Thread by @AdliAmirullah

This is a thread to share my experiences throughout my undergraduate (UG) degree in economics at IIUM. I am hoping that with this sharing, it may inspire some of you and giving insight on how I manage to go through 4 years degree with this result

Short description of my academic achievement; I was one of the Royal Education Award (REA) recipient on 33rd IIUM Convocation. I would say REA is the highest university awards during convocation. It needs an excellent academic performance as well as curriculum.

Okay, let's start! Here are some of my experiences/strategy but not limited to on how I manage to succeed in my undergraduate study:

1. Consistency
I would say this is THE most crucial component when you are studying for your undergraduate degree. It doesn't require you to be a super genius to get a 4 flat (This is serious, I never was a top student during my primary/high school time)

what matters is your consistency throughout your UG degree life. What I meant by consistency is you must be consistent in finishing your assignment, be consistent in having a fixed schedule of study and be consistent in preparing for your exam. Here's some example

I was being consistent when comes to study. What I did was I always set a target to understand a given topic every week. I usually allocate 1 day per week to recap topic I learned in all subjects during that week. I allocated around 15-30 minutes per subject.

There's a reason why it didn't take me long to recap a given topic on that particular week's lecture. The second strategy here will explain why:

2. Note-Taking Skills
You NEED a specific skill in taking notes during lecture. This is very crucial to help you to become consistent

I am not a note-taking expert. But I managed to implant a habit to take notes during the lecture with my own specific preference of note-taking style. Different lectures and subjects will make me use a different kind of note-taking style

There a various way of note taking during lectures. You can try to google it out and look for your own preference. But I'll share briefly my preference.

Requires item: A4 plain or exam sheet paper and 3 pens (red, blue, black)

First, I will divide every paper into 4 segments with a red pen. Refer picture below, segment A and B for blank space that for me to use later during revision, segment C is the content of the lecture of that day, and segment D is details of the class.

Here's are some of my notes that I took during my UG degree (Please ignore my ugly handwriting). You can see different lectures and dates but the style is almost the same where I divided into 4 segments. You can see I sketch something on segment A & B, that's when I was revising

Note-taking is depended highly on your own preference. I learned this style of note-taking skills from a workshop organised by the Student Learning Enhancement Unit (SLEU) in IIUM that I attended during my first year. Great stuff that helps me until today

So if you have an organised note-taking on every lecture, it will ease your revision time with consistent. So every week I will go through only my notes and read through it for 15 minutes on average. Will sketch for extra notes if I have some problem of understanding the topic.

make sure while you note-taking with any style that you prefer, leave a blank space somewhere in the paper (In my case is on segment A and B) so that you can sketch an extra note when you revise it without re-do a new note. These notes will be VERY helpful for your final exams

Oh, don't worry if you found that some of the lectures are so hard in taking notes because the lecturers tend to be talking about literally everything (Including his/her personal life).

I encountered this before. For this case, I leave the note-taking and read the recommended reading materials. Some lectures just impossible to take notes. So you have to spend extra time to make your own notes based on the recommended reading materials every week or fortnight.

3. Allocate a ME time
This is one of the most important things I will mention to everyone that asked me how did I excel in my study. Everyone has their own ME time. In my case, playing a computer game, DOTA2 with my close friends!

Every week, I will allocate Thursday midnight to play DOTA2 with my friends. Every Thursday at 10 pm, I and the other 4 of my friends will go to the nearest cyber cafe to play DOTA2 until Friday at 6 am or in other words until the dawn prayer just started. OH HOW I MISS THIS!!

The reason why we went on Thursday night is that almost every semester we do not have classes on Friday. So yea, that is my ME time. You guys need to find your ME time and spend it and have fun. I recommend allocating 1 day a week.

For me, this is important because it is a medium for me to release all my whole week study-stress. It's like a reward for me every week being consistent attending class and taking notes. You should do something that relaxes you and it can be anything based on your preference

Every time after I have my ME time, I literally felt like a whole new energy and very energetic in starting a new week. So you guys should try! hehe

4. Have enough rest, nutritious, and hydration before exams
You can ask anyone that knew me personally during my UG life, they will see that every final exam, I will sleep early and have at least 8 hours of sleep.

I understand that some of you spent the night before the exam to have your final run for your preparation. But believe me, I have done an experiment for myself and I can convincingly tell you that I learned from the hard way....

During my first sem, I tried 2 methods. Study for 'final preparation' with 3-4 hours of sleep before exam, and do the real final preparation 2 days before exams and have at least 8 hours of sleep before the exam. I found that my brain works much more active during the 2nd method

In fact, during the exam with the first method, I accidentally slept for 1 hour and half into the 3-hours exam after answering 1 essay question out of 5 essay questions. Apparently, I was thinking about the answer and I fall asleep because out of idea!!

Ever since that incident, I have decided to have enough sleep of 8 hours a day before big exams. And do not worry about your final preparation, you can do that 2 day before. With consistency and great note-taking skills, it is possible.

Then nutritious is where you need it to keep you healthy during exam period. Simple logic: If you sick, your brain will not function properly during exam and it CAN affect your result. So, stay healthy everytime exam is around the corner!

Hydration means keep a bottle of plain or mineral water every time you go for exam. Whenever you stuck in exam, relax and take a deep breath, drink the water and think again about the question. This simple thing really gave impact to me during exam.

But be careful! Don’t drink too much water that make you go to toilet every 5 minutes. Haha. Drink considerately according to your body preference. The key word is; stay hydrate during exam!

5. Be a teacher
You don’t need to be the top student with 200 IQ to teach somebody. Make it a habit to teach your close friends that take same subject with you. I never good at teaching, but I tried my best to teach a theory or a topic to my friends.

It might sound awkward teaching somebody while we are not that great of a student. Then I recommend you find a close friend that can learn from each other. Try assign a different topic to each other and teach each other with it.

When you start teaching, you might think you understand that topic well but after teaching, you are getting more confuse. This is normal do not afraid. This should be a stepping stone for you to do more to understand the topic.

When you start teaching, your student/friend will ask a very simple question that sometimes you can’t answer it. But those questions are crucial in understanding the topic. So, keep finding the answer and if can’t consult your lecturers!

6. Find your Genius Friend
The title speaks all. After every midterm exam, look for top 3 scorer of the mid term exams. Establish a contact with them and try get them to be comfortable with you.

Once you found these top 3 scorer of midterm exam, whenever you have problem in the subject or difficult in understanding any topic in the subject, try approach them and ask them for an answer. If they can’t then you should find your lecturer.

For me having these contact of genius friends will ease me in asking very simple question without going to lecturers. So, once the genius can’t answer it, it's worth to find lecturers for an answer. Most of the time, these genius friend can help giving answer for simple questions

7. Practise make perfect
I would say in any subject either quantitative or qualitative, without trying to answer at least few past year exam questions, I will not be going to excel in the exams for that subject.

Trying to do past year will help us in expecting the difficulty level of the question as well as training our critical thinking skills to answer exam questions. Try to do it and if you found dead end, consult your genius friends or your lecturer!

Most of university prepare a past year exam questions, if you don’t have, try asking from your lecturers. If still can’t, then it can’t be help. Lol.

8. Time Management
I’m sure you will have your lover of your life or your own commitment such as curriculum. This is where time management plays an important role

First, understand the notion of priority. If you have a choice to go for a date with your special girl and attending a very boring class, go to the classes. That is priority. Lover can wait, but lectures can’t.

If you have a choice to visit your brother who is sick at hometown and attending a class, go to your brother. That is priority. Lectures can wait, but your may or may not see your brother for the last time.

Once you understand deeply the concept of priority, you will master time management easily. Get to know your commitment and priority, and it will always be your judgement calls when comes to priority.

Time management is important because it help you to not miss important deadline for assignment, early preparation for exams, and going out for a date when you miss someone!

For me, here’s my hierarchy of priority: Family > Study > Close Friends > Entertainments. Different people will have different priority. Find yours!

9. Set a Realistic Target
Different people have a different realistic academic target. My target was always 3.9. I never achieve it, but I am satisfied with my ending CGPA of 3.85. When you have a target, it will give you determination

What I meant by a realistic target is always make a target based on your achievable result. Example, if you current CGPA is 2.8, make a realistic target such as getting 3.0 before graduate. Once you have a realistic target, plan your strategy

If you are a second-year student with CGPA 2.8, plan your study by taking a subject that Realistic combination of quantitative and qualitative. And Take subject within your means meaning do not take all killer subject in one semester. Consult your academic advisor!

Once you have plan which subjects to take and a combination of subjects that suit your study style, be consistent, take notes, and manage your time well! Always aim to get to your target. It is okay to target to get a B+ for a given subject as long as it is realistic!

Having realistic target is important to keep your motivation. If your target is not is, u will feel so down every sem. So once u have found your own realistic Realistic, you will feel different kind of feeling if you reach it and will have higher motivation for next semester.

10. Have fun
Never settle if you are not having fun during your undergraduate. What I mean by having fun is not going out party drinking. Haha. What I meant is, love what you do! Especially in your degree field.

Try to find a reason to love your field. If you are the lucky one that got your degree field that you want, keep that motivation and keep loving your field. Some subject might be boring I do admit that (cc financial economics lol)

If you found the boring subject, keep your motivation of why you love the field at the first place. And ignore the boring subject or try not to take it if it is an elective during your UG.

If your case is you do not like or love your field, this is something I can’t help. You need to work this out either go out to other fields that you have interest the most or find your passion inside the field.

Example: My friends dislike mathematics in economics. But somehow, she found a branch of economics that do not use intense mathematics and somehow she loves that branch of an economic field and she did well in her study.

Some field have sub branches & that branches of knowledge might interest you. Explore more within your field to love what you study. If needed, talk to your lecturer and you might get to know some cool stuff that you never knew existed in your field. In short, Learn and Explore!

I will stop here. 10 tips/strategy coming from my experience of Undergraduate degree should be enough? Hehe. I would like to take this opportunity to thanks everyone that have directly or indirectly helping me to achieve where I am today. May God bless them all

If your target is not realistic*, u will feel so down every sem.

So once you have found your realistic target*,