[Beyond Intelligence # 9] Consistency is the Killer App!
Aditya June 11th
Targeted Audience: Students, Recent Graduates
I completed my undergrad studies from Govt. College of Engineering (COEP), Pune – the third oldest engineering college in Asia and one of the reputed colleges in India. COEP was a part of University of Pune, now is an autonomous institution. After 2 years, I came to University of Southern California (USC), Los Angeles for my graduate studies. Before coming to USC, I had been to USA for job purpose through my earlier employer. So I knew the culture and lifestyle of USA quite well. But still during my first week of stay at USC, I was collapsed for numbers of reasons. One of the major reasons was – academic challenge. For me, the US University education pattern was literally an academic cultural shock!
The education pattern in US universities is way different than the Pune University. In Pune University, we used to get the Preparation Leave before our exams. And we used to slog hard in those last few days and prepare for the whole semester. When I look back at those days, I find it very funny pattern. I still wonder how could that kind of pattern even used to work. And I am quite sure that most of the Indian Universities had pretty much similar situation. In 1 month, we used to complete the studies of 4 months. So theoretically, in 8 months (for 8 semesters) we could have finished our Bachelors, which generally is a 4 years’ program.
So if you are coming from a similar undergrad background, and pursuing your Masters in US, and if you are thinking to continue your undergrad study pattern to study just before the exam, then it will be a crime. You need to study diligently for almost every day. You will be bogged down in challenging and exciting homework assignments, projects, and course reading throughout your semester for more than 3 courses. Preparing for these assignments sincerely will help you tremendously to achieve strong fundamental knowledge and hence high grades in your courses. They are the best test platforms to prepare for exams. If you work on these activities consistently, you will be ever ready for the exams.
Also, GPA is not only about your final exam score. It includes your throughout year’s performance. So scoring full percentages in homework and projects boosts your chances of getting “A” grade, provided that you do considerably well in the exams. Questions in the exams are conceptual, design based, and problem solving oriented. Every question in the exam will be new for you. There is no way that you can prepare for exams by mugging books or notes like we used to do before. Understanding the concepts and practicing the problems throughout the semester consistently, is the only way to score high in exams.
Once again, consistency is the killer app, almost in all situations!
For more articles from this series, please visit – Beyond Intelligence
