STUDY SMART AT UNIVERSITY: EVERYONE CAN GET AN A AT UNIVERSITY

By SHAN SHAN HOU

Study Smart at University is a book for every student at university. It’s packed with 12 tried-and-tested study practices that will transform you into a high-mark student. No matter what your current grades are, these study practices will deliver fast and amazing results.

I guarantee that once you implement these practices in your da

• Language: English
• Publisher: SHANSHAN HOU
• Release date: Jun 11, 2019
• ISBN: 9781916123717

Book preview

1 INTRODUCTION

My dear fellow students, here is my question to you: have you ever been encouraged to get an A in your exams?

Your answer, I imagine, is, ‘Yes!’ A million times, by your well-meaning parents and teachers. Sometimes, they will have given you this advice: you need to study hard, or harder.

I’ve been a student for 26 years. For the first 12 years, at school, I was an average student. I studied hard when I was at high school. How did I perform in my exams? My grades were average. I can still feel my anxiety before any examination and the uncertainty after it. I had the urge to run out of the classroom every time I saw my teacher preparing to hand out the results. Everything seemed so out of my control. I believed I wasn’t gifted enough to be a top student.

Everything changed at university: my performance reached the top. That was not because I studied much harder or I was good at those subjects at university. It was because in my first maths class at university, the teacher shifted my belief. I suddenly realised that I could become good at studying, and it wouldn’t mean I needed to study any harder.

This notion was incredibly powerful. It sent me out on a quest for simple yet effective study practices that would help me improve my study performance. I read books on study techniques and methods. I tried them out. If one method didn’t work as well as was suggested, I would tweak it and try again.

At the same time, I put together a method for exam preparation that would guarantee an A grade. Since then, I have walked into examination rooms with more confidence and walked out with a big smile, knowing I would get an A.

I didn’t have to study harder for my As. In fact, I enjoyed my studies a lot! How cool is that?

The study practices and exam-preparation method in this book are not only applicable to maths. They lifted me to the top level in all my subjects at university – and quickly. I became a top student within my first term at university.

I got a first-grade study award every year during my time at university. I obtained my master’s degree with distinction. The practices in this book even work wonders in the professional-credential exams I am taking now.

Why did I decide to write about these study practices? Well, my 26 years as a student culminated in the successful completion of a PhD. I have a passion for teaching, so I stayed in academia to work with students. I started to realise that many students don’t know any of the study practices I’ve been using to improve my study performance.

It’s devastating to see so many bright students using ‘studying hard’ as a study technique or action plan. They worship the ‘hardness’, but this is so vague that most students interpret it as spending as much time as they can studying, without any joy. There seems to be an unspoken understanding that ‘studying hard’ is a sacrifice most students have to make to get better grades.

You may know the metaphor of the woodcutter who needed to cut down some trees one day. Working with a blunt axe, he progressed very slowly. He felt he was under time pressure. He made more effort in swinging his axe, but his performance improved only marginally. Then a wise man passed by and pointed out that the woodcutter could sharpen his axe to achieve a better result. Without raising his head, the woodcutter replied that he didn’t have time to sharpen his axe.

We understand the wise man’s point. If the woodcutter spent some time sharpening his axe, he would then cut down the trees more quickly. He’d have a much better chance of completing his task.

We rarely associate this wisdom with studying. However, the majority of us do the same as the woodcutter with our pen and paper. The external world shouts at every student to study hard in order to get high marks. In response, everyone keeps their head down in their determination to obey and study hard.

I am so grateful that my maths teacher was the wise man for me when I was cutting trees in my first year at university. He helped me to raise my head to examine my axe. He explained the most efficient method to sharpen my axe before I rolled up my sleeves to cut trees.

I decided to write this book to give support to every student I can reach. I’m keen to share my 12 powerful study practices and my exam-preparation method with you. Based on my experience, these are well tested and have proved successful in helping students get the high marks that they desire and deserve.

It will take only a few hours to read through this book, and I promise you that your time will be well spent. Once you absorb the information and apply these study practices, you’ll look forward to receiving your transcript. You’ll know you will get straight As.¹

1.1 WHO IS THIS BOOK FOR?

In order to ensure this book can provide specific support, I wrote it with specific students in mind: those at university studying for an undergraduate or postgraduate degree.

I strongly believe that our future life is built on the time we spend studying at university. This period of study may be three or four years, or a bit longer with a postgraduate degree.

That may seem like an extremely long time to you now. But let’s zoom out and have a look at your whole life. This time only occupies around 4% to 10% of your lifespan (based on a modest assumption of an 85-year lifespan). It passes far more quickly than you’d expect.

More importantly, it’s the ideal time to establish a successful future. It’s the beginning of your adult life, and it’s the only time in that adult life when everything you need is provided by your parents and teachers. Your task is crystal clear, narrowed down and presented to you: to study for your course and get good marks in your exams.

When you start university, every first-year student, including you, stands on the same starting line. When it’s time to graduate, almost everyone receives their degree certificate and shakes hands with the vice chancellor in a dazzling graduation ceremony. Oh yes, just about everyone will get their degree. If your goal at university is merely to pass all your exams and get a degree, please keep reading. The following section is essential for you.

Those graduates who have just collected their degree certificates, who were at the same level as freshmen, stand at very different starting lines for the next stage of life. Some of them are heading to prestigious jobs. Some of them have obtained opportunities for a higher degree. Some of them are going to become the boss of their own business. And some of them are nervous about whether they’ll be able to find a job.

Which group do you want to belong to? Think even further down the line: who do you want to be when the ten-year reunion of your class comes around?

You may wonder whether this is up to luck. Well, luck can only help people who’ve prepared. If a prestigious company recruits one graduate from your university this year, who do you think they will hire? Or your department has a scholarship for a postgraduate course – whose application do you think will be successful? Yes, the best student. How to recognise them? They get high marks.

You need to be well prepared when the door of opportunity opens. If you are the first in line, you can enter straight away.

I was inspired in my quest to be a high-mark student by a conversation I had with a friend in my freshman year at university. At that time, I was enjoying the freedom to manage and direct my own learning. I happily spent most of my time studying and exploring the field of my studies.

One day, I was talking to one of my friends, a fourth-year student. She was preparing to find a job. She said to me, ‘I wish I’d used my time better over the last four years to learn more stuff. Then I’d be more confident in finding a good job.’ She continued: ‘You are studying hard and getting such good marks. It’ll be much easier for you when you graduate.’

I was lucky! That conversation with my friend didn’t go in one ear and out the other. It was a light-bulb moment for me.