Thumbs up for the very informative and useful tips to prepare well for studies and exams at university, though I would prefer to view this as a general study guide rather than a guide with the connotation of getting into Dean’s List; save the unnecessary invitation of comments on elitism and perfectionism. I would definitely recommend this study guide to my juniors and anyone waiting to enter university soon.

Though I’ve already graduated from NUS, mind if I add some study/exam tips over here?

1) If I’m not wrong, think you didn’t mention about doing past year papers ? Think “Redspot” syndrome :wink: ! Doing past year papers gives a feel of the kind of questions that are likely to come out for exams; yes, I understand that if one faithfully and diligently revise their stuff well, they won’t need to do past year papers, but since they are easily accessible online, might as well make use of it, and this is beneficial if you could at least attempt the past few years. Note that some departments may not release past year papers, and some content may be different from what is currently taught, or set by a different lecturer, so do take caution and filter the questions accordingly. Certain lecturers are fond of repeating a cycle of similar questions with a very predictable trend; I guess they have a question bank or sth, so do pay more attention on that topic if your prediction says it’s coming out this sem. If you see that this question has not come out for many years, take note. More than often, I have made accurate predictions (I would say 80-95% relevance) and it makes it easier to tackle the question(s) when you first look at it, you’ll smile :-P , since you already know the nature of the question and have done it at home comfortably w/o the pressures of time. Most exams tend to be like 4 questions worth 25 marks each, so that’s a large quantity of marks you’ve got there. Of course most profs will discourage “spotting”, but I feel it’s a “smart” way of scoring well if time is limited (or if you’re the type who don’t like to mug/memorize from 1st pg of lecture notes to last pg). Also, chances are you’ll unlikely remember or use what you’ve learnt after the exams or when you go to work next time, and sadly, that’s how the system here works.

2) That said, exam papers can be a form of “guideline” on the difficulty of the module before you plan to take it — what I mean is instead of waiting till before exams to download the past year papers, download them before you bid for the module. Get a rough feel of the kind of questions set (whether it’s mcq, essay, calculation, open-book, marks weightage etc.) before you actually decide to read that module. Similarly, assuming you’ve planed to read that module, download the past year paper early in the sem and attempt the relevant question(s) after the lecture is taught, as if they’re tutorial questions! While doing tutorials are important, what I want to say is, they may not be as relevant as the exam questions and may not come out (though that doesn’t mean you can neglect tutorials entirely), but if you’re so short of time, then go straight to past year paper questions.

3) While one of your comments mentioned to skip lecture if you find the lecture non-informative, I highly discourage so. This is because sometimes the lecturer may make important points, and occasionally, drop hints here and there (listen to his tone). Plus, if you have heeded by earlier points of seeing the exam papers beforehand, you’ll know that this area he’s teaching is important as exam questions have been covered on the topic. Thus if you’ve walked out of the LT, then you will miss these important points. Yes, you may say we have webcast, we can go home and listen, but for lectures w/o webcast, it is highly recommended you attend even if you dislike the lecturer’s teaching so much. Sometimes, these points may make sense later when more topics are covered, and you can find that linkage. I do know that even for webcast lectures, certain lectures were deliberately not webcasted, and you could potentially miss out valuable pointers made by the lecturer.

These are the tips I have for now. Anyway, all the articles in the blog are solely written by you? How do you manage to write so much content? Are you a full time blogger?

Kind regards,
Derek.

For example, while some of my academic pursuits started off with the intention to excel, the process of achieving the goals really helped me grow tremendously. I came to various self realizations, discovered new things about myself and cultivated important traits. These were invaluable and a key enabler to making me the person I am today. On the same note, running my internet and graphic design businesses back in school, working as an employee, and quitting the corporate life to start up my personal development business have made me grow tremendously as well.

At the end of the day, all goals help us grow and evolve as individuals, and the most important key is to pursue the goals that mean the most for you Don’t go for a goal just because people around you extol on it (as Petteri mentioned) – go for a goal because you truly and consciously want it for yourself.