AJETUNMOBI’s MONDAY INSIGHT: Tips for Academic Success

MONDAY INSIGHTS

With

Tope Ajetunmobi

“Tope is a petroleum engineering graduate of Imperial College, London, United Kingdom, and a first class chemical engineering graduate of Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria, where he holds the highest CGPA record  in the 52 years history of the school”

I consider it an honour being asked to be a columnist on this blog. My columns will be about sharing personal experiences which I feel will be beneficial to all and sundry.  Let me start by sharing some tips on academic success directed at students still in high school or university. These helped me while in the university and are still very relevant today at the workplace. I will stick to only 4 tips as I’m not a fan of writing too many words:

1)      Preparation! Preparation! Preparation!

The importance of preparation in today’s world cannot be over-emphasised. It is not a coincidence that this is my number 1 tip, neither is it an error I wrote the word 3 times. A good practice is to know the course content and books prior to the start of the term/semester. Books give you an expanded view of the course content. Reading them well in advance makes you know the course well enough that even topics not covered in class will not be strange to you. You cannot expect to perform magic by scoring excellent grades if you started preparing just few weeks to the exams.

2)      Time management

It takes a disciplined mind-set to excel in the academic sphere. College/university life is packed with many activities ranging from religious to social to sport to romance to student unionism. The list is endless. You need proper time management to allocate time resources to activities you engage in. This should be planned well in advance (preferably at the start of your day). Stick to the plan, otherwise you could end up spending time on non-productive activities (idle-chatter) or over-spending time on an initial planned activity. Make sure you allot time for your academics every day (no matter how short).

3)      Team work

We all have heard of the sayings: “Two heads are better than one”, “No-one is an island “. It is always nice to share ideas, solve questions with colleagues in study groups. During sessions, participants always propose quicker, smarter and more innovative ways of tackling problems. It is common knowledge that many exam questions are always pulled from a bank, so in 70-80% of cases, with a good brainstorming session, the solutions to the questions should not be new. A note of warning here: First Look at the problems on your own independently before discussing with your colleagues. This will save a lot of time as only the most difficult questions need to be addressed in the study group.

4)      Mentorship

Another good tip is to have an academic mentor (usually 1-2years your senior who has gone through exactly the same course program) who will give you practical advice on the course content and lecturer/tutor in general. A word of caution: It is no use getting a mentor who had bad grades in the same courses. The reason is obvious, except you need advice on “what NOT to do to score bad grades” if he/she has learnt his/her lesson anyway. A professional mentor is also recommended as he/she could share valuable skills which will give you an edge over your colleagues while looking for a job in the future.

On a final note, academic success is not the Holy Grail to professional and business success. As a matter of fact, it isn’t hard to name at least 50 successful entrepreneurs who graduated with poor grades and ended up hiring first class graduates to manage their businesses. That will be the topic of my next article. Expect another write-up from me in two weeks. Have fun guys and ladies.

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