How many of us forget how to do integration the moment we step out of the exam hall? How many of us give back at least 50% of what we have learned to the teacher the moment the chief invigilator announces "Pen Down!"? I realise that this is the case with many of my friends, myself included. Why does this happen to us, including those who can score well in the paper?
Understand The Theory
From what I observe, this problem arises from the way we learn, from the way we go about picking up a new knowledge. I understand from my tutees that in school, they are being taught a new topic via examples. For example, instead of learning what is integration, or just a simple explanation of it, they are just told to memorise the basic formulae of integration and apply them accordingly. This greatly restricts a person's ability to apply the knowledge on the same question phrased differently.
My take is to learn the basics, learn why it happens this way. If the theory behind a particular knowledge is too high level for students of, say, 15 years old, talk simple. You may want to refer to my post on Effective Teaching. For learners, please do not get too involved in solving one question and feel lousy if you can't solve it. Go back, read the theory and understand why things happen this way, then come back to tackle the problem again.
Practise Practise And Practise
My take is to learn the basics, learn why it happens this way. If the theory behind a particular knowledge is too high level for students of, say, 15 years old, talk simple. You may want to refer to my post on Effective Teaching. For learners, please do not get too involved in solving one question and feel lousy if you can't solve it. Go back, read the theory and understand why things happen this way, then come back to tackle the problem again.
Practise Practise And Practise
Practice Makes Perfect
Yes we know this. We have been following this ritual. This is very important. Lectures teach you, tutorials test you. It is only through practising that we are able to gauge how much do we understand. I remember my cousin Sis HC forced me (she needed to force because I was plain lazy) to finish up all the calculus questions in my secondary school Additional Mathematics textbook. I grumbled but listened. She wanted me to put into use what I have learned. From there, she was able to gauge my weaknesses and went through with me again on the areas I was not sure.
So, do more practices and test yourself before the real test from your school!
1 Tip on Practising
Ask any of my tutees and you will know that I always tell them to do multiple-choice questions (MCQs). My instruction is "finish all MCQs you can find!". My reason is very simple. MCQs, in my opinion, test at least 90%, if not 100%, of the theories. If you are able to score full marks for MCQs, without guessing of course, I dare to say that you have a good grasp of what you need to know.
Finally, I got a phrase from this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uQjGz6jp2E
If I was doing what everyone else was doing, I was probably doing it wrong
So, do something different now! Try this method if you find that yours doesn't work well. No harm giving it a try. You never know if you never try!
I remember last time when I was learning new things in Physics or Chemistry, I sometimes questioned why it happened a certain way. In a way, it helped me to learn better especially when I know the learning behind the theories and how they were formed. That helped me to remember the formulae and things much better.
ReplyDeleteYes totally agree! Ask more questions, ask why it works in this way and not that way. Many times, we don't even have to memorise the formulae, we can simply derive on the spot within maybe 3 seconds. :)
ReplyDelete