Don’t get me wrong: It’s great if you’re smart! A healthy portion of your brain enriches your life and can open some doors for you. But you don’t need that for a successful degree.
Incidentally, numerous studies confirm this observation and do not see a person’s intelligence as the central guarantee of success in their studies or other areas of life. So don’t let yourself be fooled or persuaded that you have to be particularly intelligent to study.
Strictly speaking, the university is just a collection of people who have graduated from high school. And not more. You probably remember that you don’t have to be super smart to do this. But if intelligence isn’t the key, then what is?
It Depends On The Right Strategy
Even the highest IQ is nothing compared to a clever strategy. If you plan your studies from the beginning and lay a common thread through your student life, you will never lose your bearings and will automatically become more successful.
Even the best students sometimes fail because they act haphazardly and don’t have a clear strategy. That’s why you have to position yourself properly and think about a few strategic things about your studies. In concrete terms, this means for you: Set smart priorities, set goals, and plan your individual steps. For example, create a study plan (long-term) and plan your next exam preparation (short-term). Studying intelligently also means planning intelligently.
Structure And Organization
In addition to a strategic framework, what matters most in your studies is how well you can organize and structure your work. Because no matter how intelligent you are: if you constantly live your life and study without a fixed structure, you make stupid mistakes and never reach your potential.
At the university, you have to organize your daily routine independently and on your own responsibility. It’s not easy at first, but if you work in a structured way, you’ll be much more focused and less likely to get distracted. And that will bring you lasting success.
You need to know the general conditions for your study management: Therefore, read your examination regulations, keep an eye on the most important deadlines, and plan your semester. This will give you a solid base. And if you miss a deadline or two on important papers, there is still a way out. You can reach out to a paper writer service to get some help with the writing.
Efficient Learning
Now that you have the basic structure in place, let’s look at your core business: learning. After all, studying is about internalizing a wide variety of methods and techniques and at the same time building up a lot of factual knowledge.
But if you want to be in the top X percent of your year group, you mustn’t study in any way. It has to be efficient. Your timetable is packed and in the exam phase, one exam follows the next. There is no time for extravagant perfectionism.
Because if you’re serious about your studies and want to have a job, family, friends, and something like a private life on the side, you can’t afford to research every point in the lecture to the last detail. You have to be productive about it.
Those who learn cleverly and purposefully usually do better in the exam than those who learn without a plan or who only rely on their intelligence and talent.
Studying With Media Support
A few years ago, studying was very different than it is today. You had to gather your information almost exclusively from books or trade journals. If you had questions about the material, you could only go to the lecturer’s office during hours and with a little luck, you had 3-to 4 fellow students per semester with whom you could study. It’s different today. It is better. Easier.
We live in the information age, and we have this internet. With its help, you can call up any information at any time and conveniently read whatever you want from your computer. Any unclear vocabulary is explained on Wikipedia. For every open question, there is already at least one forum entry. And if something is unclear, you can simply post in the nearest Facebook group or the virtual learning room and ask for help.
With this media support, studying has become much easier. If you don’t know something, you just go online and get the information. You used to have to think for yourself and do extensive research. Googling today.
Network Beats Intelligence
As a lone fighter, you can be as intelligent and clever as you are at university. If you are completely on your own, you will never be as successful as with a strong network of fellow students, lecturers, and good acquaintances.
Alone you get bogged down easily and will definitely fall short of your potential. When preparing for exams, during internships and later in professional life: team players and networkers simply get ahead. So, make as many contacts as possible and get to know new people at every opportunity. Build up a large network and benefit from the dynamics – it will pay off!