The first thing to remember is that there is absolutely no substitute to consistency and regularity. You have to therefore regularly attend your classes in college/tuitions/on-line study groups. Incase you miss some session(s) please take help from your friends and update your notes.
Studying all by yourself is not recommended at the foundation building stage. Later on in life you can take specialized courses for additional knowledge and possibly do a lot of work yourself.
Be attentive in all your classes right from the beginning of the academic year and try to ask questions if any aspect is not clear, without leaving the issue unresolved. There is nothing to be gained by leaving the confusion pending as it will snowball.
No student how so ever intelligent or bright he/she may be manages to regularly do well and score high grades without regular application to studies. As the saying goes ‘it is 90 percent perspiration and only 10 percent inspiration’
Every one can therefore do the same by acknowledging this fact and taking appropriate timely action.The brighter ones manage to select the right stream suiting their talents, study regularly, harder than others and above all work smartly, thus enhancing their input-output ratio.
Never be judgmental about your teachers and understand that you have to learn from them as you are in the process of building up your future.
Moreover ‘respect begets respect’ and if you are regular, attentive and respectful, you will be able to get the best out of all your teachers, irrespective of their own style and whims.
You will need to carefully analyze your courses and segregate your strong and weak areas. In the former you can study yourself and build up a good score, while for the latter you may need some additional coaching.
If indeed you require some coaching, go to a good academy or tutor right in the beginning. Do not leave things till the end when neither the teachers have sufficient time, nor you will have the ability to cover every aspect of a seemingly difficult course in a hurry.
You should select that stream of studies in which you are comfortable and which interests you. Just because science in school will enable you for engineering entrance or commerce for chartered accountancy should not be the dominant criterion. If you are honest and logical in analyzing the reasons behind your choice, which can be your interest and passion for a profession/career or your area of strength, you are most likely to reach a good decision.
Now you can consider the recommendations of your parents and counselors and tally the same with your own decision. In cases of a match, there is no confusion. In all other cases you need to carefully explain your own reasoning to your elders and understand theirs. This process is likely to remove lot of confusion and provide clarity for your later life.
There are many other career choices available today and the same rule of good quality education applies to them also. In all cases you need to apply the same principles discussed so far.
Allocate some fixed time for studies every day and stick to the routine. You can factor-in your recreation and play timings along with the hanging-out time with friends so that there is no clash with your study timings.
If you follow this plan systematically you will have more time for everything and will neither miss out on your studies or fun and pleasure.
Some of you must be wondering that we have not discussed the ‘stress during examinations’ as yet.
That is because we have been addressing the correct ways to ‘avoid building of the stresses.’ There is no special magic to be applied at the last stage and all the necessary steps have to be taken in advance, much before the examination stage.
By the time your examinations draw near, you should have once completed your syllabi, marked the difficult areas/unresolved problems and discussed the same with your teachers. You must do the complete syllabus and never rely on guess papers.
CONCLUSION
The examination time and the intervals between papers are strictly for revision and not for attempting new chapters for the first time.
