Dread exams? Don’t panic, think of studying the smart way
View(s):By Tarini Pilapitiya
Sanjeev JayaRatnam is no stranger to the public eye. Whether known on a professional level with his previous directorial positions held in conglomerates to his repertoire of qualifications from numerous prestigious Universities, most of them where he currently lectures, to his singing stint in the well known Revelations choir and on the Colombo stage, Sanjeev is a man who values his time and puts it to the best use.
Sanjeev JayaRatnam and (top) some of his students. Pic by Indika Handuwala
An academic by profession Sanjeev’s expertise has been shared with his numerous students at the Revelations Professional Academy, Methodist College, VisakhaVidyalaya, numerous universities and also with professionals who seek to do one better in life. Speed Reading, the outstanding course Sanjeev has been conducting for around 10 years, involves sessions which train students to read with more focus and concentration. A valuable life skill, Sanjeev revels in their abilities to retain more and more information as the years go by with each student showing progress until Sanjeev himself guarantees a 100 percent – if not more- improvement in reading speed and comprehension at the end of the course.
Now Sanjeev has launched a new course “ACE exams the SMART Way”. The title alone would be enough to catch the eye of the nervous student who seeks some form of relief from the dreaded exam stress. The programme has been designed for students from the age group 14 – 19 years of age. Much like all his other programmes this course was tried out with groups of children and professionals.
The Principal of Methodist College, Colombo, Hiranya Fernando had high praise for Sanjeev’s course, which he first held for the 2016 O’ Level batch of students. “It was a very helpful course, he taught the girls several things, but most importantly how to face the exams positively. Through his techniques in visualization and time benefit, he eased the minds of my students,” she said.
“ACE exams the SMART Way” is built on “Quality Study”. The pressure from papers, anxiety, parental and teachers prodding, to competition from peers has been experienced by most. The exam focus that makes students quit extracurricular activities like sports, music, drama, social work to bury themselves in their books, is the norm in our society.
The benefits of teamwork, creativity, a voice, leadership, personality one reaps from these extracurricular activities are absent in a brief period of time known as the O level/ A Level stage. A student’s sweet sixteen’s are immediately turned sour at the prospect of being nose deep in text books and notes attempting to make head or tail of what they are reading. We are all guilty of believing that the amount of time one puts into their studies will reflect in the shining A grade we receive on a paper – this however, is sadly not the case.
“ACE exams the SMART Way” helps students to keep to the work-life balance theory, of time management, confidence boosting, comprehension, prioritizing, long term learning, leadership, retention, getting rid of stress and anxiety in the midst of an exam; allowing them to succeed at their exams and ultimately in their life after studies (if there is such a thing).
Ever had the moment when after memorizing notes at the ninth second on entering the exam room you stop petrified, that you’ve pretty much forgotten everything. Fear not. We’ve all been there. Sanjeev says that this is due to the verbal and nonverbal cues that we personally send out to our unconscious selves. For example, power poses exude confidence and assure us that we know what we are doing, allowing us to tackle the exam with a sense of assurance and calm.“How to study smarter not harder” is the basic motto the course stands for. Although the initial ideas of reading at very, very fast speeds are daunting, Sanjeev’s philosophy is using the aspect of normalizing any boundary or parameter that we put for ourselves.
“Imagine driving a car at 26km per hour; even at this sluggish pace passengers are wary, but by gradual increase we become better, more assured to the point where even gunning an engine (although we don’t recommend gunning an engine) becomes normal”. This analogy is what Sanjeev describes as a “mindset change”, when applied to a student context, each level from the dreaded O’Ls to A’Ls to your degrees or higher qualifications becomes next to nothing in comparison to what you have already achieved.
“You stay in a certain level of comfort until it becomes a norm and then you keep climbing. Some climb faster than others,” Sanjeev states. “But everyone has their own pace.”Respecting an individual’s capabilities Sanjeev’s courses echo the mantra of “Yes we can!”
By expelling the “spoon feeding” dependency culture that most kids in our country are saddled with by parents and teachers, the programme enables students to believe in their abilities and to see their potential. The sham of forcing kids to study isn’t lost on Sanjeev, and with the aid of his courses, they will want to learn and study on their own, actually enjoying the company of their books and looking forward to “Acing the exams” by finding ways to handle one’s personal pressure.
With the psychology of the “recency effect” being put into practice Sanjeev educates us on the long hours of time you put in studying being futile. “You must get a good balance whilst studying. For example supposing you study for three hours it is less likely that you will remember what you studied.” He explains that if you break up your studying and your respite patterns into 20 minutes of studying and 10 minute breaks and repeat this to match those three hours you spend at a stretch there is a greater chance of retention.
The theory behind tuition classes is also the same. However, Sanjeev states that although the message he delivers is not to stop tuition but that “Tuition alone isn’t enough” and that to achieve good results it’s all about smarter working. Echoing the Bata shoe line motto “First to Bata then to school” Sanjeev chuckles “first to the programme, then to tuition.”
A father himself who has spent years working with children, Sanjeev speaks to most parents when he says “We all want what is best for our kids”. He states, “We must teach them the effects of Quality over Quantity” allowing them to believe in themselves and giving them the tools they need to apply themselves, benchmarking their own potential. With every minuscule step in the course the anxiety-ridden, nail-biting, perspiring student will evolve into a confident individual and in time Sanjeev can only aspire to bring back “The joy of studying”.
The programme will be held on the following Sundays – March 19, April 30 and May 21 at the Post Graduate Institute of Management, Colombo 08, in three batches. For more information on the course please contact Sanjeev – 0777346806 or Anusha – 0777418150.