I just finished my exams today and I am absolutely drained. I’m running on caffeine and 2 hours of sleep. Gonna reward myself with a nice nap now :))
Here are a few things that are worth remembering:
- Start early. Seriously. It makes a huge difference.
- DO PRACTICE PAPERS (if you’re an IB student who takes sciences, get the IB questionbanks!!!!)
- Try your hardest and try not to beat yourself up for struggling despite working hard. Shit happens. Exams aren’t always going to great, even with preparation.
- Prepare yourself as much as you possibly can. Remember that all of the efforts and hard work that you put in during this short period of time will be rewarded.
- You are smart and you are capable. Do not let laziness stop you from achieving your potential.
- Treat your body right. This is something that I still have to work on a lot but for real. Don’t put your body through hell. Get enough sleep (or at least try to get as much as you can) and eat nutritious food (protein, fruits, vegetables, etc.). Even try to exercise if you can, but I know that it becomes impossible with exams.
- Try to plan your time as much as possible to make sure that you devote the study time needed for each subject you need to study for.
- Believe in yourself. You are intelligent and your grades do not define your intellect or your potential.
You are capable of achieving your goals, all it takes is hard work.
I will try to continuously update this list :) pls add more content if you can think of something important that I’ve missed.
Don’t compare the work you’re doing to what your friends are doing, everyone works differently and you know what works best for you. You will double your stress levels by constantly comparing yourself to others (trust me, I struggle with this).
1. You are very lucky and privileged to have access to almost unlimited knowledge and you should appreciate that.
2. Be one of those rare people who step over their insecurities and succeed.
3. Only 5 minutes. Only today. (Repeat it 5 minutes later and every day).
4. You will know what to do as soon as you start. Ideas never appear from inactivity.
5. Make yourself proud.
6. One hour every day doesn’t feel much but it’s 365 hours a year. You can’t not succeed after so much work.
7. It’s not supposed to be easy. Nothing good is easy.
8. If you had a child to look after, you’d make them study because you want them to accomplish something. Don’t you love yourself?
9. “Everything you want is on the other side of fear” George Adair
10. Every mistake increases our chance to make progress.
11. If you give up now, you’ll have to return to this later anyway but from the very beginning.
12. Let the process be your result.
13. Every moment you thought your fears would suppress you has become the time you made it.
14. Maybe you think you can never find something to use your skills and mindset for. But if you continue investing in what matters to you, it will find its way out there.
15. I allow you to think globally. You have a right to the boldest dream.
If you’re a potterhead you must be familiar with this brilliant witch. Yep! Hermione Jean Granger!
Known as “The brightest witch of her age”Hermione always on the top of her class. She even brewed a difficult potion in the second year, solved Prof. Snape’s riddle, and the coolest of all, punch Draco Malfoy on the face! (Sorry, I just can’t help it)
In this article, I would like to share how we could be “The Brightest Student in The Class” just like Hermione. Okay, let’s start!
1. Prepare yourself before school
Well, back to the first time The Golden Trio meet at Hogwarts Express, Hermione confidently said that she already read all her books and practice some spells. Preparing yourself before school is really important. You will be step ahead from your friends. Take your books a week before the school start and take a look at chapters you will learn during semester. I always do that before I start school. I usually read the first chapter from each subjects that I will learn that semester and make a summary from what I read. It help you, really. Especially when you have 14 subjects that you have to take at school *huft*
2. Pay attention to your teacher
If Hermione didn’t pay attention to Herbology, Ron would be dead because of devil’s snare.If she didn’t pay attention to Prof. Flitwick, We wouldn’t see her make a feather fly. Pay attention to your teacher! You may find some information that you can’t get in your textbook but it come out during the exams. I have this kind of teacher, so whenever she say something important, I always write it down. And that’s why the next step would be…
3. Take a note!
Yes! Remember although some of the class are really boring, it won’t kill you if you take a note. And beside, taking a note make you stay awake during class. During Prof. Binns class, Harry and Ron started to play Hangman but Hermione keep writing down on her book, and when the exams start, the boys have to borrow Hermione’s note. See?You never know when you gonna need it. It doesn’t have to be clean and neat at the time, just write it as long as you understand what you have written. Then at home, you could take out your note and write it all over again.
4. Don’t hesitate to ask
Hermione asks when she wanted to know more about Chambers of Secrets. She even arguing with Umbridge because of that-kindergarten-DADA-Textbook. By asking and think critically we could understand what we learn better. You don’t have to shy, just ask your teacher, they won’t eat you anyway. I found this phrase that say “Just ask; you may look stupid for 10 seconds but better than look stupid for your whole life” and I agree with that.
5. Speak it out
Don’t hesitate to answer the question or aguing some facts with your friends or teacher during discussion. It helps you in many way. Especially in critical thinking, elaborate argument, speaking, and etc. And the bonus is, some teacher will pay attention to you and watch your back in the class and may give you some points in the end! Ten points to Gryffindor!
6. Practice, practice, practice!
Yep! Your knowledge have no value if you haven’t practicing. In the fifth year, Harry, Ron and Hermione along with DA members practicing their skills in Defense Against the Dark Arts. The results? an happy O.W.L report card! You don’t have to push yourself so hard. Just like them, start from small step. For example, you could practice math by anwering five question everyday. and after a week, you could adding to 10 questions/day. No need to study overnight for exams and you don’t have to be startled if your teacher suddenly said “Okay! Today we are going to have a quiz” because you always ready!
7. Reading
It’s hardly to miss during this series, but we always see Hermione with books, even when they’re on the run! That’s why Ron said this, “That’s Hermione, when in doubt, go to the library” Reading makes you smarter and I think everyone agree with this. Your memory will improve, more knowledge, vocabulary expansion and many others. What I mean with reading in this is NOT reading your textbooks. Reading your textbooks is a good thing, but better to touch books outside your textbooks. If you’re not a reading person, you could start by picking some classic children fairytale or magazines. If you’re into reading already, I dare you to try genres that 180degrees different from your shelf now. I’m going to give you links to reading list that I suggest you to try in another post.
8. Enjoy it
Last but not least is to enjoy the process of studying itself. Hermione could survive her third year because she considering studying as a fun activities. She even take Muggle studies and still get excited about it! My online tutor said “The highest achievement of studying is when you found yourself enjoy it” Because when you enjoy it, you could understand it better and take you to the highest level of knowledge.
uni hasn’t even started yet and i’m already swamped with readings. not complaining though. also, i went to my law orientation yesterday and met some cool friends 💓
