My Personal Guide To SPM! (Part I)
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Hello there! Today i intend to give you guys a walk-through of sorts for facing...S.P.M*echo effect*, aaaand Form 5 in general. Now i'm gonna split this guide into 3 parts. For this first part, i'm gonna give y'all some tips for the SPM Life in general. Keep in mind that this guide won't magically "menjamin" your success or something, it's just merely personal advice based on what i've gone through as a Form 5 student.
So without further ado, let's begin!
So without further ado, let's begin!
How To Study Properly
You should'nt be afraid to explore new study methods that suit you. Also, you should share any bit of knowledge you have with your classmates, even the smartest ones. Because i'm telling you man, knowledge is useless without berkat. Sharing what you've learned with a friend, or helping someone do a question you find easy will help you become an even better student (or person in general). So yeah, don't succumb to boring, uninspiring ways of studying. Sometimes you do need to read and understand the traditional way, and there's nothing wrong with that. However just keep in mind, there is more than one way to climb a tree.
How To Not Feel Sleepy
Right, now this part is bit difficult for me to talk about, because i haven't fully figured out the solution yet (Even feel a bit sleepy right now (◕⌓◕") ). Buuut, i will give some tips from experience. Number one thing is don't eat excessively. Only eat what you need, and don't have junk food snack breaks often. Yeah all that ice-cream, Chatime, chocolate, and Froyo can give you a lot of sleep fuel. You can eat a good meal for breakfast, then at school have a sandwich or something. I personally found that most of the variety of canteen food from my school was just different forms of minyak or grease. For lunch, you can eat decently, but come dinner, try your best to eat lightly, so you won't have much trouble waking up, or...go having to go Number 2 when it's already 7:00AM...yikes. Jangan makan macam nak bukak puasa everytime.
You can read more about how food affects your sleepiness later. Ah now here's the big one:
I wasn't the student who revised for hours. I was more of a student who revised for 30 minutes or an hour, and then took long (too long) breaks. Everyone's limit is different, so please, do your studies according to yours. The thing that ties it all together is consistency. If you do a bit everday, it's gonna benefit you in the long run, because you've made it into a habit. It's definitely better than what i used to do, which was to cram everything in one sitting a few days before the exam. Don't listen to the voice in your head saying: "You already know this, just revise sikit sebelum exam nanti lah".
Tutions can be a great help, or a big cup of unescessary stress. For me, i took tutions for Chemistry, Bahasa Melayu, and Add Math. Two of those were just walking distance from my home, and all of them were not in tution centres. In my opinion, Tutions ni bagus kalau it's social-based. I'm talking about those tutions at your friend's house where you and your other 5 friends or so get to personally learn with a teacher. Tution centres that "teach" 30+ students and do nothing but spam you with exercises aren't gonna make getting good grades easier. They make you juggle with your school homework and tution homework. But i digress, i didn't attend a tution centre so i can't say i know for sure. Wanna know a secret i learned?
What if i told you there was more than one way of studying? "Of course la -.-". Yeah, but what i meant was did you know that studying doesn't have to be boring? I'd always thought that it's something those motivational speakers use to make their talks longer, but then i realized. I never actually tried to find "other methods". So mid Form 5, I started studying via these wacky ways. It was all experimental. Some of em worked, and some just didn't. One of the things i did was teach an imaginary audience while i was studying, acting like i already know what i was learning (No, i don't talk to myself often). It's a great way to trick your mind into thinking "you've learned this before". Another way that worked for me was making Mind Maps, Now you're probably thinking of those boring i-Think maps that they make you draw at school. Nah man, these are different.
The brilliant part of mind maps that is missing from those i-Think maps are colour. Humans tend to remember colourful things because they excite our minds. It's also more stimulating to see spontaneous;random shapes instead of linear ones. Study groups are an effective, albeit controversial way of learning and understanding tough topics. Whenever i used to participate in these, we always end up sembang-ing about bende merepek, and do one or two questions of Add Math je. But studying with friends will help you stay energized. As long as you guys berpakat untuk study for real, and help each other to the best of your abilities. I'll go deeper into how i studied using these methods in Part II. My point is, everyone will have different ways of studying that will click with them. I can't list em all here, but the ones i know of are:
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| An Example of a Mind Map |
- Talking like a YouTuber or a Talk Show host while studying.
- Drawing out what you're learning
- Using action figures to act out what you're learning
- Make exciting custom notes that won't put you to sleep
- Studying with a group of friends.
- Create acronyms like (Add.Sugar.To.Coffee)
- Online Videos (More in Part II)
You should'nt be afraid to explore new study methods that suit you. Also, you should share any bit of knowledge you have with your classmates, even the smartest ones. Because i'm telling you man, knowledge is useless without berkat. Sharing what you've learned with a friend, or helping someone do a question you find easy will help you become an even better student (or person in general). So yeah, don't succumb to boring, uninspiring ways of studying. Sometimes you do need to read and understand the traditional way, and there's nothing wrong with that. However just keep in mind, there is more than one way to climb a tree.
How To Not Feel Sleepy
Right, now this part is bit difficult for me to talk about, because i haven't fully figured out the solution yet (Even feel a bit sleepy right now (◕⌓◕") ). Buuut, i will give some tips from experience. Number one thing is don't eat excessively. Only eat what you need, and don't have junk food snack breaks often. Yeah all that ice-cream, Chatime, chocolate, and Froyo can give you a lot of sleep fuel. You can eat a good meal for breakfast, then at school have a sandwich or something. I personally found that most of the variety of canteen food from my school was just different forms of minyak or grease. For lunch, you can eat decently, but come dinner, try your best to eat lightly, so you won't have much trouble waking up, or...go having to go Number 2 when it's already 7:00AM...yikes. Jangan makan macam nak bukak puasa everytime.
You can read more about how food affects your sleepiness later. Ah now here's the big one:
Sleep.Early.
If you're already sleeping by at least 11:00PM everyday, then congratulations. If you're used to sleeping at 1:00AM though, you might need to switch up your sleeping pattern my friend. I was always skeptical about this whole sleeping early thing, because no matter how early I slept, I always struggled with waking up for school. But soon i learned that struggling is normal. It's what's happening inside your body that is affected. Sleeping early will give your body enough energy to not blank out during a Sejarah class. You'll find it easier to focus more.
By early, I don't mean 8:00 or 9:00PM lah, but i do know friends that sleep at 9:00AM. Paling lewat i've stayed up pon i think was 1:00AM, but on average, i usually fall asleep at 11:00PM. Also, make sure at least half an hour before sleeping, you're doing some intense studying or internet browsing, or you're gonna have a hard time sleeping. But yeah, occasionally, kene lah sneak in some sleep at school :).
Mind Your Limits
There's two cases of Spm students. One who studies too much, and one who studies too little. You probably see yourself as the latter. However studying and doing latihan all the time doesn't have to be torturous. Most people think that if "i don't study and write essays everyday, i will never get an A". Just because it rhymed, doesn't make it true. I'm telling you guys man, i only study a bit, and tu pon bile dah a week or two left before exams. I still played video games, watched movies, and other stuff.
I'll admit though, I should've started studying earlier. That's something 99% of Spm leavers will tell you. My advice is that you incorporate studying into your daily routine, your mental schedule. If you can get yourself to make an actual timetable, then that's better. It doesn't have to be furious studying either. Bace sikit a few pages everyday, jadi lah tu. In fact, what I've always wanted to practice is to revise what I learned in school, and of course complete your homework on time. Think of it like this, if you try to cram a wooden block into a glass jar, it's gonna break. However if you cut it up into tiny pieces and put it in the glass jar one by one, you'll be able to fit the glass jar eventually. The glass jar is your brain, and the wooden block is your Spm syllabus.
I'll admit though, I should've started studying earlier. That's something 99% of Spm leavers will tell you. My advice is that you incorporate studying into your daily routine, your mental schedule. If you can get yourself to make an actual timetable, then that's better. It doesn't have to be furious studying either. Bace sikit a few pages everyday, jadi lah tu. In fact, what I've always wanted to practice is to revise what I learned in school, and of course complete your homework on time. Think of it like this, if you try to cram a wooden block into a glass jar, it's gonna break. However if you cut it up into tiny pieces and put it in the glass jar one by one, you'll be able to fit the glass jar eventually. The glass jar is your brain, and the wooden block is your Spm syllabus.
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| "But I ain't no Yoda" |
Tutions can be a great help, or a big cup of unescessary stress. For me, i took tutions for Chemistry, Bahasa Melayu, and Add Math. Two of those were just walking distance from my home, and all of them were not in tution centres. In my opinion, Tutions ni bagus kalau it's social-based. I'm talking about those tutions at your friend's house where you and your other 5 friends or so get to personally learn with a teacher. Tution centres that "teach" 30+ students and do nothing but spam you with exercises aren't gonna make getting good grades easier. They make you juggle with your school homework and tution homework. But i digress, i didn't attend a tution centre so i can't say i know for sure. Wanna know a secret i learned?
"You'll memorize and understand better if you, on your own, decide to study"
Allow me to explain. You can do all the homework sekolah and tution exercises for the whole year. But man, i'm telling ya, if you actually make a commitment, and take action yourself by doing your own way of studying, your own way of reading, dedicate your own time for revising a chapter, you're gonna get a lot more. A lot. Because this is something you did. No teacher, no classmate, no parent forced you to do it. So psychologically, you will hold what you studied as something far more precious and valuable. I'm not saying go quit your tutions and burn your homework. I'm saying that unless you value knowledge yourself, and stop depending on others to lift you up, you'll find it tough to study.
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| "I know. Mind-blowing" |
Allow me to explain. You can do all the homework sekolah and tution exercises for the whole year. But man, i'm telling ya, if you actually make a commitment, and take action yourself by doing your own way of studying, your own way of reading, dedicate your own time for revising a chapter, you're gonna get a lot more. A lot. Because this is something you did. No teacher, no classmate, no parent forced you to do it. So psychologically, you will hold what you studied as something far more precious and valuable. I'm not saying go quit your tutions and burn your homework. I'm saying that unless you value knowledge yourself, and stop depending on others to lift you up, you'll find it tough to study.
Ok this is dangerous to do, but back in Form 5, i skipped school quite a lot, BUT FOR GOOD REASONS. Some days i knew memang takde belajar, or some yang confirm tak buat ape ape. Sometimes i don't go because i know the teacher will tell us to draw iThink maps for the whole waktu. I rather revise a chapter that i don't understand with a friend than do that. A lot of people wonder "how many hours a day should i study?" The answer is how many hours you can gain good knowledge. There is no set amount of hours one should study. Some might feel they require 2 hours. For some, 1 will suffice. All in all, you should avoid comparing yourself to other students who study for hours on end. You need to find your study preference, method-wise, and duration-wise.
Alright, this concludes Part I of my Personal Guide to SPM!. If you've read this far without falling asleep, then I congratulate you. Whatever I've left to say, will be in part III. In the next part, we'll dive into the core 9 SPM subjects one by one and how one can master them. Until then, Peace!
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