Being a student is hard, you're often between a rock and a hard place with only a stick to defend yourself against an onslaught of trials in front of you. It's difficult to even the playing field but there are precautions you can take to ensure the maximum amount of success. Here are a few of my handy tips gained after years of trial and error. A lot of blood was spilt in order to give you this information, I hope you appreciate it:
Pace yourself in tests:
In my school lesson's last 55 minutes each (7 x 55 minute lessons per day) so if we've got a test in X then we have to be finished by the time those 55 minutes are up. Every one of those minutes count because most of the time I find I'm down to the wire with barely enough time to complete the test before the bell rings. You rarely get a chance to review what you've wrote so any spelling mistakes or dumb errors will have to stand. It's not a case of 'stop and think', it's more like 'start writing now or you're never going to finish this'. Point being: time management is essential, tests need to be completed so you've got to be a well oiled machine. Spending too long on a tricky question that requires a lot of thought just isn't worth it, MOVE ON. If you've got a watch with you (god help you if you don't) I advise to look at the time you have left and just cut your losses when you exceed a certain time limit on a question.
Beware deceptively easy questions:
Some questions require a lot more out of you despite their deceptively short nature. For example a question like this: 'present the consequences of X on X' could be answered in a few sentences or with a few paragraphs, the key thing here being consequence(s), plural. That doesn't really define an exact amount though, does it? How many consequences do we have to present, then? 2? 5? 8? Try looking at the score to determine it's value: if the question is worth four points that might mean 4 consequences right? Unfortunately most of my teachers leave their test sheets frustratingly blank when it comes to notation, so a question could be really easy or require a lot of redaction and thought, I've no way of knowing. And seen as time is money....look I know it's difficult for teachers to gauge how long a test takes to complete (a Maths teacher can probably do an entire test in 20 minutes for example) but I'd appreciate a little indicator like (15 minutes) next to every question to give us a rough idea of how much time we should spend on it. This would be a helpful indicator of how easy the question should be to complete.
Sometimes you can't win:
Due to unfortunate scheduling you have five tests in one week, aka one per day. What do you do then? A wise answer would be to anticipate the coming onslaught of tests and start revising for everything a week in advance but this doesn't really work with me. Unless you're capable of herculean feats of memory recall it's difficult to revise and learn for all five lessons at the same time. Hard drive space in your brain is limited, there's only so much you can retain and consume before it crashes. A few weeks ago I had to learn the entire history of the fifth french republic, grasp the inner workings of our economy, study issues in business management, get a handle on different law procedures, revise different marketing tactics employed by companies (my curriculum is very business orientated) AND speak for five minutes in German. It was insanity, the moment I finished a test of that day I had to immediately dive into revising the one for the following day, there was no time to recuperate just GO GO GO! By the end of the week my head resembled this:
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| Pictured: my head |
And you know what? Despite working my ass off I failed dramatically in three out of those five tests, ultimately due to stretching myself a bit too thin. I've gotten over it, if anything it's spurred me to try harder next time but It's a well known fact that life is unfair and sometimes despite your best efforts you're not rewarded for doing your best. My conscience is clean, I did do my utmost and there's nothing I could have down about it. In a no-win situation you can only cut your losses and move on.
You're not going to be good at everything:
I used to think that hard work was all that was required to get a good score. The higher up in education I get though the more I realize that that isn't exactly true. For example after years of fighting, I've finally decided to give up all hope being good at Maths. I know what you're probably thinking: 'No way Tim! Maths is easy, you just need to get your head round it!' You could be right, but there comes a point when you just have to accept the fact that some lessons you're just never going to succeed in no matter how hard you try (see also: Philosophy, Sport). Which brings me to my next point...
You're not as good as you think you are:
Back in College I was getting some seriously good marks, I was top of the class in four out of nine subjects and either really good or just 'good' in most of the rest. That's quite a feat, it's something I proud myself with considering I'm English and still to this day can't speak French 100% fluently. Suffice to say all these great results went to my head a little bit, thinking that I was obviously more intelligent than everyone else. Then Lycee hit and I realized that I'm not top of the class at all, that my tried and true method of 'working hard' doesn't automatically guarantee good results and if anything, there are a lot of people better than me at pretty much everything...well everything except English of course. What I'm trying to say is that no matter how good you think you are there's always someone better than you out there and it's unwise to look down on other people just because at first glance they appear uninteresting and simple. It's good to be humble and not underestimate other people based on their appearances. That doesn't mean you can't get better however...
Learn from your mistakes:
Here's what you can do to get better, and unfortunately this is all related to trial and error. That week of test driven craziness that I endured? I've got another one of those just after the October holidays (NOTE: this blog was written a while back) and I plan on coming back with a vengeance. It helps that I have two weeks of holiday to prepare but now I know the modus operandi of my new Teachers I can anticipate the next phase of tests: in Management you don't have to know everything off by heart, you can mostly get by thanks to the various documents presented in the test and extrapolate a logical solution from that. Marketing however? More than half the points are down to reciting pure definitions and precisely worded protocol we've viewed in class. Explaining the same thing but with your own words aren't going to cut it (we only knew this AFTER we got the test results back of course, hence the low scores for everyone in the class). Next time around I'll prioritize Marketing over Management then, lesson learnt. Other mistakes such as not understanding the meaning of a question or misinterpreting one of the documents are specific to every test, you can only vow to read them a little more thoroughly next time to make sure you haven't missed everything. But be careful you're not to busy focusing on improving what you got wrong last time to think about what you got right, that's another mistake that I've encountered. Eventually you'll cover some ground but until then it's trial by fire, good luck.
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Treat every test like it's the most important thing in the world:
Don't look up at the colossal mountain in front of you, focus on the rock in front of you, because without it you're going to fall. The french education system isn't based on letters like A or B+, it's all to do with numbers and averages. The average of all your tests in a lesson will be compiled into a score out of 20. My goal is to get the highest numerical value possible in every lesson in order to maximize my overall score, which will greatly help my chances of passing the Baccalaureate at the end of the year. At the end of the day that score is what matters, regardless of everything that might influence it like easier teachers, spaced out tests etc...I'd like to think of it as a video game, every level is a mini-boss in itself, allowing you to proceed to the next stage of the game. Every test is important, you can get 20/20 in the first two tests but fail in the third one? Your average is going to plummet down. I recommend you prioritize lessons that are 'valued' more. Maths has a x4 multiplier for example, so my score in Maths is worth 2x more than my score in Sport, which has a multiplier of x2. It's in my interest then to be better at Maths than Sport.
Revision isn't everything:
Now don't get me wrong revision is a useful tool when it comes to grabbing those crucial extra points in tests, but there is only so much you can gain from that. You can recite every single definition off by heart and still fall on your arse, tests require a lot more out of you than just regurgitating parrot fashion everything you've seen in class. It's more about taking what you've learnt and applying it to a certain context, then analysing the crap out of it which takes a lot of thought. Philosophy tests terrify me for example as there's little you can do in terms of preparation, you either understand the meaning behind the text you're given or you don't. If you don't...well then you're simply screwed so have fun with that. It's helpful if you redo a few of the applications you've done in class a few times to get a sense of how good you are to gauge what the lesson demands of you. Also make sure to listen in Class, if a notion is explained extremely well by a teacher then sometimes you don't need to learn it off by heart, you've already 'got it' just by doing the passive act of paying attention.
When revising, learn the important stuff first:
Self explanatory really. When revising for tests I find it's often better to read EVERYTHING at first to distinguish the major acts of each chapter. Once you've defined a rough outline of the essentials, it's best to type it all out onto the computer. Having everything on one page is much easier than scrambling for several disorganised papers so you can frantically look things over before a test. Most lessons have an insane amount of stuff to learn so it's bad luck if you happen to have two tests on the same day. It's impossible to learn everything so at you should least make sure you know the main stuff off by heart so you won't be caught out during the test. At the very least the basics should be covered.
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| The bane of my life (meaning: the agent of ruin or woe). |
Work harder on your worst subjects:
I'm having difficulty with quite a few subjects at the moment. I manage to maintain a decent score in all three of these however because I make sure to work extra-hard on them whenever a new test comes smashing through the wall. It's another system of prioritization, albeit one that's a necessity if I want to come out of it unscathed: if I don't understand a notion we skimmed over in Philosophy then I've always got Mr. Google to back me up. Maths requires vigorous study of everything we've done and trying to replicate that by re-doing exercises is crucial. German is quite simply pure revision, I'm only going to know a word if I learn it right?
Write everything down:
This is vital. If you're revising for a test based on on stuff you did in class three weeks ago it's best to have EVERYTHING that the teacher has said written down, anything that might impact your understanding of the lesson or the test. Key words don't work, a few weeks later they're just going to look like assorted scribbles that aren't tangibly useful. This can be hard though, especially when it comes to teachers that talk a mile a minute and don't use the whiteboard at all. If this is the case I'd recommend writing as much as possible by abbreviating your words. Basically write in text talk: it easy 2 writ like dis nd faster. Revising for a test with missing information is not a good start so make sure you've got it all jotted down.
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| Nope. Just.....nope. |
Adapt to your teachers:
Here's the worst thing about being a student: your level of success in any lesson is determined by how well you get on with your teacher. I know, your level of success depends largely on something that is out of your hands, sucks right?Certain teachers are harder than others: last year I was getting 17 in German but now I'm averaging 14, the teacher is demanding more from us than the teacher I had last year so therefore an increase in difficultly equals a lower score. To get back to where you were however requires upping your game, which generally means more work outside of lessons and extra revision in my case. Teachers can f*ck you over and if you draw the short straw and get stuck in a class with a tougher teacher, you're just going to have to cope with it. I'm starting to learn this the hard way this year, let's just say the last history test was significantly easier in another class than it was in mine, so my class is averaging lower than the other one. That doesn't necessarily mean my class isn't working hard enough, it just means we've been dealt a teacher that gives harder tests.
When looking to the future, focus on your strengths:
When you're a teenager it's hard figuring out what you want to do later on in life. If you don't have much of an idea about what job or curriculum you want to take it comes down to looking at yourself and figuring out what you're good at. With me I quickly found out that it was obvious, I'm great at languages: my highest scores for this trimester have been in German and English and they've both been significantly higher than the class average. It's a no-brainer then that I'm pursuing a career in languages. I think you'll find that your strengths are also tied to what you're most passionate about, if you're good at something it's often because you're really into that particular subject. In my case it's talking profusely about things that I love, like Doctor Who, and there are some very strong parallels with teaching. Either way I think it's rare for your passions to not be tied up with your strengths. It's also good to think about what separates you from everyone else, what can you do that no one else can? Again for me it's easy, I'm bilingual. For everyone else though? That might be tougher to pinpoint...
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| Pictured: Life |
Conclusion:
To sum it all up: being a student (and life in general) is like attempting to juggle several dozen balls in the air without dropping any of them. It's extremely hard to keep all of them in check and requires a finely tuned method which is unique to everyone and gained mostly by experience. Most of the time we fail, sometimes sacrifices have to be made, sometimes you can't win every battle and most of the time you're scrambling to keep up but that's all part of the game. It's simultaneously stressful and exhilarating, but the rush you get from succeeding is enough to keep me going and tempts me to try harder. Basically you'll just have learn to deal with it and try to find a method to any of this madness.
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