HOW TO ACHIEVE ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE
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TIPS FOR ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE
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Excellence is a quality of being outstanding; it is not a trait, hence
it cannot be inherited. There is no one way of achieving excellence
academically; it is how you apply the principles governing it that
determines the outcome. Excellence comes with a price, only those who
understand its worth can pay for it. I will like to share with you some
tips that can help you in your quest for success; they are relative but
I am sure you will find them interesting.
- Put God first
God Himself is a God of excellence, no wonder he made all things perfect
and endows His children with an excellent spirit. He has given you all
that it takes to succeed at whatever you do, it is just for you to
believe and tap into His abundant resources. Do not allow your studies to compete with God’s time in your life
because you need Him to sustain and see you through. I understand the
place of prayer in your academics but it is not enough; remember that
faith without work is dead, play your own part and do your best; pray as
if you will never read and read as if you will never pray.
- Prioritize
Many people have problems of misplaced priorities because they find it
very difficult to order things according to their importance. You have
to understand that your primary reason for being in school is to study
in order to come out with good grades that will give you an edge in
this highly competitive world; every other thing is secondary such as
clubs, associations, parties etc. How you channel your resources and
apportion your time is a function of what your scale of preference is
like. If your academics is important to you, you will invest your time,
money and energy; you will do anything to get the right materials and
textbooks to upgrade you and make you a better student, but if you pay
more attention to trivial things; you might soon be on your way to
failure.
- Set a target
Don’t start your semester without having a sense of direction; if you do
not set an achievable target for yourself, you will discover very late
that you are studying aimlessly. Be ambitious and always aspire to be
the best because you deserve it; don’t settle for less, believe in
yourself, set out plans and develop strategies to accomplish them. Setting targets ignite your passion
and that is the driving force that will propel you towards excellence.
For example, when I got into college, I was determined to make a First
class; even when it seemed difficult, I kept assuring myself I could do
it and kept pressing on until I achieved it and today I am sharing my
success story.
- Be disciplined
Discipline is a very essential principle of excellence that is lacking
in the lives of so many youths hiding under the shadow of freedom to do
anything. Self discipline is a conscious control over your lifestyle
and you need to nurture it because it is one of an achiever’s greatest
weapon. Some students have worn indolence as a robe, nonchalance as a
footwear and procrastination as a hat getting dressed to travel the road
of shambles; they look into the mirror of stupidity with so much
satisfaction and bid their studies goodbye. They get to the end of the
road only to see an ocean of failure; they skilfully dive into it and
continue to swim in confusion until they are being swept away by a tide
of destruction. You should be disciplined enough to have a study
timetable that guides you like a map in a journey; be punctual for all
lectures and complete your assignments without waiting for deadlines; be
committed to your study time and you can be sure of remarkable results.
- Stay focused
I’m not talking about a gaze, I mean conditioning your mind to one important goal you must achieve. Know what you want and go for it with all determination, enthusiasm and optimism.
Distraction can come in any form such as businesses, relationships,
friends, families and so on; note that not so many things can travel
with you on the way to success; a lot of unwanted baggages have to be
dropped because they might slow you down. There are things that can
wait because they will always be there; however if you cannot make
sacrifices for your academics, then don’t think about excellence.
Excellence is not plucked from a tree or picked on the road; it takes a
lot of commitment and discipline to achieve it. When your eyes are
fixed on something, you can hardly miss any detail and even when there
are times when you are tempted to shift grounds, return as soon as you
acknowledge it because the farther you move away from your goals, the
lesser the chances of achieving them.
- Manage your time
As endless as TIME is, you cannot hold onto it; as the clock ticks and
seconds count, you’re getting closer to your end no matter how old you
live. Time management is the act of controlling and organizing events
as they are being influenced by time; this has become a skill because
many people are guilty of mismanagement. Even if 24 hours were
increased to 48 hours in a day, many will still complain it’s not
enough. There is time for everything; time to admitted and time to
graduate, time to study and time to write exams. Procrastination has
eaten deep into the minds of some students such that everything is
always for a later date, they start their day without proper planning on
how to apportion their time and instead of controlling the events, they
end up being controlled by them, they slump into their beds at the end
of each wasted day, wake up the next day worthlessly and remain the
same. At the start of each semester, many busy about with frivolities
and when exams draw close; they start expecting miracles, rush and
muddle up things, write exams ill-prepared and expect fantastic
results. Instead, make a deliberate effort to plan your day, make a
list of events and appointments and make sure you are disciplined enough
to meet up. Time is a free but non-renewable resource, so spend each moment wisely.
- Keep the right Company
You are who you move with, there are different kinds of companies you
can keep in an academic environment but the choice of those that can
make or mar you is entirely yours to make. Students form cliques for
different reasons; to some, it gives them a feeling of importance while
for others; it’s a way of being a part of something.
For good companies, it has to do with mingling with people of similar
interests and goals, people of like minds, passion and vision who have
excellence as their watch word, people who believe in your dreams and
are ready to push you through. It can be a study group where you
exchange ideas, learn and also impart others. Although you must develop
yourself independently, you cannot be an island because the more you share your knowledge, the more you know;
don’t be scared of making mistakes, you stand to be corrected but
remember that your clique can only help you outside the examination
hall, so maximize the moments you share with them. If you ever develop
any form of academic apathy, the best thing to do is to talk about it;
let people with positive thinking advise you and deliver you from
misery.
For bad companies on the other hand, your circle of friends are like
viruses that corrupt your mind, becloud your thinking and cause you to
lose yourself and your purpose for living. They lure you into all forms
of vices such as drugs, gambling, prostitution, cultism, internet
fraud, examination malpractices and so on. If they determine the kind
of life that you lead, so mighty will be your fall and guess what - you
will be falling alone; some are in complete jeopardy and are looking for
partners in failure. Quickly identify bad friends and dissociate yourself before you become entangled. Evil and Excellence both start with the letter ‘E’ but they are two separate roads you cannot travel at the same time.
- Don’t copy others
Carve out your own niche; know what you are capable of doing and the
extent you can go. Be yourself and never try to study like someone
else; understand your pattern of learning and develop your style of
studying. Never compare yourself with anyone because people apply
principles of success differently; this is what I mean, for example,
students in the same class receiving the same lecture under the same
condition cannot assimilate at the same rate. Know your pace, never
give up, try to catch up and you will soon be up. Recognise your time
of maximum assimilation, day or night and fix up your study timetable; never follow friends to study when it is very inconvenient for you, you might just be the greatest loser, so be wise.
- Prepare adequately
Examination is a test designed to measure the academic aptitude of
students to ascertain their level of understanding of a particular
subject. Knowing fully that you have to pass it to be promoted to the
next level, why won’t you give it your best shot. Don’t start studying
too close to exams, you will only be tasking your brain too hard,
denying yourself of enough rest and putting your entire body system in a
state of higgledy-piggledy. Information is being stored over time and
not spontaneously, no magic will magnetize answers to your brain, so why
don’t you make sacrifices, burn the mid night oil, go the extra mile
and do your best, stay healthy with a good diet and be punctual for all
your exams . You don’t have to cheat if you have played your role well because you will be destroying your image and peradventure you get caught, the consequences are very severe, so beware.
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