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Aggressively Written Resumes
When writing resumes, it is important to remember whom it is
you're trying to please - (is it you, or the hiring authority?)
In this article I will present my ideas of what makes up really
aggressive documents, based on my many years in the...
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Your network consists of family, friends, neighbors, co-workers and former employers. It also consists of your dentist, your barber or hair stylist, your accountant and your local grocery store manager. Networking is not only who you know, but who...
How to Negotiate The Best Salary and Benefit Packages
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Resume Formats The Hidden Pitfalls
Deciding on a resume format is the first major decision to be made when creating your resume. The overall look of your resume depends on the resume format, font and outline you choose. The two main types of format in use are the chronological and...
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Work Smartly and not hard: Part III
Study Smart and not Hard: Part III
Try out FRT (Fast Revision Technique)
The mind has a tendency to constantly reject all that it considers not important. By revising again and again a message is sent to subconscious mind that it is important. In most cases over 80% of our learned information is lost in just 48 hours! If we don?t revise our mind does not consider it to be important and discards the information.
Fast Revision Technique is a very powerful Revision Technique to remember and recall. It s steps are as follows: -
Step 1: Take time between lectures/self study periods to go through what you have just learnt. It can be as early as 1 to 2 hours. This is very crucial to rein-force the learning.
Step 2: Set aside at least one hour every day from the start of the year. You must revise as and when new concepts are taught/ learned during the day.
Step-3: Give special treatment to your revision on Sundays. On each Sunday, you shall revise everything that you have learned in the week, though very briefly. You may also write down few lessons/ solve problems from memory with out looking in your notes just to test your memory and understanding. Just skim over your notes very briskly and make sure you plan gaps between two different subjects.
Step-4: On last Sunday of the month allocate three extra hours for the monthly revision. After you have revising what you you?ve finished in the week. Go through all that you have learnt in the entire month. This revision will be easy and fast as it is the fourth revision of the month.
Step-5: Whenever you learn something new, always take time to refer to what was previously taught/ learned by you. By this you check how well have you grasped the matter. By frequent revision we are sending a message to mind that this information is important and are continuously training the mind to remember the things that you revise.
Step-6: Modify the plan so that it best suits you but basic strategy of setting aside time everyday should not be compromised. Celebrate success each time and do remember to punish your self if you are not able to stick to your plan.
Best Study Strategies
´review the text
¤ead the table of contents to understand the topics of each chapter and how they relate to each other.
¤ead all the headings and subheadings.
÷earn all you can from pictures, maps and graphics.
¤ead the questions or problems at the end of the chapter.
Dake notes in the text
Qrite short summaries, questions or comments in the margin of the text. Helps you to engage with the text and gives you a running record of your understanding
Or . . .
Dake notes in a separate notebook. Remember ? you should synthesize and summarize, and not copy.
¤eview your notes within 24 hours.
Un order to transfer what you?ve heard from your short term to long term memory Take a few minutes each day to skim through your notes, fill in information you missed, and identify questions you have.
ätudy for an exam with the format in mind. You should always refer at least last five year?s question papers.
Óot all exam questions are created equal. Your approach should be different and how much you write should be decided by how many marks it carries and not by how much you know about it.
ðodify your study strategies to reflect the type of thinking skills required on the exam.
úave a sense of how many questions will be on the exam so that you can allot enough time to each question.
ätudy actively.
µraw diagrams or charts representing relationships between ideas
Qork through practice problems and old exam questions
reate a study group and quiz each other
over up your notes and talk through a concept as though you were teaching it to someone else.
ðake flash cards or study sheets and review them regularly.
²orm a Study Group: Some facts about study groups.
A word about the group: It will provide lot many advantages to you. Few of these are listed here and there can be many more.
õreater opportunities to question, review, clarify, and discuss various otherwise tricky matters. It may happen that few things, which you have not understood, are completely understood by some one in the group and he can make you understand that or vice versa.
^udiences to read, respond to, and discuss your/their ideas and frank and fair comments.
yncourage a variety of problem solving strategies. Remember there is always some thing in others that you can learn for your improvement.
¤educe procrastination left alone you, in probability, will keep on delaying certain important things. At times you may not even know as to how should you start. Group members in such can be of tremendous help and at times they can even go to the extent of forcing you to start the work you had slated for yourself and at times they will be instrumental in its successful completion.
Qithin a group you will, in general, will remain motivated as all the problems could be shared thereby reducing burden on you.
Ut will help you to ease anxiety that you may be having. Remember anxiety is a big strain on your energies and it is best to steer clearly away from this monster.
Handling Examinations
Work According To Your Study Style: Some students prefer to work individually; others study better in a group. Match your study style to your personality and study habits. Do not get guided by others blindly after all you know your self best.
Studying By Yourself: Proceed according to a study and revision plan. Start your preparations well in advance so that you don't panic in the end. It is ok to study in a group initially to start with but it is better to study alone starting, may be, 1-2 weeks prior to examinations
Studying In A Group: Make sure that your study group has students genuinely interested in studying, else you'll spend all your time criticizing the school or the latest Shah Rukh Khan film. At least some of your peers should be at your level or better. Brainstorming on the possible questions is also a good idea by this you can score out lot of material which may not be
asked in examinations..
Planning A Calendar: Studying according to a calendar plan is the most important and also the most difficult thing to do. Don't study more than two subjects in a day, other wise you are going to mix up the things for similar courses that you don't spend a lot of time switching between subjects. If you lose a day due to any unforeseen circumstances just pick up from the place you had left the previous day. Don't move your entire schedule forward. Remember to leave little margins of time for such days during your planning of the calendar.
Prepare From Old Question Papers: Just reading from your text-books is never enough - very little of it actually sinks in. You need to sweat it out with pen and paper, trying to actually solve problems from your books and old test papers. Go over as many different problems as you can.
Don't Give Up: Don't leave a problem till you are convinced that you can solve it by yourself. Depending on the explanation given by your teacher or book is only a temporary solution. You need to solve the problem yourself to make sure that it doesn't leave you puzzled in the examination hall.
Recreation: It is important to remain fresh so that the material that you are studying gets absorbed by your mind. If mind is already tired it will not be in a condition to do so. If you feel yourself mentally tired, take a break. Taking a short walk in the park or your lawn may be good idea. It refreshes the mind as well as the body. Chatting to family or taking your pet out for a stroll or taking a small nap are other healthy options. You can try a quick shower for that added freshness.
Revision Plan: Work out a smart revision plan as discussed already all have limited hours in a day, same books, similar sources of guidance and similar circumstances. To crack the competition, we need to have an edge over others. Revising is a very effective way for that.
Concentration: Concentration is one?s ability to fix his thought upon one thing at a time. Mostly during studies our mind drifts to several unrelated things and at the end we may find you wasting lot of time. The key is to put your 100% in the task that you are currently doing. Studying actively will help to a great extent in this regard. We will discuss separately in one of the chapters.
Using planned Intervals to Enhance memory: A lengthy learning session results in unnecessary stress for your memory. It is very necessary that you take a break after say every 50 minutes. The break could be of 10-15 minutes. Just remember a break is for your mind so be careful not to load it with additional information through watching TV or doing a puzzle. Complete rest of the mind and body is required before one starts learning again.
Use Memory Route: To reduce the revision time, we need to condense the whole theory of 5 to 10 pages into, may be, one diagram. By doing so, only a glance will be sufficient to make you recall the whole theory. You should make an attempt to make memory routes for
whatever you read so that it comes handy later. acronym is a technique used to further condense the theory into just a few words to enhance the memory power.
Do not discuss the subject with your classmates just before the exams: it is likely that you will discover what you haven?t studied. It will make you nervous and loose confidence.
Answering Techniques
The commonest fault in any written work is a failure to keep to the point and not to answer the question Completely. When you write an answer you are engaged in an assessment of what is relevant. What does the examiner expect as an answer.? Most people do not think about this seriously enough and believe that more verbiage is better than less - the opposite is the case. The shorter a piece of written work is, the more critical thought has been applied to writing it and the sharper it is. Moreover the examiner or tutor can read it more easily and with less effort. Here are some points to remember
µo you write for yourself ? your script must be legible to be understood.
^s you plan and draft your answer, think about what you should leave out as much as what you should put in.
ðake things visible for him. Draw a diagram if possible.
úse key words always and every time. Any examiner is looking for these key words always and your marks depend on that to quite an extent. Do not forget to underline these.
úse mathematical equations/ formulas to support your answer if possible.
õive space between answers to different questions/ sections.
µo not make your mistakes conspicuous by trying to hide it.
Qrite what he wants you to write and not what you want to write. You only get credit and marks for what is asked.W
Qork out a overall time plan and review it at regular interval.
^ttempt the question you know well first and limit your time for that failing which you will be tempted to write all you know about irrespective of fact that it is not asked.
?e sure that you are writing the right thing in the beginning. Read the question twice before you jump to answer that
^ttempt the number of questions stipulated even if you do not know it fully. Remember no body wants to fail you.
µo not write stories. Write point wise.
Uf possible, make points as headings and underline these.
´lan a margin of 10% time for final revision and changes if any.
µo not appeal for more marks in the text any where, it will result only in you getting less marks.
Dry to answer all parts of a question in same order. It is very irritating to find different parts at different places and not even marked properly at times.
End of Article.
For consultation and advise please contact at my E-Mail
aknigin@yahoo.com
About the Author
Author has 28 years of experience in the field of Teaching and Management. He is M. Tech from IIT Kanpur and has worked in different capacities including Signal corps Indian Army, Regional Manager for a Telecom Company. Currently he is Associate Professor with ITM, Gurgaon that is rated as best Engineering colleges of North India.
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