Examination season is almost over for most of the UTM students. Lecturers are now entering post examination phase (read: headache phase) and we are working days and nights to complete marking the answer sheets and analyze the results.
Starting from this post, I would like to share some of the study tips that I hope can benefit students or anyone who read my blog.
1. Attend lecture regularly. This is the most important task as a student. Make effort to understand the lecture and do not hesitate to ask your lecturer anything that you don’t understand. Even if you could not attend the lecture due to some circumstances, you should not wait until the very last minute to study the topic that you have missed. During lecture, do not rely totally on the lecture notes/handouts. Listen word by word whatever that comes out from your lecturer’s mouth and jot it down on your note book. Some of the lecturers prefer to keep it simple with the notes so that students will still come to their lectures. Write, write and copy back anything that your lecturers wrote on the whiteboard. I’ve seen so many times students taking pictures of the whiteboard just because they are too lazy to use their precious fingers to write. Students who write out their notes by hand will have greater conceptual understanding of the materials compare to those who just used their phone/tablet or laptop to take their notes. Using hand enables the students to process the information cognitively and allows them to have better synthesize and analysis of the materials. Furthermore, writing notes will train your brain to work harder and hence information can be digested well. Technology, although can shape the education in many positive ways, it can reduce the engagement in mental works that are supposed to support learning. In short, traditional approach of teaching and learning is still the best way to foster learning.