4 ms·

I'm one of the "lucky ones". I never studied, hardly went to lectures during my courses and had A's all through school to postgraduate level. It's not a good t

I'm one of the "lucky ones". I never studied, hardly went to lectures during my courses and had A's all through school to postgraduate level. It's not a good thing. I had no work ethic. Everything came too easy, and never having to work for anything made me lazy. Luckily I found things that I loved and became experts at them (outside of my course) to keep me from boredom. Then I decided to start my own business, and I've never looked back. I work because I love it, I research because I love it, and know more now than I ever thought possible. Oh how I wish someone had of introduced me to a challenge ten years earlier and the amazing things that happen when you work hard at something you love.

Tichy 17y ago
How did it work - you just read the book once and you knew the material? What subjects? I also never studied hard for, say, maths at school. But the fact is, I always voluntarily did my maths homework. Not that it took me long, but still.
- corruption 17y ago
  I didn't read textbooks back then - it was mainly osmosis due to assignments that had to be done and compulsory labs/tutes I think that got me through. I do have a very good memory for important things, and a terrible memory for unimportant things - perhaps it's a filtering mechanism. Years later I learned about memory techniques that I tend to do naturally (e.g memory palaces et al). I fondly remember purposefully going into an exam completely blind, not a minute of prep and acing it. The year following was exceptionally lazy :( Regardless I look back and wonder what could have been if only I had actually studied those topics and found things I enjoyed. Since I skipped so much of it (spent a lot of time in the sun at university and went clubbing most nights) I never knew what I was missing. I've since gone back and revisited the materials and really enjoyed it. My lesson is that the goal isn't an exam result, it's finding things you find interesting enough to work hard at. Grades are beside the point entirely. If I had of gone to lectures and perhaps picked up some research assistant jobs back then I would have found my calling much earlier.
  - JshWright 17y ago
    "I fondly remember purposefully going into an exam completely blind, not a minute of prep and acing it." It's amazing how many answers can be found within the exam itself. Obviously this varies from subject to subject, but I found throughout school that exams often gave you so many answers, it's absurd...
  - d4ft 17y ago
    In essence, you were studying by doing the assignments. I don't see this as that much different than actually "studying", i.e. sitting in front of the book and learning the material. You just did it an earlier stage in a piecemeal way. Most classes are designed so that if you do the work (or whatever prep) during the course of the semester, you will need little review by the time the exam comes around. Maybe you are better at not forgetting, but it doesn't seem like your learning was any better than anyone elses (except maybe about going to lecture, although I assume many people dont go to lecture if it was anything like my school).

Tichy 17y ago

How did it work - you just read the book once and you knew the material? What subjects? I also never studied hard for, say, maths at school. But the fact is, I always voluntarily did my maths homework. Not that it took me long, but still.

corruption 17y ago
I didn't read textbooks back then - it was mainly osmosis due to assignments that had to be done and compulsory labs/tutes I think that got me through. I do have a very good memory for important things, and a terrible memory for unimportant things - perhaps it's a filtering mechanism. Years later I learned about memory techniques that I tend to do naturally (e.g memory palaces et al). I fondly remember purposefully going into an exam completely blind, not a minute of prep and acing it. The year following was exceptionally lazy :( Regardless I look back and wonder what could have been if only I had actually studied those topics and found things I enjoyed. Since I skipped so much of it (spent a lot of time in the sun at university and went clubbing most nights) I never knew what I was missing. I've since gone back and revisited the materials and really enjoyed it. My lesson is that the goal isn't an exam result, it's finding things you find interesting enough to work hard at. Grades are beside the point entirely. If I had of gone to lectures and perhaps picked up some research assistant jobs back then I would have found my calling much earlier.
- JshWright 17y ago
  "I fondly remember purposefully going into an exam completely blind, not a minute of prep and acing it." It's amazing how many answers can be found within the exam itself. Obviously this varies from subject to subject, but I found throughout school that exams often gave you so many answers, it's absurd...
- d4ft 17y ago
  In essence, you were studying by doing the assignments. I don't see this as that much different than actually "studying", i.e. sitting in front of the book and learning the material. You just did it an earlier stage in a piecemeal way. Most classes are designed so that if you do the work (or whatever prep) during the course of the semester, you will need little review by the time the exam comes around. Maybe you are better at not forgetting, but it doesn't seem like your learning was any better than anyone elses (except maybe about going to lecture, although I assume many people dont go to lecture if it was anything like my school).