Freshman Seminar’s

HOW TO BECOME A MASTER STUDENT

BY M SAMIUL HASNAT, 2022521460113

Introduction

"How to Become a Master Student" is a book about exactly what the title implies. In
our whole lives, we spend a significant amount of time as students. But this book
forces us to rethink our careers as students. In each section of this book, the author
discussed each student's situation, what is beneficial, and how to improve it. Every
student should read and apply the techniques described in this book.
The Master Student

In the first 22 pages, the author describes what it means to be a master student
and what qualifications he has.

The first lesson in being a master student is to find what we want. We must have a
clear and detailed vision of our desire, such as where we want to reach in the third
year of our college or final year, what is next, what helps us reach that goal, how we
can learn those things, and so on.

Mastery means attaining a level of skill that goes beyond technique. For a master
student, studying is effortless, and long, long classes are not boring but interesting.
He enjoys every moment he spends in the classroom or at the reading table. Books,
notes, and other study materials are like his soulmate. The master student is one
who makes learning look easy. He works hard without seeming to make any effort.
He is relaxed and alert, disciplined and spontaneous, focused and fun-loving.

Throughout this book, we have seen lots of journal entries. These are suggestions
for writing that guide us through the master student process. Some of these journal
entries are called Discovery Statements. These statements will help us gain
awareness of the situations in our lives that we want to change or improve. An
"intention statement" is another type of journal entry. These are about our
commitment to take action. We have to use these intention statements to describe
how we can change our thinking and behavior. We know everything about where to
improve and are also committed to taking action, so finally, here comes action. If we
go through these three steps, now we must ensure that we keep doing them.

There are lots of people who think there exist secrets. But the reality is that there is
NO SECRET. We just need to love what we are doing and enjoy the journey. In this
journey, we often feel like “I’m not in the mood." Here comes motivation, it will just
push you to continue what we were doing previously.

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Discovering Ourselves

Success starts with telling the truth about what is working and what is not working
in your life right now. The First Step is one of the most valuable tools in this book. It
magnifies the power of all the other techniques. It is a key to becoming a master
student.

When we know the truth about ourselves, we need to find out how we learn.
According to psychologist David Kolb, there are two things that happen: first, we
perceive, and second, we process.

Some people especially prefer to perceive through feeling (also known as "concrete
experience"). They like to absorb information through their five senses. They learn
by getting directly involved in new experiences. When solving problems, they rely
on intuition as much as intellect.

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Other groups of people like to perceive by thinking (also known as abstract
conceptualization). They take in information best when they can think about it as a
subject separate from themselves. They analyze, think about, and develop theories.

Some people also learn by watching (also known as reflective observation). They
prefer to stand back, watch what is going on, and think about it.

And the last group of people likes to process by doing (also known as active
experimentation). They prefer to jump in and start doing things immediately. These
people do not mind taking risks as they attempt to make sense of things; this helps
them learn. They consider several points of view as they attempt to make sense of
things and generate many ideas about how something happens.

We must find the way we learn most effectively. In the book, there is a “Learning
style inventory” section. It helps us find the most effective way. After determining
the best method for learning, it is time to put it into action. The book guides us
through all the learning methods individually.

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Time

Procrastination and a lack of planning can quickly undermine our success in school.
Here comes proper planning according to the time and deadline.

Time is an unusual commodity. It cannot be saved. It is a nonrenewable resource.

Time seems to pass at varying speeds. Sometimes it crawls, and sometimes it’s
faster than a speeding bullet. At the other end of the spectrum, time flies. There are
moments when we are so absorbed in what we’re doing that hours disappear like
magic.

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Everything about time management can be reduced to three main ideas:

1. Discover exactly what we want and put it in writing.

2. Know how to get what we want and put it in writing as well.

3. Follow up by doing what we intend to do.

When we forget these principles, we can easily spend most of our time responding
to interruptions, last-minute projects, and emergencies. Life feels like a scramble to
just survive.

When we run out of time, we often try to do multiple things at once. There’s a
problem with this strategy: multitasking is much harder than it looks. Despite the
awe-inspiring complexity of the human brain, research reveals that we are basically
wired to do one thing at a time. So we need to avoid multitasking except in extreme
situations.

So we have seen that multitasking is not the solution to managing time. But there
are some truly effective ways to manage time. Now we will discuss some of those
ways.

First of all, we need to define our values. Values are the things in life that we want
for our own sake. They define who we want to be. They also help us make decisions
about what to do and have in the present moment. It is meaningful only when it
changes our behavior and lifestyle to achieve our goals.

One way to define your values is to reflect on the qualities of people you
appreciate. Describe their behaviors. Then ask ourselves what values might serve as
the source of those behaviors.

We can also define our values by creating our eulogy. This is a detailed statement of
how we want to be remembered after our death. This is not about focusing on our
deaths. It’s about choosing how to spend our time while we are alive.

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We know our values, who we are, and what we want to do with our lives. Now it's
time to plan and achieve the goals.

Many people have no goals or only vague, idealized notions of what they want. They
are wonderful, fuzzy, safe thoughts such as “I want to be a good person,” “I want to
be financially secure,” or “I want to be happy.”

General outcomes such as these have the potential to be achievable goals.

However, if we keep these objectives in a broad sense, we may become confused
about how to achieve them.

We must make our goal as real as possible. There cannot be anything vague or
fuzzy about our goals. We need to see them, feel them, and hear them. We can take
them apart and inspect every separate part. If we really want to meet a goal, then
we need to take it apart, inspect every physical action that we will take to make the
goal happen, and fine-tune our lives.

There are many useful methods for setting goals. We will learn one of them. This
method is based on writing goals that relate to several time frames and areas of
our lives. Experiment and modify as we see fit for ourselves.

We need to write down our goals. Writing down our goals greatly increases our
chances of meeting them. It is important to set specific goals. Not like “I will be a
good man,” but “I will help 10 poor people this year survive their families by setting
up their own shop in their village.”

We will set our specific goals and achieve them within a time limit. Every time we
watch our goals and our progress, we will get more inspiration to complete every
task and achieve our goals.

Here are some examples of vague and specific goals on the next page. We will set
specific goals instead of vague ones and be successful in achieving those goals.

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 Vague Goals Specific Goals

Get a good education. Graduate with a BS degree in

engineering, with honors, by 2021.

Get good grades. Earn a 3.5 grade point average next

semester.

enhance my spiritual life. Join a church in my neighborhood with

a strong tradition of community service.

Improve my appearance. Lose 6 pounds during the next six

months.

Get control of my money. having $5,000 in my savings account by

July 1 of next year.

Once we achieve our success, it’s time to look forward. Thanks for being with us.