4. 12 Tips For A Trouble-free Academic Life / Part 1
12
Tips For A Trouble-free Academic Life / Part 1
Some months ago I was speaking with a student who should have graduated.
On what could have been responsible for this problem, he said, “When I went for
my clearance, I was told that the institution had no records of my admission or
registration.” He said he had done his admission registration online. I found
this quite amazing and decided to do some investigation on my own. I called up
someone who should know and I discovered that this fellow was just one of many
students with avoidable academic problems.
Friends, welcome to Intervention, an outreach of
VISION BUILDERS designed to help Undergraduates contact divine intervention for
academic victories. Intervention brings you inspirational messages and Study
Tips to enable you be your best academically! Through this message, we believe
that God is set to bless you by removing every barrier against your academic
success and fulfillment.
I believe you will find today’s topic quite interesting.
Many students suffer from unreleased results, missing exam scripts, year
registration irregularities, course point irregularities, and so on. And many
never find out till their graduation year. Truth is, many academic problems
that Undergraduates encounter can actually be avoided. Like every other thing
in life, you have a part to play in your academic well-being. No one will do it
for you. You should be more concerned and more involved in completing your
degree program without undue problems and today we want to discuss twelve
simple tips that will help you A
Trouble-free Academic Life.
Tip no 1
Attend a student
orientation fair at the beginning of the school year, becoming familiar with
the various clubs and activities offered on campus.
An undergraduate lives what I call a triangular life throughout the
entire degree program. The three points of operations are the classroom, the
room and your extra-curricular activities. Remove any one of these three and
you will have an unbalanced undergraduate life. Every higher institution
provides different types of familiarization program to help students know and
understand the different life, financial and academic aids are available to
help students. The problem is that many never participate in such programs.
Starting today, you need to begin identifying how ignorant you may about
whatever academic life aids that have been made available by your university or
polytechnic.
How would you answer the following questions?
Do you know how to use the library for research? Have you ever used the
library at all since you were admitted into the university?
Do you know the persons in charge of administration in your school?
Do you know the professional background of your faculty’s dean?
Do you know which student clubs exist on your campus and what at least
30% of them stand for?
Students in third world countries find a great excuse in the fact that
the facilities available to aid academic work are inadequate. Truth is, life
has no place for excuses. Regardless of however backward the facilities in your
school may be, the onus still lies on you to make your possible best out of
what is available. If you care to look around, you will discover that there are
students just like you who are winning accolades on national and even
international platforms despite their academic circumstances. Rather than
complain and make excuses, they decided to be diligent.
Proverbs 12:27 states, “Lazy people don't even cook the game they catch,
but the diligent make use of everything they find.” Lazy people excuse their
ineffectiveness on available facilities. Diligent people just go ahead and make
the best of what they can find.
Diligence has no respect for what is not available. For example, it
would be easier to make a hole in a wall with a power drill, but if you can’t
get a power drill, you can still achieve the same result by hitting a nail at
one spot consistently with a hammer for as long as is necessary. It will only
require a bit more physical work. Diligence makes the best possible use of
whatever little is available.
Tip no 2
Follow the rules,
regulations, policies, and procedures specific to your college.
Every smart student takes the time to learn the rules, regulations,
policies, and procedures specific of the higher institution. I feel it would be
helpful to know the difference in these things by defining the words Rules,
Regulations, Policies, and Procedures.
Rules are
prescribed guides for conduct or action. For example, cheating during tests and
exams will attract certain penalties because exam malpractice is against the
rules of campus life. I heard the story of a student of one Nigerian
polytechnic. He had successfully cheated through the years of his diploma and
higher diploma program until the very last exam when he was caught. He was
shamefully escorted off the campus.
A Regulation is
defined as a principle or condition that customarily governs behavior, for
example, time given for taking tests and exams. You are expected to complete
your exam within the ‘regulation time’.
A Policy is a
plan of action adopted by an individual or social group. Your
school administration has several policies that determine actions in different
areas of school life. Policies regulate student to student relationships as
well as lecturer to student relationships. It would help to know these policies
so you don’t find yourself working against the institution’s policies.
Knowledge of your school’s policies also helps you know your rights are as a
student.
A Procedure is a
particular course of action that is intended to achieve a result. For
example, every higher institution requires prospective students to sit certain
admission tests or exams. The exam procedure is designed to identify
prospective students who meet certain admission standards of that institution.
If you have gained admission by irregular means, there are very many chances
that you may not be certified by the university at the end of the program.
Tip no 3
Give yourself small
rewards for doing well on a test, paper, or presentation. You’ve earned it!
One very interesting definition of Reward is an act performed to
strengthen approved behavior. Rewards encourage performance, but they do not
always have to come from other people. The best rewards are the ones you give
yourself. When you reward yourself for achieving your set goals you are
recognizing your capability. It’s easier to pretend about your capabilities to
others but very difficult to deceive yourself about what you can or cannot do.
Tip no 4
Meet with your
academic advisor at least once each term to track your scholastic progress.
Your course advisor’s job is to guide you to academic success. They have
a wealth of experience where undergraduate academic life is concerned. You
can’t buy experience. Neither can you get it by merely reading a motivational
book. Your course advisor works within the system and knows the pitfalls. He or
she knows just what you need to do to improve your grades. Your course advisor
knows who to meet to resolve any academic issues that may have. Take advantage
of it.
Tip no 5
Check up your
academic records each semester or session to ensure your information is correct
You cannot afford to have any inconsistencies in your school records, no
matter how busy you may think you are. You must be sure that your records are
in order, regardless of how efficient your school’s administration may be.
Check up. There are countless cases of students who come up short on their
grades in their graduation year because they didn’t take the time to confirm
the status of their results and grades at the end of each session.
Tip no 6
Purchase textbooks
early and read the introduction of each to grasp the material at hand.
This is self explanatory. It’s a waste of funds buying textbooks and not
read the most important facts of the book. Read the introduction to know what
angle of information that textbook focuses on.
Would you like to start a personal relationship with God starting today?
If you want to, then pray this simple prayer right now:
Heavenly Father I
ask you to please come into my life today. I believe that your son Jesus Christ
died for my sins and rose from the dead. Forgive all my sins today and make me
your child. Fill me with your Holy Spirit right now and bring stability into my
academics and life. Thank you for coming. Amen.
If you prayed this prayer
with me then know that you have begun a relationship with God. He has come into
your life and will begin working in your life and academics. Please send me a
message through the blog buildyourvisions@gmail.com or an SMS to +234 817 2239 319 to tell me that you just started a
relationship with God. Remember to include your mobile number and email
address. I would like to keep praying for you.
And before I sign off today, I would like to pray with you for God’s
intervention in any area of your academics and life that you may need it. There
is nothing beyond God’s reach or ability. Ps 37:39-40 in the New Living
Translation bible states, “The Lord rescues the godly; he is their fortress in
times of trouble. The Lord helps them, rescuing them from the
wicked. He saves them, and they find shelter in him.” I want to encourage you
to believe this. God’s presence is a safe place from the problems students face
in their academic lives. I want to pray now. Let’s pray together right now
wherever you are.
Continue to expect the best
from yourself and continue to maintain a great attitude regardless whatever
happens.
I’ll be glad to hear from
you. Kindly send your testimonies, questions and prayer requests as responses
on this blog. If you’d like your friends, class mates and room-mates to be
helped by Intervention messages and
Study Tips, kindly share this message with them.
Thank you for joining me. I
remain your host Tope Banjo and this is Intervention.
God bless you mightily!
You will succeed. You will make it!
Contact:
Tel: +234 817 2239 319, Lagos-Nigeria.
……………
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