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25.05.2018 Career & Money

How To Achieve Academic Success

By Abdullah Karim
How To Achieve Academic Success
25.05.2018 LISTEN

How to succeed academically. My presentation today will not hinged on people’s perceptions and ideas. But rather, my presentation will be blended with my personal and life experience. What I underwent during my four year stay on campus. Students have different dimensions to which they understand and define academic success.

For some, academic success is the ability to acquire a Grade Point Average that you desire. Others on the other hand, define academic success as the ability to able to get the certificate the will help gain you any befitting job of your choice. Another category of people refer to academic success as the ability to pursue any post graduate program of your choice.

All the above definitions are true and subjective. But my definition of academic success embodies all the three categorical dimensions of academic success. I will define academic success as having the ability to gain the requisite skill, knowledge and achievement that will help place you in a position to be able to able to get a well-befitting job of your caliber and to be able to undertake any post graduate program of your choice.

There are some factors though they may vary a bit, but they are very important and will help us achieve the academic success that we all sort and desire to achieve;

First, you need to set your goals, ambition and targets: It is important for us to set our goals, our priorities as well as our ambition from the very day we step foot on campus. Most of us lose track of the very essence for which we are in schools. After gaining admission into the tertiary, we forget of the very reason for which we are admitted into therein. Most people ask me on a regularly basis as to how I am able to archive the first class that I have. To this, I was able to achieve the first class through the dream and ambition I had during my stay in the university.

I did not start with a first class, But then, I told myself that I will end with a first class and throughout my stay on campus, I made sure I never forget the very essence for which I was on campus. I Pursued my dream and I was able to achieve my goal.

Firstly, you have to schedule your time: Scheduling your time appropriately and working in accordance with it, is one of the key elements that are critical to your academic success. Back at my days on campus, I had the most the hardest schedules. I had to divide my time between academics and working to support my academic’ needs. Imagine having to forego lectures because you have to work to support yourself. But then, any time after work I realized that I had an ambition and a dream to archive. I had a very strong weakness with regards to studies hence, I was not able to study beyond 11:00AM. But then my schedules was made in a sense that I had to study for at least three (3) hours every day, regardless of the circumstance around me.

It is important to know which appropriate time is suitable for your study, with that your effort will be geared to studying at that very time. Make your study schedules and stick to it appropriately.

Thirdly, know yourself: Self-identity is important in achieving the academic success that we require. Most of us lose our real self-identity from the very moment we step foot into the university. For instance, I am not from a rich home, though my family is a responsible type who is delirious of supporting me. With this, I challenged myself that I have a dream and an ambition to live. I had a vision to work very hard at the university regardless of my circumstances to ensure that what I have not been privileged to enjoy, at least the generation after me will be placed in a position to enjoy it.

This has been a great source of motivation to me. You must work very hard to achieve greater heights.

Secondly; you need to be committed: Most of us are not able to achieve the academic success that we require due to the reason that we lack commitment to the very ambitions and commitment we make to yourself. We are often unable to be faithful to the dreams, goals and aspirations that we set for ourselves. We have to own the process to the success we desire and let’s not always forget that we are the architects to our own success.

Ladies and Gentlemen; Most people fall off Never the ladder because, they give up easily. Quitting in our quest to success is something that we should never do or we should never attempt do. Regardless how difficult the process is, quitting should never be an option. For instance, though I didn’t start with first class, I managed to find my way into the first class category. This was something that was shot lived because my G.P.A dropped the following trimester. But then ,a close friend of mine called Hardi was always with me, I told him that regardless of the fact that G.P.A dropped drastically, I will still graduate with a first class. He told me that he believed in me and that I will achieve that which I want. I worked out the very best in me that trimester. I spent a little bit of time studying and gave the examiners the very best reasons to give me the Grades that I wanted. The results of that trimester was magical. In fact, it had pushed me back into the first class category and it also placed me in position of being motivated and pushed further to work harder. For quitting, it should never be an option. I know the path to academic success is full of rigor and pain, but the success that comes with it is worth it.

Maximize your Potential: -It is great identifying your potentials and working on it to achieve a better person of you. To succeed academically, it is important to conduct a SWOT analysis of yourself: identifying your strengths ,weakness, opportunities and threats. Know where your strengths are and emphasize on them.

Some people have a poor understanding of some topics but that shouldn’t be their barrier to achieving academic success ,but then , they should know that they have an opportunity and that is their friends. Make sure that your friends are able to help you to understand the very thing you are finding difficult to understand and most friends are better explainers of concepts and issues.

Evaluate your progress and take strategic decisions: -It is important to consistently monitor your success. Monitoring your progress is important as an individual assessment methods.

Monitor your progress and when things are not moving appropriately take a strategic decision. Some of the decisions might hurt our individual self or those around. But take the decision because the outcome is worth it.

Celebrate your success :Finally when the success you desire comes your way, chill out ,celebrate it and let the world know the success you aspired for, you have been able to achieve it. On the day of your graduation, others will have an opportunity to shake hands with the V.C as well as receive a standing ovation from the entire gathering. That will be mark of excellence achieve. I have had the feeling and it was amazing.

Back at my days on campus, anytime I achieved a remarkable grade in a trimester, I celebrated that success so much that I will have more quest to achieve greater height.

The joy of academics success is numerous and the benefits are numerous ,But then ,till you acquire that success ,you wouldn’t realize that.

I will like to share with you the regrets after graduation: These are thing we will regret about regardless of who we are .But then, we take some steps to handle them we will be better of it

Not making the best out of time: Time is the raw material of life and when we waste time, we are wasting our life .We have 4 years to spend on campus and 2 non-graduating years. But then we will only realize that the four year period have elapsed after we have left school and we wish that we had used our time on campus better.

I have friends who usually come to me telling me that they had wished their university days could have reversed back so that at least they will not waste their time as they did. For some, at the end of their four year stay in campus, their certificate will be like a salt .This is because though people do not reject salt, but they do not purchase it at a higher place. I have some friends, neither can their certificate help them get a befitting job or help them pursue a postgraduate program they require. With this isn’t their certificate like salt? For some they have the principle of acquiring Cs to degree. And thus ,gaining at least C in all their courses they will be able to gain a degree. But then ,if you have the opportunity to gain better grades why not exploit it?

Not getting enough work experience: For some all they have in mind is that “I want to achieve a first class” and that is all. But First it’s not the ultimate goal in life. The University environment is a opportunity for you to gain enough work experience but many wouldn’t realize that even after graduation.

It is good to realize that the University training should help you acquire some experience that will help you after school. I was in an interview in Accra and the interviewers after looking through my transcript commended me that I have a remarkable academic records. But then they realized I had an A+ in I.C.T. they were very quick to ask me how that have helped me in my current work. I was quick to answer that I.C.T has been a course that had played a critical role in enhancing my research carrying ability. Through ICT, I have been able to use about 15 socioeconomic softwares. The interviewers were amazed and asked me to list them. I mentioned 10 of those softwares and before I could mention the 11th software they stopped me and told me that for a long time they have not had such a kind of interview and that they are happy meeting me. The basic point I am trying to put up here is that, we should never look down on any course offered on campus and anything that comes our way in the University should be an opportunity of making us better.

Not asking for advice and guidance: for lack of guidance and mentoring a lot of people have not been able to achieve the success they desire. The university environment present us with endless opportunities I personally fell prey to this point I was fortunate to realize that during my first month in service and that has helped provided me opportunities that nothing of mine could have helped me to achieve.

The university environment have granted me the opportunity to work with numerous organizations such as the International Food Policy Research Institute, I have also been a field assistant on vulnerability to extreme weather Events in Cities and its implications on Infrastructure and Livelihood all these are opportunities that the university community presented me with.

Emotional Regret: being in a romantic relationship at the university is not a shame and also not being in an romantic relationship is not a a shame. but, it is important to realize that our partners should be in a position to help us be a better person in life.

It is undeniable fact that most of the relationships on campus goes no where after campus. But then, the people we are in a relationship with should always be in a position to support us and motivate us to achieve greater heights and also to be a better person of our self.

The joy of academic success is worth the pain and struggles .Lets work harder for it for indeed there is light at the end of the tunnel...by Karim Abdullah.

Abdullah Karim
Motivational speaker

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