot of stuff that needs to be done  – mostly due to my super perfectionist attitude towards anything!

It will be 32 days later when my LAST paper ends… Just nice one month… time to heat things up and do well!

Here are some photos… (speaks for themselves)

This is the core reason why I am struggling now.. inexperienced… spent my time ONLINE during lessons breaks.. omg..:X (old photos – week 1-7 I was as such…!)

My revamped study area, conducive (notice the right cabinet? It is to give me a feeling of “compactness” which was not present previously – without the cabinet , this causes me to be easily distracted

 

A closer look reveals two green notice boards and a comfortable “closed up” environment" !

Temporarily , I’ve shifted all my “junk” here (area behind the shot above), once this is cleared, either can make a new study area (for grp study) or some other purpose (meditation corner?)

Hope you enjoyed!

Why I am doing so badly in school =(

Readers please be warned that there will be multiple reference made to toilets and dirty stuff in this post. . . largely because I’ve literally been admonished by my grandpapa of truth through a mp3 recording. . . and felt so bad I’ve be better of digging a hole and hide my face in it . . . The below is a message mostly written to myself , I find using analogies works very well because at different times it can hold a different meaning to different persons as well . . .

This will be a long post . . . Beginning of analogy (skip if its too long)

 

Being the top 10 student in secondary school and also amongst the top few in polytechnic to be able to enter into the university of a high calibre, I found myself stranded in a position where I can’t seem to cope with my studies at all . . . Too much homework . . . Too much information to digest . . . ecetera

And the surrounding environment makes it all seems “natural” and “yea uni is like that” , and I sort of got into a stinky toilet and just because everyone is so comfortable inside and echoes of “toilets can never be clean. . .” and as such, I happily take a seat on the dirt ridden floor and sing along with sloth and torpor dancing along then engaging in vain speech and the mind simply slips into the toilet bowls . . . full of bowels and mucous and I exclaim “What bliss is it to have such company ! What bliss is it for my mind to dwell in that toilet bowl !”

The truth cannot be further away ! People nowadays can’t wait to congratulate you in joining them in the dance with sloth and torpor you know, they’ll throw parties and parades when a new member exclaims that “Ah the toilet bowls should stink and urinals always overflow” , they even invite all the alumnis and bring you all around their own toilet bowls which is filled with shit saying “see ours is like that also!” , then the mind happily goes along , when will we ever see the dirt and filth we are living in ?

It is only natural for the mind to be soaked in dirt and rubbish, but  if we the owners of this mind do not quickly hasten ourselves and start fertilising the rubbish and dirt so that the lotus will grow out quickly, we might just stay there long enough and become part of the dirt !

End of analogy – to main topic now

Okay , I’ve finished my analogy , please do carefully consider this matter clearly for yourself.

Let me continue unto the pareto’s principle or simply known as the 80/20 rule , and it states that . . .

 

“20% of what we do produces 80% of our results

80% of what we do produces 20% of our results”

It simply implies that out of the many tasks we do, a minority of them forms a majority of our results

From experience and many top student’s testimonial… 3 things matters the MOST when it comes to academic performance. . .

1) Reading up before a lecture

2) Paying attention in the lecture

3) Reading up after a lecture

And guess what ?

Amazing. . . I didn’t read up before a lecture , I didn’t read up after a lecture , I didn’t bother to do the textbook questions and I complain I got no time and I don’t know how to do the tutorials?

I better wake up my idea. . . Good thing it’s only week 6. . .  Wake up Wake up!!!

Sec 3 to sec 4 transition – The end of the tunnel (1)

As I mentioned in the previous story , “A” students are just students that take one extra baby step more than others on a consistent basis. Many have came to me about what this “baby” step is, before I unveil the secret, let me share with you how I came across this “Secret”…

Actually this secret was already taught to this by our great physics teacher mr tan peng yeong , however I didnt apply it to every subject I was taking back then. Until one day, my dad bought me a book – perhaps in desperation - “If I Am Gifted , So Are You” . I read this book somewhere in march right after my common tests results was announced – much to my disappointment I didn’t do well at all.

I made a decision there and then that, if I didnt do something about my grades NOW, a few things are going to happen

1) I will flung my exams and my O levels , along with my future

2) I will not be able to play basketball to the fullest – because I have to spend time doing homework

3) I would live a life of misery as I struggle to just pass tests

Why was I so certain the above 3 things will happen? Simple, I’ve been living the above three for three years (sec 1 to sec 3) – and honestly I’ve had it .

Hence I decided to apply “the secret” to the area of my studies and the true secret is , the power of…

Momentum

What is momentum? It’s like a snowball rolling down a hill capped with snow and the snowball just keeps getting bigger and bigger as the snowball rolls faster and faster!

Now you might ask “How do I apply the principles of momentum into my studies?!”

There are so many things you can do.. but the key here is this

You have to take a baby step now! Note that this small baby step could be anything ! Let me elaborate my own case so as to benefit you =) I started…

* to not watch TVs anymore

* to pack my room and make a big study area for myself

* to view homework as a challenge and not as a problem

* to planning my revision schedule

* to draw my own mindmaps for individual topics

* study the subject matter before every class

* and many more

Its worth noting that the first baby step I took was to eliminate TV from my life ( I was catching 2-3 hours of drama daily) and then I suddenly had more time for homework! Then my tests results started to improve and homework didn’t seem so bad ! Followed by… etc etc

You see my friends, its all about taking the first step , once you take that first step , everything goes on auto-gear not because you’re so disciplined but because the results you get is so rewarding!

“I am sure most of you know “what to do” but seldom do people do “what they know” , why?”

Because they do not build momentum! My suggestion of building momentum is simple, take your life and habits now as a glass of hot water thats filled up to the brim, trying to add new habits without removing some old ones is like pouring cool water unto a cup of hot water – it overspills.

“Building momentum in this case is to remove some water from the cup and add ice to it.

Then now the drink is cooler to drink and you enjoy it in the hot sunny weather. Then you remove more water

and add more ice”

Of course there is a balance point where you shouldn’t over do it – by adding too much ice – because then you get a brain freeze which is bad for you . Our aim is to concoot a cool drink , and the way to do that is first remove some hot water then add some ice – a cool drink.

Back to my story, after applying the power of momentum , everything just went on auto-gear, I find myself studying less and learning more, I had alot of time to play the game I love – and improve upon it, and my test results were excellent! (topped my class for mid year exams) .

During the “O” levels, I merely had to step up 1 extra hour per day to my daily studying schedule – which was not much of a problem, while my peers were stepping up 4-5 hours on a daily basis just to make it to a pass.

Now I hope my readers will take action and capitalise on the power of momentum and start living a life that is filled with more freedom and less restrictions (from homework & revision) !

what is the meaning of tests & exams ?

I recall back when I was a student, I probably faced the same situation of tests and exams as students of today. Reflecting back, I can see clearly how I was stuck in this “score the As” and “If I don’t do well it automatically means ____ (insert word i.e. stupid)”. However all of these thoughts does not give perspective to the true meaning of tests and exams!

In my opinion, tests and exams are means to grade a student’s proficiency in a subject. And there are two major factors a test can determine

1) A student’s proficiency at understanding a subject

2) A student’s proficiency at remembering a subject

A point to note is that a good test – in my opinion – should consist of 20% 2) and 80% 1). That’s because if a test’s focus on testing a student’s memory, then it can be quite certain to say that the student will well forget what he memorised after the test.

Following on this path of testing, students find themselves having to memorise more and more stuff as the semester year digs in, for example:

Common Test One : Chapter 1 2 3

Mid Year : Chapter 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Common Test Two : Chapter 8 9 10

End Of Year : 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Everytime a test or exam surfaces , the student starts from scratch! And what happens when the “big exam” (“O” levels, “A” levels etc) drops? The student has to memorise everything he has learnt in the past 2 years, its no wonder if tests are set in such a format(to test memory) – most if not all students will find it stressful to study.

However, if tests are set in such a way that it directly tests a student’s understanding of a subject, such a scenario as depicted above is less likely to occur. Instead , students will find that simply by reading through the earlier chapters that they understood, they can quickly grasp the concepts and move on to the next chapter/subject.

Because when you understand something ,it sticks with you longer – if not forever.

Hence, as a student, never ever try to memorise something if it can be understood. Remember, when you understand something it’s automatically memorised. It’s so important i’ll repeat it here

Never Ever Try To Memorise Something

If It Can Be Understood

For When You Understand

You Remember

So you may ask, how do I understand ?! This is a subject where books has been written about it and a blog post isn’t enough to cover the entire subject, however if you would like to learn more, please leave a comment (below this post) or msn me and we could have a discussion.

Last but not least, doing well or badly in a test doesn’t show anything except how good you are in grasping concepts and/or remember concepts. To be honest, understanding a subject matter is just one skill (and not ranked very high) in doing well in life.

It is not to say it’s not important, it’s a reminder to you that grades are not everything. Do not think your future is gone just because you do not do well in school ! Your future is determined by so many other factors and in fact, many people who did not do well in school also managed to succeed in life! (there are also those who do well and succeed).

So remember, the true meaning of tests and exams is nothing but a test of your proficiency in understanding and remembering a subject matter. or simply translate

It’s your ability to retain what you’ve read

Its not that big of a deal ! For those of you who work and went for an interview, you definitely know that the above skill is not very much sought after as compared to stuff like..

* HardWorking

* Willing To Learn

* Social Skills

I’ll end this post with a final note, tests and exams is just here to test your proficiency in a subject – it does not fully determine your future or your life.

BasketBall Game of habits

In the game of basketball, its two different teams playing each other.

In the game of life, I would like to see it as a game between habits.  Why?

Our daily lifes are filled with good habits and bad habits – maybe a bit simplistic but it proves my point here.

Our destiny is hence a result of which of our habits are pre-dominant. If our good habits are pre-dominant, we can call ourselves successful and if vice versa, we need to work on certain things before success comes to us.

Using that as a setup, life is just like a game of basketball between our good habits and bad habits

Team Good Habits VERSUS Team Bad Habits

and every incident we meet in life, can be considered the show down between our two teams (Good and bad habits). So if you are in a situation where you need to choose whether to eat that junk food and get fat or skip the junk food and stay healthy, who will make the play? will good habits score 2 points or will bad habits get a steal for the fast break?

In thinking so, as a basketball player, think, the next time you want to procrastinate on that homework and let the bad habits score on you because you were lazy on defense!

If it was a basketball game, would you get lazy on defense for the national qualifier? i guess not!

If you are star player of your team, will you choose to rest because your legs are sore when you know you can lead your team to victory? i guess not!

but so many times in life when we are the star player of our life, we let our bad habits score on us, block our shots and abuse us. aint that a bit mis-fitting?

Its your call – after all its your game.

sec 2 to sec 3 transition – The NightMare

Been speaking alot with my players recently and heard alot about the tons of homework , remedials and tests coming up . Reminds me of my own secondary school days and I wanna blog about it today =)

note: sec denotes secondary , and the age of sec 1 is 13

Coming into sec 2 was what most would call “luck” for me, because I failed alot of my subjects and barely passed the overall grading(from sec 1). I remember my dad was quite disappointed after seeing my teacher and as for me, I couldn’t care less.

The story below recounts how as a sec 3 student I failed to cope with the changing environment and got myself into a nightmare I thought was over. Does it sound familiar about your own life as a sec 3 student? Read on…

The Story

During sec 2 period of my life, I really worked hard – at least i felt so , i would bury myself in homework and revisions before my exams in a bid to try and pass my exams plus I had 2 tutors (cost up to S$ 300 monthly) to assist me in my chinese and maths. And it would all seem like my hard work paid off when I made it to the sec 3 express stream !

When I made it to sec 3 express, I was indeed very happy and I truly believed that ,

If I kept up my efforts as I had in sec 2, I would achieve the same results – boy was I in for a rude awakening.

What followed in sec 3 was a total shock for me. There were at least 3 times more tests, twice as much homework and the teachers was teaching at a unreasonable pace – as compared to secondary 2. Plus this time, I dismissed all my tutors.

As someone who hardly – if ever – go out on a frequent basis, I was finding it hard to cope. Imagine! everyday I would just go to school and go home – period , end of story. And somehow,  I couldn’t even cope with sec 3 work . It was a shock to me.

What subsequently happened was a grim reminder of my past – in sec 2 , my grades rapidly dropped and our teachers weren’t making things easier. They gave tests that were seemingly impossible to pass (much less score) and their reasoning was that if tests were tough , exams would be easy.

And A Maths (higher level math) was so difficult to comprehend , A maths alone could take up my entire day – not trying to finish the work but just figuring out what the question was even asking.

The only subject I had a bit of confidence in was physics back then, because we had an outstanding physics teacher by the name of Mr Tan P.Y . He made lessons fun and we often scored quite well – we did better than pass – in his tests and he truly made lectures interesting.

So throughout my entire sec 3 days, I was living homework to homework (the only good thing was there is no more ARTS ! yes ^^) , barely scraping passes for my tests and living day-to-day like a fire-fighter, doing everything that’s urgent.

A convenient procrastination reason I found for myself – whenever I had free time - back then was

“okay, I’ve worked hard enough, this isn’t due till 3 days later, I’ll do it tomorrow”

The end result? I barely scraped through sec 3 – and I was totally exhausted. I can’t remember the number of red lines I had in my report book – denoting a failed test or subject – and I was not proud of it.

After my exams was about the time when I took up the sport of basketball as well – on a side note.

Looking back at my experience, I was a total wreck ! If I could coach myself, things would’ve been very different. And I do have credentials for it too!

Sec 3	L1R4/R5 – 25 / 30
“O” Levels	L1R4/R5 – 6 / 10
Poly	Average GPA – 3.65 / 4
Now	Secured a place in NTU

How did I miracously turned my results around? Actually this is an open secret, however, most students only unlock this secret a few months before “O” levels – and things revert back to old ways after “O” levels – and after their exams, they return back to the nightmare days of failing tests once again in their tertiary education.

Point In Case:

“A” students are not born, they are ordinary students who take one extra baby step more than others on a consistent basis

Yes, Bold this, tape it, and seal it into your mind.

“A” students are ordinary students like you and me who takes one small little extra baby step on a consistent basis. Isn’t that amazing?

All you need to do , is take one small baby step on a consistent basis and you’re an “A” student!

To find out more about this miraculous first baby step, stay tuned to my blog

Coming Up Next : Sec 3 to Sec 4 Transition  - The End Of The Tunnel