Learning to Study

It's strange being on top of my work for once. Relatively on top, anyway. I've never really studied in my entire life. My whole academic background has been concerned with cramming the last couple of weeks before any major test.

UPSR. Never really studied.

PMR. Never really studied.

SPM. Never really studied.

It's all been about cramming and being lucky enough to have been blessed with a good memory. I was never the smart one in my class, despite always ending up in the so-called 'top' classes. I slacked all through high school, as evidenced by the red lines and marks throughout my report card in Form 4. I actively skived off a large portion of classes during my senior years. Physics? Why bother? English? The one subject I could ace with my eyes closed. Malay? The classics bored me to death. And yet, with the SPM looming around the corner, I finally knuckled down and did some serious work the month before the exam.

My SPM qualifications led me to KDU, studying with another 30 others aiming to pursue our further studies in Australia. Out of the odd 30 of us under the same scholarship, Nik and I were the only two taking medicine among the majority of commerce and engineering students. I remember with amusement the first time we realised we were going to be going to Australia together. How excited we were... Images of being in college, finally not having to wear the school uniform, the relative freedom of it all. We were pumped. We were ready.

We had a briefing that first day, and we figured it was college, right? So in we waltzed into the class in our laidback attire and jeans. Suddenly realised that everyone else in the room was dressed formally. In baju kurungs and ties and slacks and the like. And when the briefing continued and Ms. Asbi highlighted the fact that there were students taking medicine among us, Nik and I put on our blandest expressions and tried not to look conspicuous. Heh. It was a turning point in my life, getting to know a community of semi-traditional students, who were largely from boarding schools. It was even a culture shock, of sorts.

We were unused to each other. Me, from the city, having to learn how to get along with my new colleagues from very differenct backgrounds. It was then when I realised how different boarding schoolers think. We were trained in very different trains of thought. I must have seemed very forward, very brash, very opiniated to them. Still, I learnt to change, and I believe that some things have changed me for the better. Some of them are my closest friends now, and I appreciate my college experience.

And here I am, further down the track starting my university experience. Starting to realise that my study style of cramming isn't going to work anymore. It's a whole new ballgame and I'm actually going to have to learn how to study. Steady work and constantly being on top of things. It's strange and new to me, actually knowing what's going on sometimes. Like my college experience, I have to learn to change... definitely for the better.