We are often told to study but the “how to” quite often remains a mystery. This is the puzzle debutant author Chandan Deshmukh aims to crack with Six Secrets Smart Students Don’t tell You. As the title suggests, the book has the secret tips from toppers in Chandan’s class. If you ask the top rankers of your class the secret of their success, they always dodge the question,” says Chandan. The book tries to answer dilemmas not-so-bright students face.
Though Chandan admits he is still not a high scorer, after applying the secrets of the toppers’ success, his performance improved the following term.
Some of the tips such as ‘Start studying from the beginning of session’, ‘Managing time is important’, ‘Take notes’ are common to every book in this genre. However, ways to put these into practice such as a two-chair technique for revising and learning, the Cornell system of key words, note-taking and summarising and priority matrix systems are creative and helpful.
Chandan is against tuitions and this is clearly reflected in his book where a chapter is devoted to reasons not to join a coaching centre. “There is no difference between coaching and a classroom as in both places groups of 50 to 60 students are being taught,” says the engineering graduate. “It is a waste of money, time and also burdens the student with extra work.”
Apart from talking about study, the part-time writer also talks about parenting when he says fear is not the key. “It is just like working on a gun point. We should not scare children with threats like the bogeyman will come if do not finish your homework.”
The young author took 18 month to write the book. He carries an “idea book” with him in which he jots down his ideas. “This is how I developed this book. I woke up in the middle of the night and started writing in torchlight as I did not want to disturb my brother.”
While the book is not a fool-proof way to become a topper, it lays the groundwork for students who are looking to improve their scores.
