THE SECRETS OF EXCELLENT STUDENTS
1.
2.
The statement from Gnyaneshwari by the GOD incarnate saint of Maharashtra, Maharashtra, SHRI SANT GNYANESHWAR. Which means lotus plant and frog both live in the same place mud. The humming bee enjoys the nectar of he lotus where as mud remains for the lazy frog. Decide whether you want to be Honey Bee or a Frog. Honeybees to collect 1 Kg of honey, visits billion of flowers and the total distance covered by all the honeybees together is equal to circumference of the earth. Honeybees get nectar because of tits sincerity, dedication and hard work. This is what we find in successful people who have been excellent students versatile and involved in various activities at the same time. I met HV Krishnamurti, Krishnamurti, IAS at 11.30 PM in 1982, he was having a conference, which was to continue till 1 AM. He was incharge of Public Relations, Relations, during the days of Khalistan Khalistan Movement (terrorism) (terrorism) in Punjab. The meeting was concerning a plane hijacked to Pakistan. He told me such conferences took place thrice a week. Also he was Managing Director of Punjab Khand Udyog, managing 40 companies. Inspite of such a busy schedule, he was doing MA in Public Administration Administration and a diploma in French. He got distinction in MA and topped in Diploma course. I taught Rajeev Uttarwar at Chandigarh for one and a half month only. His mother used to provide tea and snacks two or three times. I used to have my tea and remind Rajeev to have his tea. He used to ignore it and continued to solve problems one after the other. One day he borrowed a book “Believed Violence” by Robin Cook and returned it the next day. I asked him how many hours he took to read it. He said that he took three hours and his father read it in one and half hours. After frequent beginnings, beginnings, I read it in one week. Rajeev got 10 th rank in Chandigarh University and kept on topping the university every year thereafter. He passed the CA examination in first attempt and was among the first ten toppers of the country. Most of our appointments get selected in NDA. Our school captains have topped the Board examinations inspite of their involvement in various co-curricular activities. The secret behind the excellent students was taught to me by my teachers and I have found it in few of our students. It came as an article in Reader’s Digest issue of Jan 1992. The secrets of the excellent students are as follows:Set Priority: Study is the first and foremost. Once at study, they ignore phone calls, TV shows, tea and snacks. We had Shailen Sharma of 10 th batch who had not seen even a single movie till class 10 th. Shailen Sharma, Ajay Dogra and Prashant Sharma had 30 hours of continuous marathon studies while in school. Shailen Sharma used to solve more than a 1000 problems in Mathematics on holidays. Study Anywhere and Everywhere: Our ex – student student Ashwani Ashwani Acharya of of 2 nd batch does international marketing marketing and he reads books books on his flights . My reverend teacher MB Shete who used to teach the class through me, always used to advise us to keep a pocket diary to note the formulae and theorems to learn them while while waiting for the bus. A cross country runner use to memorise biological terms during the practice. A pharmacy student had pasted list of medicines along the mirror near the washbasin and used to learn them while brushing his teeth. In Chandigarh, our ex-student Jyoti Prakash had covered all the the walls of the house including including bathroom and doors with formulae, definitions and short notes. Consistency is essential.
3.
4. 5.
6.
7. 8. 9.
10.
11.
Get Organized: Whatever study material, text books, note books and writing material is required should be planned and kept at hand so that no time is wasted in fetching them. Dr Sarvapall Radha Krishanan used to have his library near his bed and he used to lie down and keep on reading books. Osho Rajneesh used to read 18 hours a day, he had read all the books on Philosophy in the University. Learn How to Read: Read first the cover page, forward, preface, contents, graphs and figures. It will help in recalling while reading he books. Schedule your Time: Draw a timetable day to day. Divide your project in bits as you CHEW one bite at a time. A lion never runs long distances aimlessly, aimlessly, it runs a short distance, it stops and reviews the path it had followed before continuing, repeating it every time so that it can go back to its roots. This is known as “SIMHAAVALOKAN” . Ajay Guleria who joined IIT Delhi used to follow this method. This improves memory without much effort. The first five batches were so well organized and hardworking hardworking that the then Registrar Wg Cdr P Moriya had a complaint regarding regarding very high stationary expenditure in 1983. More than 90% students had scored distinctions and 82 torch holders scored above 85% marks out of 215 cadets. 32 students had scored more than 95% marks. Take Good Notes: Draw a line in the middle of the notebook. Write notes from the text on one side and teacher’s notes on the other side. When the bell rings, make a short note of two to three lines of what has been taught in the class before the teacher of the next subject comes in. Clean up your Act: Improve your handwriting, write systematically, neat papers carry high marks and develop organizing ability. Speak Up: Ask when you don’t understand, intellectual inquisitiveness inquisitiveness is a must. Study Together: Asian students in America discuss and are found to be excellent academically. academically. Teach if you have an opportunity. Ajay Guleria, the only student of our school to have joined IIT Delhi, used to teach his class fellows and his seniors. Even his teacher used to get questions solved in advance by him which developed expertise in him. Rohit Dubey of 5 th batch taught his class fellows in M Tech and became a Gold Medalist. Today he is the youngest Executive Engineer. The great engineer Mokshagundam Vishveshwarayya Vishveshwarayya who superseded his seniors 17 times used to give tuitions to his own class fellows. “The more you impart the light of knowledge, the more you learn” said Swami Ramtirth. Test your Self: Make your own list of most likely questions. Set question papers and conduct self test, such students are always found to be the Board Toppers, universities toppers and toppers in various competitions. Do more then You are Asked to: When your teacher asks you to solve ten questions, you must solve at least 20 questions. Dr Praveen Labana had studied Organic Chemistry Vol I & II by IL Finner which is referred by Post Graduate students. Today he is getting acclaim as an outstanding doctor doctor in Illinois University, Chicago. Vikas Shukla used 74 notebooks for Mathematics in Class 8 th. He has been the only cadet of Sainik School Sujanpur Tira to have been sent to USA through NDA. He along with Vinod Patial became school toppers in Class 12 th. Vikas Shukla is a Major and Vinod Patial has got an international award in USA. Ajay Thakur had mastered one computer language when there was no computer in the school. He is another internationally acclaimed Engineer having done his MBA from Masschutus Institute of Technology, USA and has done an invention. Dr CV Raman, Chandershekhar Chandershekhar Subrimanium had graduated by the age of 15 years.
GD KSHIRSAGAR MASTER MATHEMATICS SAINIK SCHOOL SUJANPUR TIRA HIMACHAL PRADESH, INDIA
