How To Be A Better Student?

When I asked several students how they could be a better student the most common answer I got was ‘study more’ or ‘stay more focused in class’. These methods do help to some extent but for better results,  you could make use of the following steps:

Side note: The main objective of these steps is not so that you can only get better grades, my main intention is so that we all can be better humans too because after all no one remains a student for their entire life and being a student shapes and prepares you for the future. Hence to be a better person, you should be a good student.

1.Be aware of your surroundings:

This may sound extremely basic but it’s absolutely essential when it comes to being a good student. It helps boost your mind presence which helps you to react quickly to harsh situations and helps grasp more knowledge from the basic environment you are in. This step is rather easy to do, you simply need to stay away from any kinds of distractions. The key is to be in the current moment in order to grasp everything, rather than being in a moment that occurred in the past or would occur in the future. OPEN your mind, be aware and remember, ‘A mind is like a door, it works only when you open it.’

2. Let your curiosity get the best of you:

As humans, curiosity is a natural aspect of our lives. It is considered as one of the human development elements. But honestly what hurts the most is that students are repressing that very natural phenomenon. I see this all around my school and when the students are asked as to why they do that the reasons are, ‘Everyone will think that I am dumb and I don’t have the basic knowledge’ or ‘Everyone will think that my question is really stupid.’ How others view us becomes so necessary that we forget who we actually are, what we actually need and why we are actually there. FORGET about what everyone says, be confident and ask your question, with your head high. And always remember, ‘ The man who asks a question is a fool for a minute, the man who does not ask is a fool for life.’

3.‘UNDERSTAND’ not ‘MEMORISE’

I cannot quite express the cruciality and necessity of understanding. Something you memorise stays with you for a while but something you truly understand stays with you for the rest of your life. Understanding the concept helps you to connect with it on a deeper and more profound level, in contrast, memorising the concept doesn’t even give you the opportunity to actually connect with it. Understanding also can lead to you changing your perceptions, memorising doesn’t give you the opportunity to do so. Memorising may help you pass the exams, but your main objective should not be simply passing the exams, the main objective is to have a successful future and be a good, educated, knowledgeable, caring and reflective human. Don’t memorise the Digestive System, understand its function and the role it plays.  A thought to always keep within you, ‘Memorising something takes it to the memory, but understanding something stores it in the hard disk.”

4. Speak up

Speaking up is something I believe most students face difficulties with. As a past victim of the same disease that kept me from speaking up, I can undoubtedly claim that it is hard to get out of that shell but once you do so, you see everything clearly. Sharing your views, your thoughts and ideas make the world a different place. By speaking up you get your doubts cleared, you show your presence in the class or anywhere else. You gain a better understanding of the world around you. To be a better student, you need to speak up. So many people out there face difficulties because of one simple reason, they don’t speak up. What scares me the most is that ‘The world suffers a lot not because of the violence of bad people, but because of the silence of good people.’ Speak up!!

5. Listen

Last but not the least, we have another very important key point to being a good student. Listening is an extremely easy method yet many of us fail to do it. The main reason being, we get confused between ‘hearing’ and ‘listening’. Hearing is a natural human phenomenon that requires no energy and often doesn’t give us an explanation or understanding. In contrast, listening is a skill, it serves a purpose, it helps us to stay focused and boosts our concentration. Listening provides numerous benefits. When in class, if you listen to the lecture, you would be able to grasp several different concepts and understand them. By listening, you understand the material and hence it boosts your performance. Never forget, “The world is giving you answers each day, LEARN to LISTEN.’

 These were the 5 ways you can become a better student. If you have more points let me know in the comments below. Also, let me know if there is anything specific you would want me to write about.