Archive for the ‘Students’ Category

Would you like to sample some sunscreen?

Thursday, December 15th, 2011

People fight over it, they steal it, they’re envious of others with more of it, they pity those without it, they throw it in the air, they work their entire lives for it, and it has the amazing ability to disappear faster than a small chocolate cake at a fat kid’s birthday party. Money. The root of all evil, the devil’s secret weapon, worshipped by some and hated by others.

This very evil thing has forced me from my break in the working world and into a new job, promotions. I’ve done the Blockbusters video store thing, the work experience thing where you get paid nothing to do hard work, but I’ve never done promotions. I’ve waved them off in many a shop with a flick of the wrist and an increased pace but I’ve now become one of them.

Last week I crawled out of bed at the crack of dawn and trekked a great distance to a shopping centre in another town only to be rudely shown the door by the manager of the store. “I don’t want any promoters in the store today.” A where’s the manager game and a signature later my first promotions gig had gotten a false start.

Jump forward a week and I was at COP 17, the UN’s climate change talks, handing out brochures and carrying boxes for the department of environmental affairs. Getting to experience walking through my own city, something I’ve never really done as a white South African, looking around the exhibits and working with some chilled people where just some highlights. I could get used to these kind of jobs.

The next day I was back in another town, in a small store, peddling samples of sunscreen and educating those who cared to listen on the UVAs and UVBs that were killing them. I began to get annoyed by the sound of my own voice as I offered sample after sample to innocent shoppers for the four hour stint. We proudly sold quite a few bottles and wrapped up with a swift signature by the store’s manager.

Although not the ideal job, I’m not one who enjoys promoting products I don’t really care about or use, it’s perfect for the extra year I’ll now have as a student. Damn you honours, damn you.

Do you Believe in Yourself?

Monday, January 5th, 2009

Black BoardA professor stood before his class of 20 senior organic biology students, about to hand out the final exam.

“I want to say that it’s been a pleasure teaching you this semester. I know you’ve all worked extremely hard and many of you are off to medical school after summer. So that no one gets their GPA messed up because they might have been celebrating a bit too much this week, anyone who would like to opt out of the final exam today will receive a ‘B’ for the course.”

There was much rejoicing amongst the class as students got up, passed by the professor to thank him and sign out on his offer. As the last taker left the room, the professor looked out over the handful of remaining students and asked, “Any one else? This is your last chance.” One final student rose up and took the offer.

The professor closed the door and took attendance of those students remaining. “I’m glad to see you believe in yourself.” he said. “You all have ‘A’s.”

Exam Tips

Wednesday, August 13th, 2008

Find XWhen exam time comes knocking stress levels reach an all time high as inevitable cramming begins. Here are some tips to help you through the exam time and do well too.

To start off with it’s always better to have been following in class to make studying a lot easier. Instead of learning concepts for the first time you would have already gone over them and this will just be a refresher course.

But I know how it is. The weeks roll on, lessons get boring and the weekends are filled with much more interesting things than Maths or English. So now what? The test is tomorrow and you can’t go through the entire text book in one night.

The best thing to have is a really good summery, you can make them yourself – putting down only the difficult things – and go through that or you can often get study guides which are abbreviated with everything you need to know. Of course the best way to do it is to do it yourself.

ExamsThere are many different study techniques. You may use one or a mixture depending on the subject. Some people learn best orally by reading aloud or by listening to somebody talking. Others learn by reading to themselves in a quite place or with loud music on. Some people have to do things practically; you may have to practice the sum over and over again to get it right. You may have to do a science experiment to understand it. These people should try to convert the theory into practical, every day situations to understand it.

Once you’ve studied and are ready for the exam, or not, nerves and other strange things can take over your mind and cause you to battle and forget everything.

Don’t change your sleeping habits suddenly. If you think you should be going to bed early for the exams start going to bed early at least two weeks before. If you suddenly change your sleeping pattern you will shock your body and not be at 100%.

Many people say – don’t talk about the exam content before hand, but to be honest, sometimes it helps. If you are discussing stuff from the work you may pick up on things you would not have known before. Many theorists could kill me for this but, sometimes you actually catch something and it helps you in the exam. The trick is not to panic if you find out you have skipped something. Do your best to listen and get your friend to give you a short breakdown. If it’s too difficult, forget about it – it’s too late. But sometimes it’s something simple like a name and you can remember it quickly.

If discussing the exam before does not help you, and many times it doesn’t, then the best thing to do is listen to music. If you feel stressed listen to music that will get you relaxed. If you feel over the exam listen to music that gets you pumped up. If your mind is all over the place than it can be good to just read through notes to keep your mind focussed on the task at hand.

These ideas are what have worked for me and others but some may not work for you, maybe none work for you. The key to studying is to find your way of remembering things and understanding concepts and run with it. There is never a set way to learn, hopefully by reading this you’ve gotten a few new ideas that could help you find your perfect way to learn.

Exams