Secondary level school work can be demanding, and therefore students need to be ready for the rigour. With support from teachers in school and parents at home, their journey can become well-ordered and successful. That is why, at Global Indian International School (GIIS), we keep the lines of communication between students, faculty and families open.
We also understand that secondary school can feel overwhelming at times, and we have multiple safeguards in place for our students. Still, sometimes the best advice comes from those who’ve undergone a similar journey. To that end, GIIS went right to the source — our students, the Class of 2022 alumni, who generously shared some effective tips with us.
Useful tips from the Class of 2022
We asked some of our IBDP and CBSE alumni, who graduated top of their classes – Aabha Gokhale, Kevin Rodrigues, Prachur Khandelwal, Mahi Rathi and Shalini Jha what advice they had for their juniors in school, and we received some profound insights.
1. Adopt a Growth Mindset
Mahi, a CBSE 2022 topper, strongly believes in nurturing a growth mindset. It’s excellent advice both for school and life, which is why GIIS has always worked to help students develop a growth mindset. Understanding that you are more than your grades or your athletic prowess can take students far after graduation.
“It’s this belief that our talent or our intelligence is not deep-seated or fixed. It is something that you can nurture over time. It is about leveraging these failures as learning opportunities. My father always tells me, ‘All for the best’. There are some things that are not in your control, and you just have to give your best and not worry about the results.”
2. Develop a Focussed Outlook
Kevin, a 2022 graduate of the GIIS IB programme, was taught from a young age that it’s important to establish goals and to have a concrete vision of what you’re trying to achieve. He learned it from his mother and is a firm believer in the power it holds:
“Have a vision ahead of you, what you want to see yourself become. [My mother] always tells me, ‘’If you knock on a door, it will be open to you. And if you ask, you will receive it.‘’ That’s also how business works. Have a vision statement. Have a mission statement. And, keep following it until you get there.”
3. Try not to make the same mistakes twice
Aabha is a graduate from the GIIS IBDP programme who discovered early on that it pays to check and recheck your work, whether that work is a final exam or just a weeknight homework assignment:
“Something that’s helped me is noting down every time I have erred in my exams, or past papers, or my homework — any time, really. So that even if I make mistakes, at least I’m not repeating the same mistake.”
This is great advice and simple enough for all students to master. By simply making notes of corrections and keeping those notes at the ready, it becomes much easier to spot your problem areas. As a result, you’ll be less likely to repeat your mistakes. This technique can also help you drill down on areas that require more time and study.
4. Stay Organised
Aabha’s advice also nods to the power of organisation. Having a clear system of organisation is absolutely necessary for students who are navigating the challenging IBDP.
It’s vital to know where your notes are so that you can look back over the material. And finding time throughout the week to revisit is preferable to trying to cram all the information into one overwhelming study session the night before the big exam.
5. Master Time Management
If you ask Prachur what helped him excel in the IBDP, you’ll get a short lesson in time management:
“Learn how to manage your time effectively because you want to be able to do everything in addition to your academics … You can’t lose focus on your academics, but you also can’t compromise on your hobbies or your social life.”
As anyone who’s completed the IBDP can attest, it’s a holistic, well-rounded curriculum that challenges students on different levels, including academics, self-management skills, extracurriculars and social involvement, as well as other areas.
By learning how to juggle tasks effectively, students may not only get more out of their day, but they’ll ensure there’s still plenty of time for rest and recreation.
6. Prioritise: Get more done
Always on the heels of time management comes the skill of prioritisation. Students who can effectively prioritise tasks by the due date, importance, academic weight and more are usually more successful.
Knowing which tasks require more time and which should be completed first can make even the most stress-filled week feel more manageable.
7. Push Through
There may be times when students feel like they’re drowning in a sea of work, but Shalini says it’s best to just push through the hard times. She claims to owe part of her success to her ability to stay focused:
“I would say, just stick through it … The last few months are probably the most important. Those are the last few months where you really have to put yourself fully into studying and just focus on it.”
Shalini was a CBSE 2022 topper, and the recipient of the prestigious Global Citizen Scholarship award.
8. Stay Driven
Motivation comes easier for some students than it does for others, but most are capable of increasing their motivation if they make it a priority.
Simple tricks such as setting small, achievable goals, breaking down big tasks into more manageable steps, and surrounding yourself with positive people have all proven effective at increasing motivation. And highly motivated students tend to have more positive outcomes in school and life.
9. Ask for Help when in need
GIIS educators and administrators understand that it can, sometimes, be difficult for students to gauge or admit they need help. But learning how to reach out and claim those resources that are open and available can make those secondary years run so much more smoothly. To this end, the GIIS staff and faculty are dedicated to making themselves available to students needing guidance.
Also read: Tips on selecting a good university: Hear from a GIIS and Harvard Business School alumnus
10. Get Enough Sleep
Life is full of optional tasks, but sleep isn’t one. Students, especially teens, need a required number of hours of quality sleep each night in order to function well throughout the day. Make sure you’re giving sleep the priority it deserves, and don’t have consecutive, all-night study sessions.
GIIS students have a strong track record of being accepted into prestigious universities across the globe, year after year. In 2022, 26 students emerged as IBDP World Toppers (45/45) and Near Perfect (44/45) scorers. Meanwhile, our CBSE 12 students also performed exceptionally well with the highest score of 99% and an overall school average of 85.8%.
If you’d like more information about the benefits for your secondary school child for enrolling in an international school such as GIIS Singapore, we invite you to connect with an admissions counsellor today.
Shubhdarshani Mitra
Shubhdarshani has over 10 years of experience in content creation, curation and editing. She has worked for Indian newspapers, school magazines and international news websites where she worked closely with the leadership on the execution and communication of the content strategy. Aside from work, she’s a passionate B&W photographer and storyteller.
