Routine of study continued
Last week we were looking at the factors that determine the success in 12th Boards. We looked at the factors of parental pressure, ability to handle complexity and the establishment of a routine as the possible factors. There is a great confusion as most students are expected to spend about 16 hours of the day in studies and related activities. This hardly leaves any place for the child to have any other activity. They hardly get to complete their sleep and personal hygiene. This much pressure is difficult to sustain for every student over one year. Some students who are extremely focused are able to do this day in and day out for the year and achieve success. Others who are unable to stretch for the entire year began collapsing midway. This results in students falling ill or talking about taking a drop or simply downscaling their expectations much before the exams. It is also very important to understand the role of fresh subjects and revision. About 2-3 hours of fresh subjects and 4-5 hours of revision work is enough in a day. More than that is going to tax the brain at a very high cost. Therefore it is very important for the students to make a time-table right from the outset of the year and follow it. This will ensure that there is an equal distribution of new topics and revisions right from the beginning. The next factor is adequate relaxation and leisure activities. The leisure should be of the nature that it ensures adequate relaxation without distraction. If a television serial is relaxing it should be viewed, but if it is going to occupy and distract the mind as to what is going to happen in the next episode, if the suspense is going to be revealed in the next time or not, it is not good for the mind. Instead of relaxing, it becomes a burden for the mind. Many parents have taken a stand against cable television and removed the cables from their homes during the year of 12th Boards. There is a lot of debate about this, but the data reveals that such a move although it has been opposed in the first month and cribbed about throughout the whole year is effective as it reduces television watching by about 70 %. Most students get turned off by whatever is offered by the remaining television programmes and go off television viewing. At the same time it is a very big distinguishing point among the students who will score and who will not. Students who have performed well have not exhibited an objection to such a move by the parents. On the contrary, they have been so much occupied by their studies that they have relaxed through quiet walks and talking with family and friends. The other factor is to stay in touch with other fellow students. This gives a good feedback about where the student is and what he needs to do more to achieve a good result. It is not a question of competition but about being aware of what the general trend is. The last factor is about the tug of war going on between the school, tuitions and the parents. Smart students are able to manage everything perfectly and do not get caught in the crossfire. The weaker ones use one factor against the other. At school, they criticize the tuitions in front of the principal and teachers, gain sympathy about the way that they are burdened by the homework from the tuitions and expect to be excused from the duties at school. They complain about how their parents have paid a huge sum of money for the tuitions and henceforth they are forced to attend the tuitions or their parents will get very angry. At tuitions, they feign about the strictness of the school and how they will be prevented from appearing in the Boards if they do not have the requisite attendance and marks in the school exams. Therefore they should be excused from doing what others manage to complete. To the parents, they criticize both and how they are caught in the crossfire and should be allowed to rest. Smart parents are able to stay in touch with both the school and the tuitions and are able to sniff out when the child is pulling wool over their eyes. The best is to be able to help the child adjust to his schedule so that he can complete his day to day work as determined by his time-table.
