WHAT DO I NEED TO PASS ANY COURSE?
Like any serious endeavor in life, there are resources and tools that one must need to perform well. Having the right tools would really go a long way in making you achieve so much with little stress. Most students do not know this and so they end up exerting so much energy on what they would not have needed to strain so much. Imagine someone trying to loosen a tight and hot bolt with his/her bare hands, instead of a spanner. But, this is what some students actually do to themselves unknowingly whereas the wise ones are utilizing it to their gain. Without much ado, I must let you know that there are at least five things which you (as a philosophy student) need to pass any philosophy course. Performing very well is guaranteed if you learn to skilfully combine these five things. In the right order of importance, they are;
2. Past question papers
3. Course text
4. Class notes and manuals
5. Personally researched information (gbemu)
Course outline
A course outline is a mini syllabus representing all the topics and sub-topics to be offered in a course during the semester. It is usually in the form of a list and it is given by the lecturer at the beginning of his first lecture in a semester. It is very important that you get a written copy of the course outline because it would help to guide you in choosing the right topics to read. In other words, you would not just have to start reading any and everything you feel is right about the course. Doing this could make you waste much time, effort and reap very little. It is wise to follow the guidelines of a course outline so that it would channel your studying efforts along the right lines. So make sure you always get the course outline and if the lecturer has not given it, request for it either directly or through the class representative. However, you must know that you should not just use the course outline alone; it should be studied alongside past question papers. This would help you to know those questions which tend to repeat themselves.
Past question papers
Past question papers are the archived resources of previously written examinations in any particular course. They are not to be found for sale but would be found with some colleagues. In fact, past questions are everywhere; just ask your fellow philosophy students. Past questions are like an expo into the likely questions that may come out during examinations and tests. This is because the course outline of a course rarely changes from semester to semester; so, it is only normal that some questions would be repeated year after year. However, you must know that lecturers do not usually give out questions in exactly the same way. They tend to twist the way they present the words but if you study them well you would see that they are all saying the same thing due to some particular keywords. This is why you should study the course outline alongside the past question papers. Whenever you notice a particular question that repeats itself in almost two to four different years of examinations and that this same question is included as a topic in your course outline, I can bet you that the question would surely come out again. Understanding this gives you an edge as you could start planning how you would answer some questions as they would come out during examinations and tests.
Course text
A course text is simply the textbook(s) that was prescribed by the lecturer as the relevant study aid for the course. It is meant to act as a guide and an information supplier. Your lecturer might prescribe 1 to 5 or more course texts for you, but you might not need to get them all; it only gives you various options to pick from for the sake of variety. Please, do not make the mistake of reading and digesting every word and letter in the course text; this is not necessary as you would only end up over stuffing your brain. The lecturers do not need stories all they need to see is that you understand what they lecture. So, the course text should serve as an information pot, to get the relevant ideas in answering those questions you believe would repeat themselves according to your study of the ‘course outline’ and ‘past question papers’ you must have gotten.
Class notes and manuals
These are the notes you would write in class when the lecturer is lecturing. Some lecturers give notes while some simply talk while the students jot down relevant points. The advantage of this is that it helps you to see what is in the mind of the lecturer regarding any particular topic. This would help you to strategize and plan how you would fuse the information gotten into your plan of answering those regular examination past questions. It pays off to jot down some points while the lecturer is talking because there are some things he or she might say that you would hardly find anywhere else and it could help to ease your stress of research and study.
Personally researched information
This is a very special kind of information that you get from your personally carried out research. It is the type of information that you would not like to share (for no reason) until maybe after it has been used in test or exam. Some folks popularly call it ‘gbemu’. It is this element that has the highest potential of making your work stand out from others in concept, by giving it that extra spice. This is because no one may know how far you have gone to get very special information that is hot. It may be gotten from the interviewing of a professional or specialist tutor in that particular field; it could also be gotten from special materials like encyclopedias, periodicals, journals, novels, anonymous textbooks, educational magazines and of course the internet.
Obviously, when you combine all these five things in your quest to conquer any particular course, you cannot complain of being information strapped or stranded. In fact, you would surely have extra information. But, do not be tempted to use it all; sit down and plan how you would want to answer each question. Sift out the chaff from the wheat and I bet that you would always be confident when entering the hall to write any paper. Your brain would be virtually smoking hot!
