DON’T FOCUS ON GETTING GOOD GRADES IF YOU WANT THEM
Uncovering the True Path to Academic Success from a "Good" Student
I’ve been writing this article after my first draft since the 11th of October 2022, and now, I’m in front of my laptop thinking of the next line. Truth be told, I did put this article away. I wasn’t even going to argue with procrastination; I let it take me away. But then, my sister called. She’s a medical student who loves business and has started practicing it by setting up systems. Just the thought of it consumes me. Her words and thought process invigorated my will. And solely because of her, I decided to try this article again. The feeling isn’t getting curtailed. I’m still blank, but my fingers are feeling jittery; they yearn to type.
It’s the start of the thirteenth week of the 2022/2023 session in the department of EIE, and to some, it’s looking juicy. To a lot, it feels demanding, and to others, it’s looking like the usual. The same question bothers them. Will I get my 5.0? Will I make Daddy and Mummy proud? Will I do well this semester? Will I build quality relationships? Will I achieve my yearly goals? Some are staring sternly at their new year’s resolution looking for what to tick. The list is just as brand new as they wrote it by midnight on December 31st, 2022.
WHAT DO YOU WANT?
If you reflect deeply, everyone wants something from you. Family, friends, and even enemies are expectant of you. There’s an expectation of you, and it’s like you’re obliged to meet up with it, but at what cost? My friend, Imim, calls it the expectation gap.
Are you the one to fill their expectations? Who can tell? On a deeper dive, it’s wickedly subtle that we try to fulfill another human’s expectation of us that we lose cognizance of ourselves. Mum says a 5.0 is what we need from you this semester, but your heart says otherwise. Your lecturer says you must submit that term paper, but it’s that time your brain says I must meet up with my babe or I can’t miss the match (It’s a funny example, but I had to fill it in).
Before you continue, I want you to zone out. I mean that literally. Forget what everyone is saying and try to answer the question, “What exactly do I want?” It’s the first step to knowing how to sustainably get good grades. Do I want good grades for the sole reason of getting good grades? Do I want it to please my friends? Do I want good grades to be the best? Do I want good grades because first class is important in the real world (times are changing)? There are myriads of reasons, all of which are valid. However, you must simply pick the one that best describes your needs. So that when the situation is wavering, you can easily be still and adapt quickly.
Permit me to digress a little. I’m not a fan of Anime except the ones that have to do with sports. And recently, I watched one called “Ashito Aoi”. It’s about a boy who yearns to be a pro footballer. He wasn’t all that good, but his perseverance and grit complemented his lack of skills. His commitment was astonishing to other players, and this sometimes made them push themselves further. However, I noticed that he had an issue. Every time during a match, he’ll display amazing skills, scoring goals that leave people in awe; but immediately after the match, he won’t be able to recollect how he performed those feats. His lack of awareness was the issue. But later down the line, he became aware and began to understand the skills he pulled off and began to practice them to perfection. Like his former self, most people are unaware.
AWARENESS
Awareness begins with answering the question, “what do I want?”. But shortly after knowing what you want is the main question, “How can I recollect and refine my skills?”. If you don’t know how to recollect, then you’ll simply wallow in trial and error. There is a notion I’ll like to change:
Getting good grades is not a lottery ticket; there are simple procedures. The first of which is unconscious competence.
UNCONSCIOUS COMPETENCE
You might be shocked because you might think that the first step should be to always read day and night and make the library your second home. But no; that’s rarely it. It’s common advice, but that something is common doesn’t mean it is certain or true. Research shows that you can’t read efficiently after about 4 hours. You can take it further, but that’s the average. Let me draw your focus to unconscious competence.
I learned of the term during a class and was amazed because I didn’t know there was a term for it. I had the notion about it but couldn’t put it in words. Somehow, I always knew that to be good at something, the process must be as easy as brushing your teeth. That is, the process should not take any cognitive load on your brain. You don’t always think and carry the thought of brushing your teeth on your mind before you do so. The act comes almost naturally. This is literally what I mean by “Don’t focus on getting good grades if you want them”.
You cannot always carry the burden of getting good grades on your mind, that itself is a distraction.
You need to set systems that unconsciously fuel your brain and direct your path toward getting a good grade. This is one of the reasons why you would see some students that you don’t deem seriously doing well. They might know one or two things, but I can tell you that they unconsciously work their way toward getting good grades. Before you can do that, you must consciously set systems.
SYSTEMS
I was privileged to talk to the freshmen (2022 set) of the Department of Electrical and Information Engineering. As the academic advisor, I was told to give them the best advice to help them scale academically. That task was inherently hard because to offer a piece of advice that could work for a group, I had to think and research deeply.
There’s a lot of advice like reading every time, sitting in front, going to the library, and sleeping well (it’s very important). But on a deeper dive, I figured that conventional wisdom rarely works well. And if it does, it’s not sustainable. That day, I focused on talking about setting systems. The first of which is to read something every day for at least an hour.
Reading is interesting. If you aren’t reading, you’re missing a lot. Reading broadens your mind and helps you to come up with sophisticated ideas, but that’s only when you are reading what you truly love which is not the case in academics. You might love math, but you don’t necessarily always want to solve math. You’d prefer to read the latest manga or the latest romance chapter on Wattpad over trying to prove the Navier-Stokes equation. It’s fine; don’t beat yourself. It’s the way the brain works.
However, in you is also the ability to channel your passion for reading other books to understanding your academics. And do you know what’s amazing, you don’t have to read it every single waking hour. Just like investments, an hour everyday compounds to an immense wealth of knowledge (even if you might not like the course). With constant and deliberate practice, you’ll move up to 2, maybe 4 hours. But remember, you must first know why you’re doing this, else, it would at one time look meaningless to invest quality time in something as boring as academics. An hour every day might seem trivial, but I challenge you to try it and see for yourself what it takes to be consistent with an hour of academic reading.
Reading is one part of the equation that needs to be balanced. And that’s why we’ll be talking about past questions. It is foolish to dwell solely on reading and not want to try out past questions. I’ve been foolish once and would not like you to tread that path. Past questions are like maps that guide you on how a lecturer’s examination might be.
You may think you’ve covered the whole syllabus, but I want you to put that pride for a while and allow past questions to humble you. You see, it is possible to know the answer to possible questions that could show up in the exam hall but outrightly fail those questions. It’s not because you didn’t read well, but it’s simply about patterns. Every lecturer has their pattern, and it’s only wise to try to adapt to their pattern. Solving past questions is one efficient method of understanding a lecturer’s thought process. Another effective method is getting along with academic colleagues.
If you’ve noticed, the processes I’ve listed are not even close to the conventional way of getting good grades and that’s on purpose. There are always various methods to solve a given problem; most times, unconventional methods are rarely visible. Getting along with your classmates in class can be the biggest change in your academics.
Consider this scenario: Your friend sees a question and is hooked. He/she suddenly remembers that you might be able to figure it out. After all the rigmarole, you both successfully solve it only for you guys to see the same question in the exam hall. I’m sure smiles would be beaming on your face. You might say you were lucky, but how can you tell? Now, imagine the same scenario with a good number of your coursemates. This article is not to teach the process of making friends, but a simple “hi” can go a long way. Just like reading for an hour every day, getting along with your colleagues causes the same compounding effect; it is a system you can develop. To add a cherry on top, you must learn to revise.
I called revision the cherry on the top but I’d rather you say it’s the sweetest fruit on the top. Revision helps with the little details and mitigates overconfidence. It is a process that puts you in examination mode even before getting set for the exam. You might have read and prepared a week ago, but a simple period of revision the night before an examination can help to align the brain to be better prepared for what is to come. Read, revise, repeat.
CONCLUSION
To be honest, the equation for getting good grades cannot be balanced. I’m not sorry for leading you on. It’s the truth. Everyone is different and must have different methods, additions, and subtractions to make to their equation to get good grades. From knowing your reading pattern to listening attentively in class, sleeping well, implementing study methods, curbing procrastination, to making friends with lecturers, there is an endless list of varying parameters that can add a mark to your grade.
However, with an understanding of why good grades are important to you, setting systems, revising, and becoming unconsciously competent, you pave way for your brain to try to self-correct as you try to learn and perform well academically.
TAKEAWAY ACTIONS
· Set out a time to read every day
· Solve and deliberately practice past questions
· Start applying revision techniques to your Continuous assessments and Exams
RESOURCES
https://cs.stanford.edu/people/karpathy/advice.html
https://www.calnewport.com/blog/2014/04/08/work-accomplished-time-spent-x-intensity/
I wish everyone the best in their exams. Remain sizzling hot!
The Academic Officer, AEIES, 2022/2023, NELSON, Elijah.
Thanks to Ajani Abraham for editing drafts of this.
Love ittt (^-^)