Mugging

During the study week, we can observe many different styles of mugging. Some outright ineffective, some are too hardcore while some are just hilarious. To score, efficiency is the key ingredient. Of course, we still need to have the discipline and focus to go with it. During the last holiday, I happened to stumble upon this book "How to become a straight-A student : the unconventional strategies real college students use to score high while studying less" by Cal Newport. Note "while studying less". The author interviewed a whole bunch of top students from the Ivy League and specifically compiled a series of mugging techniques that they have in common. These top tier students were not those who mug hard. They mug efficiently. You will seldom spot them mugging in the library. A short 1 hour burst of full concentration is much more efficient than spending hours staring at the notes with mind wandering around.

So let me share some of my observation of mugging styles from my 3 years experience in NUS. First, there are those people who totally gave up. They may pretend sick and take MC just to skip the finals and then redo the entire module again the next semester. These people are beyond the F grade. They left us speechless. Next are the pretenders. The Hokkien phrase "Lau Ka Ki" sums it all up pretty well.The pretenders suddenly find mundane things interesting in the study week. They do what ever that are possible to NOT read their notes. They dare not face the truth that they can't solve the tutorials or the past year papers. They read random articles online, always refresh their Facebook and be the first to Like, study in a group when they know that they will end up talking more than they study, goes all the way to Starbucks to study for 1 or 2 hours, reasons that the temperature in the room is too hot, reasons that it is too noisy to study and thus must go to the library although the library is probably much noisier. Every condition must be set to perfection before they are willing to begin. Third, we have the hardcore muggers. These people freaks you out when you discover how much they actually study. They pull all nighters just to console themselves that they tried their best. They try to multitask by reading their notes while eating. This people panic and study randomly without any strategy. They study by brute force, repetitions and pure memorization. But in the end, when the results are out, you won't see them at the top. Then, we have the closet muggers. They are the heroes who solo all the way to the final Boss. Soloing works best for courses like Science and Engineering. These muggers only come out for meals and shower. They are like the modern day Buddha who tries to achieve enlightenment in the their own caves. A typical study schedule is 9-12, 2 hours lunch break+nap,2-6, another 2 hours dinner break and then 8-12. They can squeeze in an entire module in 2 days if they have been consistent throughout the semester. Last, we have people who we see playing games, watching videos and doing many other things and yet in the end they triumph all of us. I have personally heard of one such legendary senior who scored A+*, topping the module, while others claimed seeing him playing DOTA instead of studying in the final few days before the exam. Respect. 

The list is not entirely exhaustive but the point is, we should be truthful to ourselves and be efficient. Adopt the motto " JUST DO IT ". No matter how high the inertia is to start, just do it. Just open that damn book and start reading.