THE IDIOT WHO GOT THE BEST RESULT (Part 2)
I used to have a portable music player and I had the very first album of Plantashun Boiz (The former group Tuface belonged to in 1998/1999). Because I loved every song on the album and wanted to learn how to sing the songs, I bought a music lyrics book which contained all the songs. It was the reigning album that year.
I was always with my music player, playing the songs and reading the lyrics along. I had a goal—to learn how to sing all the songs in the album. In my school, the big boys were the ones who knew the latest songs and could sing them offhand, you know. The girls loved the big boys.
I hid the music player away from my mum and my teachers. Those people don’t like to see somebody just enjoying himself. I don’t know why. (Laughs.) “Go and read your books, go and read your books!”
I continued listening to the songs and singing along. I would replace the batteries once they were dead and continued. After about a week or so, I was able to sing all the songs on the album. Whenever they played any of the songs on the radio or at a party in my neighbourhood, I would sing along by heart. I still know all the songs till today. They sunk into my soul.
My friends knew the songs, but they could not sing them like I did. They would praise me and I really loved the feeling—you know that feeling, right?
But while in class, I was a complete IDIOT—an Olodo.
I couldn't answer a simple question asked by the teacher. Meanwhile, the answers were in my notebooks and textbooks. Can you imagine? What was wrong with me? If I could sing a full album from track 1 to the last track, why couldn't I know a simple definition that was taught in class or in my textbook? Is it not the same thing? Learn it and master it? And my biggest fear is that in my new class (SSS 1), the classmates were wicked. They wouldn’t let me copy from them during tests and exams.
So you know what I did? I decided to apply the same method in my studies. I decided to be as diligent with my studies as I was with learning the songs. I wanted to become intelligent, too.
That was when I developed what I now call: Technique for Effective Study and Exam Preparation (or ES-EP technique), which this blog is dedicated to showing you. This is a transforming technique. And the interesting part is, it is not painful to apply. It’s about being smart.
I realised that I wasn't having excellent results in exams because I did not know how to study effectively and prepare for exams, even though I sometime read my books. So you hear people tell you: “Go and read your books.” It's an incomplete advice. For me, it’s a bad advice. Because whenever I tried to read my books, I still don’t remember most of what I had read in the exams. I don’t even end up the best in class. It doesn't work. It is not enough.
This ES-EP technique transformed me into an A+ student. And it will transform you, too.
During second term exam in SSS1, I missed the Maths paper, because I was sick on the day. After all, I was even going to fail it.
I hated Maths. For me, it was a nonsense subject! Very nonsense subject! Our Maths teacher called me in the next (third) term and was going to conduct a separate exam for me so that I would have a score for second term. But I rejected it politely and asked if it was possible for my Maths score in the third term exam to be multiplied by 2 to cover for second term. I was now confident of what I was saying because I knew I had found the secrets to passing exams and becoming the best student.
I was prepared to take my studies seriously from now on. He looked at me in surprise and asked, “What if you have a low score in the exam? Are you sure that's what you want?” I replied, “Yes, sir.”
The new term began and classes commenced. I diligently applied my new-found ES-EP technique. Not too long into the new term, my teachers and classmates noticed something. I was becoming smarter and smarter by the day. I was answering questions in class and making good contributions. They were like, “Wow…Etim, what happened to you? You are getting intelligent.” I would smile and say in mind, “Just wait and see.”
Guess what? That term I got 86% in Maths. That term I had the best results. I was the youngest in class. They began calling me, “Small, But Mighty.”
By SSS2, everybody was behind me in most of the subjects we offered. I continued to excel in school and finished with the best results in both WAEC and NECO final exams from Awori College, Ojo, Lagos State in 2001. Because I had a good foundation in secondary school, I easily became the best graduating student from my department in the University of Calabar in 2008.
The motivation for my academic success came in SSS 1 when I got tired of being an ordinary student—an idiot. What really changed me was my love for music. Take a cue from this. There is something you love to do. You enjoy doing it, and you are very good at it. I want you to channel that same energy to your studies.
Convert it today. Start now. The same way you strive and plan to do that “thing” well, do so with your studies. Be angry that someone in your class is better than you in a subject or course.
Decide to excel. Be serious. If you are excellent in school, you will carry that excellent mindset to the university and to your job or to your own company. You will not want to be a back-bencher in life.
My friends, wake up! Start having the mindset of a best student.
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