First all, welcome.
I congratulate you for being on this learning journey. It is a challenging journey that demands a great deal of commitment in order to achieve a high standard of performance. The fact that you are here, reading this, is a clear indication that you wish to do well in your studies. You want to reach the top or to be as close to the top as possible.
But what does it mean to be at the top?
That is what you need to sort out and to be clear about. For some learners, the target is to acquire skills for study and to use these skills to get high grades. This might be your goal as well.
For many learners, being at the top means achieving grade A or better. I don't know what your goal is, but I believe that you are prepared to work towards achieving that goal.
Let us start with this position:
You may not get the results you want, but you will get the results you choose.
What does this mean? Basically, it means that your results reflect the actions you chose.
For this reason, it is important that you continuously check and adjust your actions to ensure that they align with the results you want.
How do you check?
Check can be in the form of assignments, quizzes, tests, discussion, etc. The important thing is that you must get feedback that enables you to know whether your methods are working.
I interact a lot with students at secondary schools, and at one such interaction, a student asked me this question:
What is the point of learning if all we are doing is chasing after marks?
That is an interesting question.
Why would student feel like all that they are doing is chasing after marks? Is that how you feel?
Good marks are important. They communicate that you have something enough to excel. They are feedback. But the purpose of learning goes beyond good marks.
Here is a goal from the Secondary Education Program (Botswana)
Learners will demonstrate broad knowledge of problem-solving strategies and apply them to situations they encounter. They will show creativity, innovation and demonstrate critical thinking and enquiry skills with which they process information to solve a wide variety of problems in different contexts
Clearly learning is not about marks. In fact, good marks must come as a consequence of well-developed skill sets.
Your learning success must translate into an ability to make life work.
This book lays out a map to help you navigate the learning landscape. It is a workbook. So, you are encouraged to apply (practice) what you learn here.