Tips To Getting Good Grades - Especially For First Years

Hello,

Yes, you have just been selected to a tertiary institution to pursue further studies.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Almost all of you will be leaving the comfort of your homes to venture out into this mysterious world. I know you are psyched to kick start this year, but also a bit fearful as you do not know what lies ahead. I just want to assure you that it will all be okay, just get the adjustment phase right and you are in it to win it!

I have outlined below 7 seven tips that should get you settled in and on your way to the top. Be blessed.

1. Study Buddies

If you are an introvert, I understand. You can skip this part if its too much for you. But if you are not then you will definitely need study buddies. They cannot be just 'anyone'. They have to be people you are comfortable with, people you can communicate openly with. They also have to be people who can push you to become a better version of yourself; people who can aid in building you, both as a student and as an independent individual.

2. Semi-Mentor

Having a semi-mentor is a crucial step in your grounding process. This is the person who will be helping you with almost everything you need to know about school, and more specifically, your respective course. This person has to be in a class/year higher than you, and preferably, older. This person will break down the subjects and explain them to you. He/she would also inform you on the lecturers and professors.

3. Get Textbooks ASAP

It is of vital importance that you get the prescribed textbooks as soon as possible. This prescribed textbooks can either be given to you in class by the lecturer or through course outlines issued at the start of school - usually during the first two weeks. This books contain in-depth content - and on a broader scale - of what is presented to you in class. They will come in handy when you have to read ahead of classes or have assignments and tests.

4. Study Habit

Yes, you can watch tonnes of videos on YouTube about how to study but I assure you, they wont work if you do not fully understand yourself. It is paramount that you figure out your own study habit - this involves knowing when you are most alert during a 24 hour period. The more alert you are, the more you can absorb, thus maximizing your time. Study during this periods. If you are a night person, do it then, but remember to get at least 8 hours of rest because your body needs it. If you are a day person, do it then.You do not have to study hard, you just have to study smartly.

5. Solving Problems (School Work)

I would advise that you spend a lot of time on a single problem to better understand it, especially the ones that you find most challenging. Its like doing math, solve it well and make sure you know it by heart.

6. Exam Preparation

I will do a separate post on this but to help you get an idea of what you are in for, and for extra practical questions to answer, get previous exam papers. Statistics show that most exam questions are repeated but rephrased - the idea or concept is the same.

7. Attitude Towards School

Last but not the least is your attitude towards school. Your attitude must be positive. It must be positive to subjects, lecturers, and learning as a whole. Despite what kind of lecturer or subject, developing a negative attitude towards him/her/it will only affect you so protect yourself and learn to look beyond such minute discrepancies.


All this will only work for you if you choose to work it. At the end of the day, it all comes down to you. How bad do you want it?

ALL THE BEST THIS SEMESTER!

Struggle, Success, and the Lessons In-Between Part 1 - Allan

Hi,

My name is Allan and I come from Western Province, Papua New Guinea. I am the eldest of three children. My mother is a teacher. My father left when I was born because he had another family in another country. This is my story, I hope you learn something from it.

I was raised in the village by my mother. She taught at the local primary school so that was where my education began. During a period of 15 years, I flunked a grade, skipped two grades, got kicked out of school for fighting, and failed a national exam. I know, you must be thinking that I probably have no future but I am currently taking Computer Science at a university I cannot mention. Life sure did teach me a lot of stuff - the hard way.

I was a nobody after I failed my grade 10 National Exam. Everyone looked down on me. My mother was the only person who never did. She pushed me to go back to school, to do it all over again. I disagreed and wanted to throw my life away but for two consecutive months, she wouldn't stop nagging me to give it a shot. It was because of her that I tried, one more time, and to this day, I will forever be grateful to her for not giving up on me. The first lesson I want you to learn from my story is: Never Give Up When You Are Hardest Hit.

I passed the exam that year and was selected to go to a National High School that was in another province, far from home. I knew money would be a problem so I hid the letter but mum eventually found out from her friends in the Education department and promised that she would do whatever it took to send me to school. Two weeks into February the following year, I was on a plane leaving Western Province, and I have not gone home since. It has been 4 years. My second lesson for you is: If, and when, you choose education, do not be afraid to follow where it leads you.

I graduated at the top of my class in 12th grade two years after leaving home. I topped the province too in that year. After being selected to go to University, I found a sponsor. The deal was that I had to attain and maintain a GPA of 3.6 and work part-time during the holidays. I have not only done that but maintained the first position in my class for the past two years. It is not my intention here to brag about my success but rather to bring across a very important point. My final lesson for you is: Never Forget Your Roots. For as long as you remember who you are and how far you have come, you will not go astray from the part that you know you must take to become successful. That is, and should be, the motivation you need to press on.

I miss my mother, and my baby sister and brother, but that is the sacrifice I must make, It will all be over soon, I know.

Two Important Lessons I learnt in First Year (Pirika)

Hi there,

Its me again, Pirika, with another post to hopefully strengthen and equip you with what you need for this academic year 2020.

I have a lot of experiences to share but this one is more important as I believe it will help a lot of young people out there. It is about the two most important lessons I learnt in my first year at university. Yes, there are a lot of things you will learn in first year which will be covered in my subsequent posts but the following two are at the top of that list.

Let's begin:

1. Independence
If you are going to university, I'm pretty sure you would be living the comfort of your home where almost everything is made available to you and you do not need to worry about tomorrow. In university, it is quite different. This is where you have to learn how to stand on your own feet. Yes, you might have a place to sleep and meals may be made ready for you three times a day but what about everything else? Well, its all up to you. You will call the shots. The space that you would be given to exercise your willpower will be huge, trust me. You will have to learn how to manage without the help of your parents or anyone else been there for you in the flesh.
But there is a catch to it: every once in a while, we all need somebody to lean on because not every trial that we face can be conquered easily, and alone. It is not a sign of weakness to ask for help so you should not be ashamed of doing so. A famous saying that goes like this: "Be strong enough to stand alone, smart enough to know when you need help, and brave enough to ask for it.".

2. Resilience
That is a big word...I know. In simple terms, it is your minds ability to recover quickly from depression, illness or misfortune. Being a university student is hard, and it can even be harsh at times when the professor marks you down for something you gave everything for, when you get scolded and embarrassed for not performing to the best of your ability, and the list goes on. You can give up, yes, that's easy. But to be able to keep pressing on despite all that; to be able to accept it, take it in, and keep pressing forward - that, is hard. Jodi Picoult, an american author and bestseller, said that "the human capacity for burden is like bamboo - far more flexible than you'd ever believe at first glance". It can be difficult, but you have everything you need within you to keep you going, to survive and to thrive. A rubber band, despite been stretched, can retain its original shape afterward. Be like that rubber band - be resilient.

Thank you for reading, and a belated Happy New Year 2020 to you.

When I Left Home For School, I Left Literally EVERYTHING (Lucas)

Greetings,

My name is Lucas, and I come from the Eastern Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea. I am the first of seven children born to a polygamous family consisting of one husband and four wives. I am undertaking Bachelor of Medicine & Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS).My story began when I got accepted to go to the university that offered the above mentioned course.

My father is a businessman who owns a vast expanse of land on which he farms coffee. It had been the family business for as long as I can remember. As the first born child (male) of the family, I will inherit this when he dies. He thought me everything I needed to know about coffee and I practically grew up on the farm. I, however, had other dreams of my own that I wanted to pursue and I knew that he would not approve of this. I was in 9th grade when I first got the inspiration to become a doctor. I tried to wrestle with that thought because I knew it wouldn't happen, I had the family business to take care of. But for two years straight, I realized that I had a longing within my heart to help people, to see others happy was a relief for me, especially when I know I made it possible.

My father told me to leave school at 11th grade so that I could start working with him but I lied and said that I needed the knowledge to become better than him at the business because that was my challenge if I were to take his place after he passed on. The two years of high school went by and I applied for Science Foundation at a university I cannot mention - I did not tell my father anything about this. I knew he would have never consented with my idea. December of that year approached and I received my acceptance letter. It was one of the happiest moments of my life to know that my name - the name of my family - would appear in the newspapers. I was full of joy, but it was a victory I had to celebrate alone. Now, I had only one month to find a way to tell my father about it, and trust me, if you know my father the way I do, one month would seem like a very very short period of time. It was the most complicated and heartbreaking thing I will ever have to do, but I had to do it because it was about my future.

The day came, two weeks later. I walked into his office on a tuesday afternoon and told him everything - my dreams, my plans, the acceptance letter. He was bewildered and furious. He sat there, looked me dead in the eye, and with no hint of remorse or sadness, he spoke the words that word forever haunt me: "I brought you into this world and I gave you everything that you have. I built all of this for you, so that you could one day own it and pass it to your children, my grandchildren. I personally trained you and taught you everything I knew about life, family, God, and the business. You come in here today with the courage to tell me that you do not want all that, and that you prefer to live your life the way you see fit? You have the audacity to say that to my face? Let it be clear that from the day you leave my home for whatever it is you think is better, I will see to it that you do not amount to anything that I have built. I will disown you, for ever", and then he dismissed me from the office and told me to never bring up that issue again. Tears poured down my eyes as I walked out of his office. My heart broke into a million pieces and I wept bitterly for two consecutive weeks. After that I liquified my account, got all my money, packed my bag-pack, bought myself a ticket, and left the only place I knew as home, and the only people I knew as family.

Some would say that I was ungrateful for leaving home and that it was a stupid and unwise choice. Others might say that I was wasting my time chasing a dream that I lost reality. I, however, know in my heart that I left for myself, and a future that I wanted, that I dreamed of, that I longed for. It was something I had to do for me. I miss my father, my mothers, my siblings, the plantation workers I grew up knowing, and my home. I love them so very much. And I forgive my father for doing what he had done to me. I do not blame him. I understand. I just wish that he would have given me a chance to explain myself. I just wish he would have listened.

I struggled for the past few years, and I am still struggling. I struggle to pay my own fees, to look for a place to lay my head, and to put food on the table for myself every single night. I really struggle, but not once have a regretted  my decision to leave home. I know that my name will not be on his will and that I can not go back to that place I call home. But that is okay, because he has given me everything I could ever ask for, and home will always be in my heart. I know that my decision to pursue my dreams would cost me everything. But I wanted what I wanted. I wanted a different future, so I had to earn it. Without pain, there can be no gain.

Thank you father, for making me strong enough to pursue what I want, even if you wont support me. No matter where this life takes me, you will always be my father, and home will always be my home. I love you Dad, my EVERYTHING.

The struggle is real.

School Fees (Mary)

Hi,

My name is Mary and I come from East New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea. I am currently undertaking Bachelor of Nursing, year 2 at an institution that I cannot mention. I am the eldest of 5 children born to two wonderful parents who have spent their entire lives educating primary school students across Papua New Guinea. I am the first in my family to have made it to an institution of such, and one of those many who are fighting to survive against sorcery practiced by a select few of my own village people who are uneducated, filled with jealousy, and tend possess the mentality that ‘all of us should stay the same way’.

I recently received my school fee invoice and was shocked at the site of the amount written on it. I mean, K22,000.00 (PGK)? That is a lot of money for even myself. I swear, I made up my mind to never show my parents that but my Mum pleaded with me to do so and I couldn’t help it so I just showed her. The expression on her face when she saw the amount broke my heart into pieces and I cried myself to sleep that night.

I decided to withdraw and I told my boyfriend, who was also a student there, but he called me on my cell phone the very next day and begged me not to do anything rash because miracles can happen when you let God fight your battles for you, despite the short period of time that you may have. I struggled to pray about it but I knew He was also praying for me and that gave me the courage and confidence I needed to be patient and to wait on the Lord.

Two days later, while I was searching and inquiring around for sponsors, my mum sat me down and told me that ‘we cannot let you withdraw or give up now. You have come too far and you deserve to have our support all the way. You will go back to school, I will make sure of it”. A newfound peace settled within me and tears of joy ran down my cheeks. I was trying to give up on myself when the people who love me would never give up on me? Thank you God.

My Mum and Dad have two months to find the amount of fees required to be paid before I can register. I know that it will not be easy for them because of the harsh reality of life that average Papua New Guineans face, concerning money. I, however, strongly believe that God will make a way.

The struggle is real.

School Fees (Pirika)

My School Fees

My name is Pirika. I come from the Gulf province of Papua New Guinea. 

I am the 3^rd of three children who were raised by two hard-working and committed mothers. One is educated and employed while the other is not, but both manage to put food on the table every night for as long as I can remember.

I am currently doing a Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing, and this is my second year. It is that time of the year where school fee invoices get issued and transcripts are released. I went to get mine last week Friday at the school and I noticed that my fees had increased from the price it was at last year to about K13,000.00 (PGK). This is equally divided by two to accommodate for the two semesters of the academic year. The fee for semester one is about K6,500.00 (PGK) while the fee for semester two is the same. Sadness engulfed me as I thought of my Mothers and how they would have to pay all that.

Knowing the amount required to be paid is one aspect of the problem, the other is the timeframe in which you had to pay. It takes roughly two months before the scheduled date for registration – the first week of March – and 80% of this fee for semester one has to be paid prior to that. The same goes for semester two.

If you think my situation with school fees is the worst, it is not, because I do not live on campus. I am a day student. When you look at the life of a boarding student, it is much, much worse. They have to pay up to about K22,000.00 (PGK) in one year.

Money is a commodity of high scarcity in a country like Papua New Guinea. With the rich getting richer, the poor getting poorer, nepotism, and other related issues, we will suffer from poverty very soon. In this third-world country, money amounting to K13,000.00 (PGK) is not easy to come by in just two months.

The struggle is real.