Chandan Deshmukh - Six Secrets Smart Students Dont Tell You

westland ltd

61, 2nd Floor, Silverline Building, Alapakkam Main Road, Maduravoyal, Chennai 600 095

No. 38/10 (New No.5), Raghava Nagar, New Timber Yard Layout , Bangalore 560026

93, 1st Floor, Sham Lal Road, Daryaganj, New Delhi 110 002

First published by westland ltd 2014

First e-book edition: 2014

Copyright Chandan Deshmukh 2014

All rights reserved

ISBN: 978-93-84030-16-2

Typeset: PrePSol Enterprise Pvt. Ltd.

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, circulated, and no reproduction in any form, in whole or in part (except for brief quotations in critical articles or reviews) may be made without written permission of the publishers.

Contents

Dedication

This book is for you. Yes, you, the one reading this.

P.S: I know how it feels when you pick up a book, flip to the dedication, and find that, once again, the author has dedicated a book to someone else and not to you.

Not this time.

Acknowledgements

If this book is said to be a tree , I am indebted to the below souls who nurtured its growth.

Charan Deshmukh, my loving brother. To get his prompt in-the-face review about what I had written, I would wake him up abruptly even at midnight; sometimes bang the door while he was bathing, and bore him during dinner!

My Parents, Ramesh and Srimathi. Thanks for all the love, blessings and tolerating the sound of typing. Also my Fiance Meghana, for keeping me grounded and unbiased reviewing.

All my School and College teachers and in particular, MC Nagaraj Sir of Kumarans PU college, Bangalore. For teaching me more about life than Sanskrit lessons, for the preliminary edit and invaluable inputs in creating this book.

Anuj Bahri, my agent , for his sheer confidence in Six Secrets.

Westland Ltd, led by Gautam Padmanabhan, for publishing me and sharing the dream .

Karthik Venkatesh, my editor. He could be a primary teacher with his patience. If you are a debut author and lucky enough to get him on your side, your job is a cake walk.

Gunjan Ahlawat for a catchy cover design. Krishna Nair for ensuring that this book reaches you in every possible way.

Friends who taught me about smart studying, knowledgeable authors and speakers such as Shakuntala Devi, Dale Carnegie, Kevin Paul, Nina Sunday, Bharath Chandra etc. Their ideas led me to brainstorm and deep dive.

L&T Infotech team, Relatives and friends who are with me during all my crests and troughs.

You, the reader, for the leap of faith in picking up the book of a debut author.

Chandan Deshmukh

www.ChandanDeshmukh.com

Prologue

There are three types of students in the world:

• The Excuse-me
• The Halo
• The Cocktail

The differentiation doesnt depend on their grade or age or where they sit in class. It is all in the attitude.

The Excuse-mes are the guys who think-up excuses even in the best conditions needed to perform and are generally apathetic towards life and studies. They seem to be related to a species of sheep if one amongst the flock says, I cant, you will immediately hear a million echoes buzzing around.

What would they do if you questioned them about their low scores? No prizes for guessing you will hear a few more excuses:

My relatives had come from America and disturbed my studies My parents are uneducated, so I have no one to guide me The teacher didnt evaluate my answer sheet properly Unfortunately, I joined Ramesh Tutorials . If I had been admitted to Suresh Tutorials , I would have been a topper by now My kundali has a dosh .

And so on! Passive is a kind term for them.

However, students who have The Halo play a different ball game altogether. They are the exact opposites of The Excuse-me students. They amalgamate thinking and doing. Learning unique skills and imagining their prospective growth-graph rising, is their favorite pastime. The hunger for success bubbles is in their blood and if provided support, they brook no boundaries. They play the game of life passionately and always ask whats next? Problems do haunt this set of students as well; however, the attitude to face issues is the decisive factor and such students prove themselves ready to meet any challenges. The Halo students are the need of the hour.

The Cocktail? Quite self-explanatory. This category of students are aligned to the thin line that separates The Halo and The Excuse-me. Their number is growing exponentially and yes, they are vital for society to remain stable.

The idea of this book is not to pigeon-hole anybody into these three categories. The motto of this book is to ease students efforts in coping with their curriculum and get them better grades. Each student in the class, no matter if they were a topper or a low-scorer in the last exam, stands on the same starting line at the beginning of a new academic year. It is the effort you put in, which determines your position as you approach the finishing line!

As a whole, the big picture is simple. Though it makes students happy to point fingers, the adage remains true:

There may be bad teachers, but not bad students.

Chapter One:

The Mother of All Secrets

I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.

Mark Twain

The Indian Education system is similar to the Indian Railways.

If you attempt to deviate from the line, you will go nowhere, dont be left behind! Parents warn.

Turning points are critical, prepare well! Teachers caution.

The fees have increased, you have no choice! Blabber the educational institutions.

Zoom in, and you will see the pitiful students juggling to impress all the above categories!

Though Indias literacy rate jumped from 5% in 1901 to 74% in 2011, we have been instructed TO study, but never taught HOW to study. Catch hold of any passing student and interrogate him for his secret to studying, and he is bound to look around stealthily and utter, Be it any subject, I by-heart the notes. I belonged to the same tribe as well, till THAT day which made me re-think all my assumptions on the curriculum.

Which was that horrible, horrendous day which brings shivers down the spine of any average student?

A Parent-Teacher meeting!

I, then a 14 year old, was accompanied by my mom to collect the marks card of the mid-term exams, on a Saturday afternoon. I had on a timidly optimistic smile, as the arrival of my father to such a felicitous gathering had been avoided. If he had come along, it would have become more of a slaughtering, than a meeting.

I was a below-average student, sitting in the fourth row, supporting the wall. Laughing at the pranks of the last benchers, and getting help from the front benchers during a test was a daily affair.

As soon as my class teacher Mrs. Sunitha noticed me entering the staff room, she stood up from her chair and bounded towards me like a dog catcher chasing a street dog. She was a highly seasoned Math teacher who felt students could be mended ONLY by punishment. She could have tamed a lion with her piercing gaze. Her punishments would always have the following prefixes: