Pathway of Maintaining Decent Undergrad Academic Result

Nusrat Jinat Chowdhury

Do you just need to read once to memorize? Then, this article is not for you. We are the mediocre studies fighting for grades and managing the academic life here. 

There has always been a struggle between getting good grades and coping with academic pressure being a mediocre student who faces a lot of difficulties understanding what the teacher is saying. There is no shortcut to success, so let’s take the long path of effort and perseverance.

WHY DO WE FALL BEHIND IN CASE OF MAINTAINING GOOD GRADES?

Students have a superstition that there’s no study after getting into undergrad so they don’t take the semesters seriously and eventually when they understand the importance it’s too late. It’s a practice which students should start from the very beginning. Once you get the way, it’s easy to maintain the cgpa in every semester.

WHY ARE CLASS TEST, QUIZZES, ASSIGNMENTS IMPORTANT?

Class tests hold 20% of the total marks and assignments are substitutions of CTs most of the time. It’s tough if one thinks I would cover the term final well and hit an A+ in the course. It’s almost impossible to gamble with term final without CT, assignment marks. So every part is important. Quizzes are the key to get good grades in sessional. Quizzes hold most of the marks of a sessional course.

WHY CLASSES ARE IMPORTANT?

Apart from the attendance marks, classes are the key to the heaven of good grades.

The first thumb rule to save your grades is “Don’t irritate your course teacher!!!”. They are the key to your knowledge and good grades. 

First of all, we need to get this very clear that all the course teachers often reveal more than 50% of the questions in their class during the semester. You will know it only if you concentrate on the boring classes. But who does that, right? That’s the hardest step you need to take for good grades. Classes are immensely important. Taking notes is more important than that. Writing down every detail, following the topics the course teacher often plays a pivotal role to determine the CGPA of that particular course. Get into the mind of the course teacher, interact with him. You won’t understand anything in the class and might interest in following very soon. However, if you defeat that indifference and force yourself to concentrate, it would make things easier to your goal.

Secondly, when the CT, quiz dates are scheduled, study them on your weekend at least once if not several times. And again, study them the day before the CT. Take a break in the week to relieve your all pressure and again get back to your work. If the topic is harder, read more than twice. Write if it’s mathematical. Write even if it’s theoretical. Do whatever you need to get into it.

Additionally, get some help from the top-ranked students of the class. They can potentially be life-saver. There are many good souls in the class always ready to help you clear the concept. It’s very important to clear the concept before the CT, quiz, or assessments. Read in the weekend, shortlist the problematic sides and ask for help. Ask the course teacher from where to read the topic or which book should be followed. They always guide you through the path. Usually, the easy way to cover a topic for CT/Quiz is to read the lecture notes, and then go through the math/theory of the suggested book. PRACTISE, PRACTISE, PRACTISE! Ask the seniors about the reading materials needed for the subject. ASK FOR HELP TO EVERYONE & HELP OTHERS!

Furthermore, for the quiz follow the class lectures and the lab sheet. Lab sheet is a very important friend to get good grades. Practice the formulas in the calculation more often before the quiz. Go through the discussion and observations including the friend’s lab report. The quizzes of engineering courses have always been uncertain and puzzling. The more you give effort, grades get higher automatically even though you don’t even understand the questions! 

Moreover, for the final exams, give up everything for a month. Make a routine according to your sleep cycle and try to do the maximum use of time to study. If PL is of 15 days, allocate 2/3 days for each subject and start with the new topics and eventually get to the topics already covered in the CT. Finally, study for the first exam in the last 3-5 days according to the difficulty level.

To study for finals, one should study the new topics and eventually try to revise the covered topics if time available. If there is no time, keep the topics for the final gap. Go through the term questions. It would give a good perception of the final exam question pattern. Solve the term questions, mark them and revise them before finals if possible.

For the final gap, one should start with the CT topics and eventually get to the topics covered in PL and try to see the marked term question if possible. Try to revise the syllabus. It is more important than completing the whole syllabus. Time management is very important for all the exams. 

WHY MENTAL PREPARATION IS ALSO IMPORTANT WITH ACADEMIC PREPARATION?

Not only academic but also mental preparation is very important for term finals. It’s an in-built mechanism for engineers to take the pressure and managing this pressure takes them one step ahead to tackling the finals well.

Thanks for reading this article. It’s not a bible instruction so don’t lose hope if it does not work in the first place. Changing some ways accordingly may help you cope with your way of studying. However, it is a guaranteed process if followed likewise every semester. Most importantly, DON’T GIVE UP!