The Student’s Curse
After spending years confronting the peculiar peccadilloes of the student set, I’ve learned that one problem, in particular, looms above the rest. I’m talking, of course, about procrastination. For many students, it’s the personification of academic troubles: “if I could only stop procrastinating on my work, I would be doing fine.”
My experience has revealed that there are two types of procrastination. The first, which I’ll call light procrastination, is the standard resistance to shutting down e-mail or turning off the TV that we all feel.
The real monster, however, is what I call deep procrastination. This is a state, reached by an alarming number of students, in which the pressure of starting at the absolute last minute becomes necessary to motivate any work. Students who suffer from deep procrastination pull frequent all-nighters and are often found begging for extensions on assignments they couldn’t bring themselves to begin before the deadline. You can normally spot them in the JC or the higher end of the Secondary Schools e.g. Secondary 4 or 5.
This is a serious problem, and I want to offer an unconventional solution — born from experience — for eliminating its worse effects.
The Roots of Deep Procrastination
The most common reason given for procrastination: work sucks. You assume you delay because the chore itself is brutal. But is this true?
Think back to the last assignment that you put off until the minute. Now imagine during the upcoming fall semester you have no courses to take. Your teachers says he believes in your talent and that he wants you to complete this one assignment at your own pace.
For most students, the work would be rather enjoyable. Be it a research paper or a big chunk of reading or even the 'O' levels Art coursework, there is something very satisfying about mastering material over time. It makes you feel competent (one of our three basic psychological needs), and most people, when not under incredible pressure, actually enjoy learning new things.
The reason, then, that some students suffer from deep procrastination: their schedule as a whole is too demanding. Put simply, there is too much work and not enough time. Night after night they forced into a situation where they have to work, probably late, and this sucks. After a while a resentment grows toward their schoolwork — it is making their life miserable. And once they resent the work — and get none of the joys of competency and learning and mastery that classes could provide — their mind starts doing whatever it can to avoid getting started.
Curing Deep Procrastination
So what works? Stricter schedules and more intense productivity rules won’t cut it. The problem is not disorganization, it is, instead, a deep-seated antipathy to student work in general. If you want to cure deep procrastination you have to remove the source of resentment. And this means doing less; much less.
Student’s who shift to schedules with much more free time find themselves handling their workload without pain. Without the pain, they don’t grow to resent their schedules. And without the resentment, no deep procrastination will arise.
This is somewhat unexpected, as making your schedule lighter makes it easier to procrastinate in the sense that you can get away with more last minute heroics. However, for most students, the opposite occurs. The light schedule takes away their fatigue, and a true interest in their work blossoms again. Guess what? When you’re interested in your work, it’s not that hard to get started…sometimes even real early.
Are You a Deep Procrastinator?
If your procrastination has gotten to the point where your grades are starting to suffer, or you’re frequently working into the twilight hours to make deadlines at the last minute, seriously consider why this is happening, then ask yourself what you might gain by rebuilding a happy relationship with your schoolwork.
seems like ts is pretty experienced with good habits of *studying*
im 15 this yr, in IP prog. my results are not really good, but not really bad either. probably at the higher end of the weaker ones. reason being is that i suck at math. honestly, even at 15, i'm still unable to factorize algebra in a blink of an eye. i still need to draw the squarish thing..when many of my friends are already so adept at it they are able to do it with their eyes closed.
i do try to work for the subject due to its double weightage, but i feel that the problem that i face would be the inability to recognize a solution. there are many methods, and most of the time, only a few woould eventually lead to an answer. i often choose the wrong ones, and fail majority of the tests that i take. only reason why i'm passing now is because of the small tests that i can usually score at.
i also face the same problem with physics; the inability to think out of the box, to come out with creative solutions pisses and frustrates me. on the other hand, i enjoy humanities and science (biology, chemistry is okok).
i always listen attentively in class, and is able to solve most questions thrown at me. i simply do not understand why i'm unable to do so in a test scenario.
don't really know what's going on here, any opinions on how i should work for my math?
(might not really be related to the thread, just let me hijack it for awhile =/)
-donkey
Yes, donkhead. If we all think properly. We're all professional students by secondary school. 6 years of Primary School and another 4 or 5 years of Secondary School. That makes at least 10 years in Studying.
Ask yourself, 10 years of studying, if you still can't find out the way of effective studying, you've effectively wasted your life as a studen away.
Ask around, who has been keeping the same job for more then 10 years. By the time you've been working in the same trade for 10 years, you're already experienced beyond experienced. Chances are you have many "battle stories" to tell. Some people might even call you "old bird".
As a student, you ought to know these tricks. I'm just sharing what I know and if people have feedbacks, go ahead, we're here to help.
As for Algebra,
I feel that it is actually quite easy. Practice is the key. Keep practicing, it's like cycling, first few times you find it hard to balance. After a few days or weeks, you'll also most probably be able to cycle without your hands or with your eyes closed. (I do not encourage dangerous cycling, it is just a metaphor, do not take this literally.)
So good luck to your algebra, practice, practice and more practice!