The 5Ds of Studying Effectively

Written by Jack Ng and Michelle Lew

Be DILIGENT
This point may seem obvious and trite, but the honest truth is that there are no shortcuts to
success, only sheer hard work. The one and only surefire strategy is for us to roll up our sleeves,
crack our knuckles, and crack open those textbooks. Leave no stone unturned were talking a
thorough and complete understanding of every topic, sub-topic, section and sub-section.
Investing the time and effort required to understand the subject you are studying thoroughly
will pay off in the long run. As Louis Pasteur wisely said, Chance favors the prepared mind.
With a firm grasp of concepts and the facts at your fingertips, you will be ready for any curveball
the examiner decides to throw at you.

Be DISCIPLINED
Studying is an arduous task in and of itself, but factor in CCAs, project group meetings and the
gazillion other things you have going on and it seems to acquire an almost Herculean quality.
Your best bet is to draw up a realistic study schedule or plan and stick to it. For best results, it
should be customized according to your personal needs and learning style.
Keep in mind that for most of us, shorter time blocks are easier to schedule and are a more
sustainable option than longer time blocks. By breaking up study time into blocks, you
automatically create breaks so that the mind has time to recharge, thereby keeping productivity
at optimum levels.
Another useful tip is to mix it up a change of topic or subject is a good way to regain ones lost
attention.
Eliminate DIGITAL DISTRACTIONS
In this age of social media, many social networking sites such as Facebook , Twitter, Instagram
and Tumblr clamor incessantly for our attention. In fact, individuals who are very active on
social media platforms are said to be in a state of "continuous partial attention", meaning to say
that at any given time, they are unable to devote their full attention to tasks at hand.
Many of us are guilty of the above, so lets make a collective effort to unglue ourselves from our
smartphones. With our phones out of reach, we are less likely to check obsessively for latest
updates, and more likely to get work done.
DEMONSTRATE your understanding by sharing your knowledge with classmates and
friends
While this might seem counterintuitive at first glance, the idea is that by teaching and sharing,
our conceptual understanding is reinforced in the process. Additionally, any areas of deficiency
will be brought to attention and can be rectified accordingly. As an added bonus, if you get a
reputation for being the smart one in the group, youll get the challenging questions thrown at
you, which mean more opportunities for learning.
Be DETERMINED
Setbacks are inevitable in every life journey. Even when it seems like youve reached an impasse,
take a break, regroup, and try again. Try approaching things from another angle. More often
than not, a change in perspective brings new insight.
Never give up giving up means you fail right then and there, whereas so long as you dont
throw in the towel, you still have a fighting chance.
The key is to not be afraid of making mistakes. John Maxwell, author of Failing Forward, puts it
best:

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The more you do, the more you fail. The more you fail, the more you learn. The more you learn,
the better you get.
Think about it its far better to fail early on in the study process rather than on the day of the
exam.

Creating effective topical outlines: A

How-To Guide
Written by Jack Ng and Michelle Lew
Todays students will certainly be no strangers to the concept of topical outlines, and
would likely have created outlines of their own in the course of study.
The value of a good topical outline lies in the fact that it helps to organize otherwise
disjointed pieces of information into a cohesive logical framework. The methodical
format of an outline makes it much easier for students to digest and internalize large
amounts of information, and enables them to identify the key points and where they fit
in the scheme of things.
Furthermore, the mental processes involved in condensing and organizing the
information into a concise and systematic form also help to enhance the individuals
understanding. Indeed, research evidence suggests that the human brain stores
knowledge as sets of situational responses that are based on the individuals conscious
memories. Because topical outlines are constructed to reflect organization of the
conscious memory system, they facilitate meaningful learning; thereby greatly
improving ones learning/study efficiency.
How then does one create an effective topical outline?
Firstly, students should read and understand thoroughly the resources they have on
hand. This is by no means an easy task as todays students are inundated with a wealth
of information in the form of lecture notes, textbooks and the Internet, among others.
Nevertheless, students should take their time to study their resource material closely
and carefully rather than just performing a cursory sweep with the intention of
revisiting it in the future. The reason for this is that any extra time spent processing and
extracting essential information at this initial stage will go towards saving valuable time
in the future, especially when it comes to revising for tests and exams.
The next step would then be to construct a rough framework of the topic, with special
emphasis on the salient points. We encourage students to incorporate the use of color,
diagrams and word links to enhance their outlines in a visual manner.
Students should then put the adequacy of their outlines to the test by attempting
practice questions with ONLY the outline for reference, supplementing areas which are
found to be lacking. Through this repeated process of refinement, students should
arrive at a final product a highly condensed document, ideally not more than two
pages long, which contains all the essential information the student is required to know
about the topic at hand.

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Why practicing questions is not

enough: a How-To on achieving good
grades in JC-level Mathematics
Written by Jack Ng and Michelle Lew
When it comes to Mathematics, the most commonly heard piece of advice is perhaps the
familiar phrase Practice Makes Perfect.
While these are wise words to live by, and is generally true for Mathematics at Primary
and Secondary levels, the game changes when students progress to Junior College,
where the complexity of the subject increases substantially. Due to the increased
difficulty, purely attempting as many practice questions as possible is often not enough
to assure students of a good exam grade where higher-level Mathematics is concerned.
Another technique commonly relied upon by students is going through past-year exam
papers in an attempt to spot patterns and trends, and revising accordingly. As we know,
all predictive techniques come with some measure of risk, and question-spotting, being
a gamble by its very nature, will not guarantee students good exam grades.
Contrary to popular belief, the key to scoring consistently high grades in Mathematics at
Junior College level is neither lots of practice, nor question-spotting or analyzing how
examiners set questions.
Its not about beating the system, its about grasping the concepts
The most foolproof method of achieving consistently high marks for tests and exams is
for students to develop an in-depth understanding of each topic, as well as the
versatility in applying this understanding to solve the different types of questions they
may encounter.
The most common problem Junior College students face while attempting to complete
their tutorials is that they often get stuck very early on, leaving them frustrated and
discouraged. The reason this problem arises is in part due to the heavy assignment
workload students are given, as well as their tight academic schedule. Feeling the
pressure to complete their assignments on time, students tend to jump straight into
doing their tutorial assignments after just a cursory reading of their lecture notes, often
having to revisit and consult their notes when they realize that they are out of their
depth.
This disorganized and unfocused approach often leads to students developing an
incomplete and in some cases, an incorrect understanding of the topic.
As a result, students often find themselves having to relearn key concepts, and this
vicious cycle places a further drain on their already limited resources of time and
energy.
The solution to this problem is counterintuitive and not always easy ideally, students
should spend as much time as possible to reading and understanding their lecture notes
before they sit down to attempt tutorial questions. In other words, there has to be a reproportioning of the time students allocate to reading lecture notes and to doing
questions, with the focus being on gaining a thorough understanding of each topic
rather than on merely completing assignments and tutorials.
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Consistent and good grades can be accomplished in a three-step process, namely:

1. Concept Understanding
2. Topical Outlining
3. Practice
As we touched on earlier, firstly, students should take their time to reading their notes
closely and carefully instead of rushing through them, the optimal proportion of time
devoted to theoretical understanding and practice being 50% each. The next step would
then be to form a logical framework of the topic, noting and highlighting what the key
points are. The goal is to reduce each topic into a condensed outline of key information,
such that students can tell at a glance what is important and what is not. Lastly, students
should put their understanding to the test by attempting practice questions, refining
their logical frameworks along the way.
The above approach will help students to achieve consistent results via a thorough and
complete understanding of the concepts, which in turn enables them to answer
effectively any kind of question they encounter during their tests and exams.

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