4. Who is a professional?
“A person who can professionally
practice the knowledge & skills in
legal and ethical manner for own
success & the progress in the
business & social context.”
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5. Objectives of education
• Gather necessary knowledge
• Acquire required skills
o Hard (Technical) skills
o Soft skills
• Build the right attitude
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6. Result of right education
• A self sufficient & intelligent human
o Someone not a burden to family or government
(country)
• A professional who can truly serve the
society
• A citizen who is fit for the social well-
being (legal & ethical aspects)
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8. Overview
1. Effective
• Doing the right things
2. Efficient
• Doing things right
3. Passion
• Doing what you really love
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10. Right field(s) of study – How?
1. Select a profession that you really
like
o Make your objective somewhat broader
2. Select a study area(s) that help
your future career
3. Pick a study path that suite your
economy
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11. Right field(s) of study – Why?
"Choose a job you love, and you
will never have to work a day in
your life."
- Confucius
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12. Learn with a purpose
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13. Genuine purposes
• To be knowledgeable
• To be intelligent
• To be a skilled/competent
professional
• To be a respectable citizen
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14. Invalid purposes
• Your parents pushes you
• Certificate will give me jobs
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16. Overview
• Do not just do it, but manage your
studies
o Plan->Organize->Lead->Control
• Understanding is the key
• Study in brain friendly way
• Make your study pattern in
accordance with natural memory
propagation pattern
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19. Manage your studies - plan
• Managing your studies give you
better chance of achieving the
objectives
• Make your plan realistic
• Make your plan sufficiently agile and
adjust where needed
o A rigid unrealistic plan is as bad as no
planning !
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20. Manage your studies - organize
• Get all the resources gradually
o Syllabuses
o Notes
o Reference books
o Study notes
o Past papers
o Any other supplementary resources
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21. Manage your studies - lead
• You must be in control of your studies
• Teachers are there only to guide &
facilitate
• Acquiring require knowledge, skills and
attitude as well as demonstrate those in
examinations and other evaluations is
your task
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22. Manage your studies - control
• Things do not go according to plan all
the times
• There can be obstacles or challenges
that deviate you
• Its your task to periodically check the
progress and take control measures
where necessary
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24. Understanding – the key
“If you learn to remember,
you will ultimately forget.
If you learn to understand,
you will ultimately remember.”
-Unknown
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25. Understanding – overview
• Understanding leads to remembering &
not the other way round !
• Active learning promotes understanding
• You understand best when you are
relaxed
o A common myth is believing that you are efficient
under pressure
• Sorry, it does not work that way
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26. Understanding – how?
1. Get the big picture of the topics
right
2. Identify the connections and
relationships between concepts
3. Think of real world usages
4. Apply the concepts and solve
problems
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27. Understanding – how? (cont..)
• Use mind maps freely
o Give you the big picture
o Show you the connections
o Brain friendly (graphical)
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28. Understanding – how? (cont..)
• Relate things with other things
o Look at similarities
o Look at differences
• Look for following aspects of a
concept/theory
o Positive things (advantages)
o Negative things (disadvantages)
o Interesting/unique points
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29. Understanding – how? (cont..)
• Think extra yard beyond your comfort
zone
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“It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I
stay with problems longer.“
- Albert Einstein
30. What, why & how?
• To understand any concept, ask your self
following three questions;
o What?
• Example: What is calculus?
o Why?
• Example: Why do we need (purpose of)
calculus?
o How?
• Example: How to do calculus related problem
solving ?
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31. Simple, clear, short
• Make sure that you can explain any concept
in following way;
o Simple
• “If you can not explain simply, you have not
understood it well enough” - Einstein
o Clear
• If your explanation is not clear (ambiguous), that
means you are not sure enough
o Short
• If your explanation is lengthy, probably you are not
exact to the point
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32. “ The more you understand,
The less to be memorized.. and
happier you are.. “
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33. Study in brain & memory
friendly way
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34. How your memory works?
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35. The three parts of memory
• Sensory buffer
• Short term memory
• Long term memory
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36. Sensory buffer
• Very small capacity
o Few sentences/words
o A part of a diagram
• Very short term
o Few seconds/minutes
• Example usage
o You write down something explained or
written in the board
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37. Short term memory
• Relatively small/medium capacity
• Relatively short term
o 1 to few days
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“Only a small percentage of
short term memory data
goes to long term memory !!!”
38. Long term memory
• Very high capacity
• Less volatile
o Retain for long
o Difficult to forget
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39. “Once you remember something, it is
almost impossible to forget….
The more you try to forget,
The more you remember…. ”
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40. How you remember things?
• Human memory remember things as
visual images/symbols and relations
o Unlike computers, human memory is not good
at storing texts !!!
o That is why when you see traditional text
books/notes, you get sleepy
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41. Memory friendly study - Tactics
• Try and understand the concepts while
its still fresh in the short term memory
o There is higher chance of you understanding
o There is higher chance of getting those into long
term memory
• Study day to day stuffs then & there
without waiting till exams or
assignments are near
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42. Memory friendly study - Tactics
• Use visual metaphors
• Relate concepts like a story
• Relate concepts into useful
practical usages
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44. Effective Classroom Behaviors
• Ask right questions and get
clarified then and there
• Help others after the class, if they
request you to clarify something
or missed lesson
oExplaining some one else is beneficial
to both him/her and you
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46. Study Tips
• Select a convenient place
o Most of the time your home/apartment will work
o But it has some issues like ventilation/humidity or
disturbances, pick alternative place
• Select convenient time for you
o Remember that sleepless studying will add stress and
counter productive
• Have a informal plan
o No plan will get you nowhere
o Too much plan stresses you
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47. Study Tips (Con.)
• Do single task at a time
o Humans are usually bad at multi-tasking
• Study in small sessions
o Take small breaks between
• Drink enough water
o Increase concentration
• Do more active studying than passive
studying
o Prepare mind map
o Do some exercises/quizzes
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49. “You remember what you like,
what you love, or what you think
useful”
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50. Enjoy your study
• Enjoy your study & work
o Selection of right field matters here
o Study challenging things
o Study something practically useful to you and
others
o Share your knowledge with others
o Use your knowledge & skills and start
helping/serving others
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51. “Study & having fun should not
be mutually exclusive”
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53. States of understanding
1. You understand & you know that
you have understood.
o Understood & verified
o The wining situation
2. You understand, but you do not
know that you have understood
o Have not verified
o Resulting lack of confidence and undue worries
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54. States of understanding (Con.)
3. You have not understood & you
know that you have not.
o It gives you the opportunity to work harder and look
for understanding
4. You have not understood (or
misunderstood) & you think you
have understood.
o Worst & dangerous scenario
o You will be in trouble sooner or later
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55. Verify your understanding
"If you can't explain it simply, you don't
understand it well enough."
- Albert Einstein
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• Discuss and/or explain it to someone
else
• Write in a blog or social media, publish
article on studied topics
56. How to verify? (informally)
• Can I precisely define the concept?
• Can I explain it using an example?
• Do I know why (usages) we learn it?
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57. How to verify? (Formally)
• Exams
• Assignments
• Demonstrations/Viva
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59. Exam preparation – why?
• Your primary objective is learning, not
mere passing exams
• But once you learn, it is equally
important to prove the world and
yourself that you have done it in great
fashion!
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60. Exam preparation – tactics
• Consider it as a challenge!
o Yes, we all love challenges
o We want to win over challenges
• Plan and organize before hand
o Otherwise you will loose the challenge
• At least rush through some past papers
before exam targeted final preparation
o Then you know which areas are more important for the
exam and which areas are less important
o It will increase your productivity of studying
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61. Exam preparation – tactics (Con.)
• Do at least three past papers before the
real exam and verify if you are up to the
challenge
o You do not go for exams to practice, rather practice
beforehand and go for the challenge
• You cover required contents, understand
relevant concepts before the exam
o Remember that you do not go for a challenge without
required weapons
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63. Facing MCQs
• Calculate the time for each question and
manage time accordingly.
• Answer in rounds (In general in three rounds)
o 1 st round – Answer simple and less time consuming questions
o 2 nd round – Answer intermediary questions
o 3 rd round – Answer complex and time consuming questions as
time permit
• Answer all questions
• But do not answer any of the questions mere
believe in luck.
o Use elimination method to increase probability of correct answer(s)
o Pay extra attention if negative marking is applicable
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64. Facing essay papers
• Check the number of questions to answer and if
there are mandatory questions
• Calculate the time for each question and
manage time accordingly.
• Answer in rounds (In general in three rounds)
o 1 st round – Answer simple and less time consuming questions
o 2 nd round – Answer intermediary questions
o 3 rd round – Review answered questions and attempt more
difficult questions if time permit
• Answer the essay and structured essay papers
accordingly.
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65. Facing essay papers (Cont.)
• In general, answer simple, straight
and brief
o Too short answers show that you lack details
o Too long and indirect or irrelevant answers show that
you lack confidence on the subject.
• Do not write too general points, rather
present specific points.
o .Do not answer like throwing at a tree without real
aim, hoping one or two will be hit.
o Examiners know this
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66. Facing essay papers (Cont.)
• Play close attention to terms like
define, state, explain and discuss.
• Write your best points first.
• Sketch diagrams where necessary
• Provide examples where useful.
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67. Facing essay papers (Cont.)
• Use clear (not necessarily beautiful)
hand-writing.
• Use a pleasant language.
• Write interesting and unique points
when relevant.
o Especially, in answering discuss type questions.
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69. Final thoughts
• Understanding and skills are more
important than mere certificate
• Believe in understanding more than
reciting
• Study with purpose, not because of
others
• Take exams as a challenge
• Believe only in yourself, not in myths &
external powers
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71. "We are what we repeatedly do.
Excellence, then, is not an act,
but a habit."
~ Aristotle.
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72. What courses do we offer?
• AL ICT (English & Sinhala medium)
o http://auroracs.lk/al-ict/
• BIT – UCSC Degree
o http://auroracs.lk/bit/
• BCS
o http://auroracs.lk/bcs/
Aurora Computer Studies (auroracs.lk) 72
73. Premier Study Center
Aurora Computer Studies,
Summerset College,
# 135, 3rd Floor,
DFCC Building,
High Level Road,
Maharagama.
City Study Center
Aurora Computer Studies,
Summerset College,
# 88/2, 2nd Floor,
BOC Building,
High Level Road,
Kirulapone, Colombo 06
Details and enquiries :
Call - 0719 842030
E-mail – info@auroracs.lk
Web - www.auroracs.lk
Aurora Computer Studies www.auroracs.lk