The Unconventional Route to Academic Success

You’ve heard it the first day of every class you’ve ever taken: pay attention, take notes, study, do your homework, and work hard and everything will just be fine. But, for most, this checklist of necessities for academic success does not exactly ring true. For some, doing everything based on a teacher’s suggestion can lead them to marginal or below average performance. Is the issue in the way the student put the advice and guidelines into practice, or the stale, far too conventional way of learning teacher’s attempt with their students in a world that has seen a sudden, seismic shift to the unconventional? I would go with the latter, but that does not mean the student has no agency over their own learning, especially in a time where so many options for learning outside of the classroom. A move toward the unconventional and post-modern is the way to academic success for students in 2018.

The first thing to consider when taking this unconventional route to academic success is the internet. There are more resources than ever through which you can learn because of the internet. By this, I mean you have thousands of academic websites that post guides and academic research papers that you can use as studying guides. The research and informational guides extend far beyond just written text. There are so many video guides available on the internet on sites such as YouTube, Lynda, Dailymotion, etc. If you are less of a visual learner and prefer to learn through audio, online podcast courses are available as well.

Outside of the vast amount of resources you can default to if your prescribed learning materials from your class are not enough, the internet houses some of the foremost authorities on the topics you are covering in class. Tutoring websites such as Chegg and SolutionInn can put you in contact with fantastic tutors that are well-versed in a multitude of topics and are also ahead of the curve. Online tutors are more willing to experiment in their tutoring and mold their teachings around the preferences of the student, making the learning much more digestible and effective for the student.

So, you know that there are a multitude of resources available to you on the internet, but how is using the internet the unconventional route to academic success? Because it flies in the face of everything your teachers expect you to do as a student. They preach taking notes, reading the textbook, and using in-class resources to earn a high grade. But, the resources provided (and the ethos that goes along with restricting yourself to class resources) is incredibly limited and will not be able to actually help you learn what you need to know. Sure, you may pass a test, but if you actually want to be successful and retain the information, you are going to need to head the unconventional route and use as many resources as possible and learn from the greatest number of teachers with diverse and varied teaching styles. By remaining stuck in the box, you will only be able to learn what remains within that box. But, by not boxing yourself in, you give yourself a greater chance of learning the most information you can, leading to greater success.