First time was when I was a simpleton from a small taluka place of Udgir, joining the well known college in the district town. I was just off from a relative failure in my tenth examination. I had got 88 percentage, pretty good but far below the expectation I had set with my parents and teachers. Losing the merit by 7 marks.
This time the pattern was enforced and inculcated by the teachers/profs at my college. It had then involved two things. First: attention to each individual student, his limitation and aspiration by the staff. Everything was documented and tracked. The parents, students and the teachers were always in sync with regular communication between them. You will find a number of anecdotes where Jadhav sir gets hold of unsuspecting student in the corridor and read out his attendance record, his performance in the prep exams and the class he is bunking right now, everything from his memory. It was an external factor where the profs were going above and beyond their call of duty to make sure the syllabus is covered well in advance to leave more time for the students to prepare for the exams. Which is the second part and may be more controversial one. Once the syllabus is covered, the target is to score as much as possible. Regular exams are arranged so that the students get "match practise". Possible questions are discussed. The student exactly known even if it a descriptive question of 6 marks, what exactly is expected, how the marks are allotted to each point in the answer. This works on the fidelity of half and something quarter marks. So when the final exam comes round the corner, the students do not only know the answers to the questions but also knows the time required for writing the answer, what is expected out of the answer and how to present the answer to give maximum marks.
This approach worked pretty well for me, just like it has been working for thousands of students from the hinterlands of Marathwada.
After struggling in the engineering college for first year and doing pretty well for the second year, I applied the same for the third year onwards at the opposite end of spectrum. I was working part time because of financial compulsions. That, in addition to my particular dislike of non programming and theoretical subjects and general apathy in life made sure that my getting the course completed in four years was pretty difficult. As a solution I tried to apply the thing that got me here with some changes.
I tried playing with the reference question papers, and with some practise I was able to easily figure out the answers I wrote and the marks they will fetch me. Once I reach the magic figure of 40-50, I generally used to lose interest in the exam.
This approach was pretty successful, at least I think so. My scores of 40-45 without a single failure in third and final year of exam are testimonies for that. As well my certain position on the volleyball court at the end of each paper marked my efficiency as well.
This might not be the way the originators of the pattern might have liked it to be used, but I did use this in this way.
Now, exactly 10 years after I passed my last important written exam, I am doing something which I always wanted to do, i.e. to study further. With a new goal, "Masters before 35,doctorate before 40". First small step is to make sure I get through the mid semester and semester examination with good score. In more ways than one, this is one of the most important goals. And I need to do this with the less amount of time and more effectiveness. And guess what I am going back to the same pattern that changed things for me twice already.
Along with the other discussions, I will track the different ways I am trying to apply this pattern to my studies. Hope it will help people who stumble across this blog. Least it can do is help me channelize my thoughts and track my own progress with some degree of certainty. :)
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