Facing Examinations [details –II]
Learn to Learn
Efforts to learn the right way is
the urgent need of the hour. There are no short term programmes to equip the
mind. Equipping the mind is a long term,
systematic effort of assembling facts, arguments and evaluation of concepts,
even as one gathers the nuances of presenting ideas in a cohesive way. Learning
should happen as a matter of daily routine; as and when a student sits through
a classroom session [s]he must comfortably gather the information by a relaxed
attitude of pleasant listening [teachers matter a lot in this]. Focus should be
on comprehension and proper orientation of details. Training the mind to gather
correct information and aligning them should be adopted through sessions of
teaching. If not, the student has to spend a little time to organize subject
information by personal effort and prepare ‘home-made’ reference material as a
preparatory exercise. Personal effort helps long term retention of ideas.
Aligning the
information
Any learner knows the sequence by
which the content should be placed [from basic to higher details /data]. Simple
statements would do. If quotes are used they should be used verbatim as given
in the source [ “….” ]. The assembly of such facts should be compact for easy
and quick reference. If more details are known add them at the right places.
This way a complete lesson can be effectively learnt in quick time. But, it
should happen the same day that the lesson is learnt in class [to avoid missing
critical points from teacher’s explanation]. By this method, the student
assembles the reading material by personal effort. So, the memory does not get
taxed, as facts are comprehended. Thus, in small pages lessons are prepared as
gist. Use this gist for study and recalling. When needed, try to rewrite the
gist for specific components. You would find that effortlessly one can retain
information without memorizing. To begin with, there may be temporary hurdles
to recall. But, it will ease out, if practised. Since lessons are in a compact
gist, they can be repeatedly read [avoid memorizing]. By repeated visits to the
pages ‘brushing up’ occurs in intervals and the confidence level improves. It
would be ideal, if students cultivate the habit of framing sentences along with
other efforts. Over a time, every member can master the nuances of preparing
for examinations, as a part of his /her academic endeavour.
Advantages of
personal effort
While assembling the ‘reading
material’, long stretches of information get registered in our minds without
recourse to recitation /memorizing. Since any piece of information is
personally assembled, natural comfort gets integrated in the language used. The
entire exercise acquires ‘value of exclusiveness’ as each one’s presentation is
distinct. Examiners will not be fatigued by reading the same answers all over.
Also, the examiners can witness a
gradation in quality and can legitimately evaluate the answers. While organizing the information, the student
would have to look into the text, besides what [s]he had gathered from the
classroom deliberation. At times, for clarity, the student will have to use
Dictionary to ‘decipher’ the expressions in a text. Since, the student makes
use of the text, [s]he is familiar with the textual content as against those
trying to survive on ‘predigested notes’. The idea of using the text offers the
right advantages of employing punctuations as means of driving a point home
MORE FOLLOWS
Very well written!!! Every learner should read this
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