07/03/2022
HOW STUDENTS SHOULD SPEND THE 50 DAYS' HOLIDAY.
By Sam VIDAMBU.
54 days. Yes, 54 days. That is the duration that high school students will be at home for the March~April holiday this year. They have closed on Wednesday 2nd of March 2022 and the gates will be opened on Tuesday 26th April 2022.
54 days is not a short duration of time. The stakes are too high, the times are too serious especially for the candidates who will do KCSE in December 2022. The next academic year will be the shortest ever year in the education history of our country since 8:4:4 began back in 1985.
The form four students will be in form four class for only 6 months. The form three students will be in form three class for only 5 and a half months, same to form twos. Remember, within the same duration we will have August 9th General Elections and also several exams will be done.
The way the form threes spend this holiday will determine their grades in the December 2022 KCSE exams.
They will be at home for 54 days. I am prudent. I want to show students how to spend 48 days. I will remove 6 days out of the 54 days. I will assume the 6 days will be used for travelling home, going back to school, shopping before school opens, paying school fees, the duration before which they read this article, among other activities.
48 days. I will split the 48 days into two. First, the first 40 days then the remaining 8 days.
The first 40 days. The first 40 days should be used for studying. Studying and nothing else. The 24 hours in each of these days should be split into 3. We should have 10 hours, 8 hours and 6 hours. If you add 10+8+6= 24. That's total of 24 hours in a day.
What does 10:8:6 mean? Prudently, a serious student should spend UTMOST 10 hours for sleeping while at home everyday. A serious student should spend utmost 8 hours doing other activities apart from sleeping and studying at home everyday. A serious student should spend ATLEAST 6 hours for studying at home everyday.
We are still talking about the first 40 days at home. Each of these days has been split into three. Time to sleep, time to study and time for other activities apart from studying and sleeping. My main concern is on the 6 hours for studying everyday. The student should split the 6 hours into 1 hour programs. They should be studying one subject in one hour. In that one hour they should be studying one topic. A serious student should have a daily schedule at home. Let's assume this program begins on Monday 7th March 2022. So the student should decide where the 6 hours will fall in each day. For example one might say, on Monday I'll study 'Gaseous exchange' in Biology from 9 to 10, then 'People of Kenya upto 19th century' in History and Government from 11 to 12, then 'Poetry' in English from 2 to 3, then 'The office' in Business studies from 3 to 4, then 'Pressure' in Physics from 5 to 6, then 'Logarithmic notations' in Mathematics from 9 to 10. That is an example of Monday's program. Remember, the student has studied 6 subjects on Monday alone. Considering that they are studying eight subjects, only two subjects are remaining to complete the cycle.
Tuesday's program might look like this: 8 to 9 I'll study 'Isimu Jamii' in Kiswahili, 9 to 10 I'll study 'Logarithmic notations' in Mathematics, 11 to 12 I'll study 'Excretion and homeostasis' in Biology, 3 to 4 I'll study 'Inventions' in History and Government, 5 to 6 I'll study 'Creative writing' in English, 9 to 10 I'll study 'Entrepreneurship ' in Business studies.
Cyclically, the student keeps on spending one hour to study one topic in each subject. This helps the students to go through all the eight subjects equal number of times. Most students do not know how to balance subjects, this reduces that problem.
The first thing a student should do is to make a daily routine, from Monday to Sunday. The next thing is to put subjects in the daily routine cyclically. The third thing is to assign topics in the timings of the daily schedule. Academic success loves organisation, consistency and preparation.
Success is a game of numbers. Let us think mathematically. As per the program, every day the student studies 6 subjects. We said the days for studying should be 40 days. If one day the student studies 6 topics in 6 different subjects, within 40 days the student would have studied 240 topics in 240 different subjects. But remember the students are only studying 8 subjects. So we take 240 ÷ 8= 30 topics per subject. This means if the student begins the program, within the first 40 days of staying at home they will have studied at least 30 topics in each and every subject. Let me use the example of Biology. From form one to form four Biology has 17 topics. Let me assume this student is in form two and right now their teacher of Biology has taught them upto 'Classification 2' which is the 10th topic. This means if this student begins this program now within the first 40 days they will have studied each of the first ten topics in Biology thrice (30÷10=3). To a big extent after the first forty days the student will have mastered and retained the content, just waiting to deliver it in the opener exams. Success is a game of numbers and success brings more success.
40 days have been split into 24 hours. 24 hours have been split into utmost 10 hours to sleep, 8 for other activities and 6 hours for studies. The six hours for studying has been split into 1 hours. Each hour is given a subject. The studying is done cyclically until the end of the forty days.
First 40 days have been used for studies. What about the remaining 8 days?
The remaining eight days is for conducting assignments. Teachers gave students assignments but most of them end up copying assignments instead of doing it themselves. The trick is, each of the eight days is assigned a subject. For example 41st day is Maths, 42nd day is English, 43rd day is History and Government, 44th day is Chemistry, 45th day is Business studies, 46th day is Biology, 47th day is Kiswahili and 48th day is Physics. Let me use example of 46th day when the student has Biology.
The student should do assignments like a serious exam. No copying. No referring. No consulting. Remember on the first 40 days you have been studying so it is now time to use the assignment as a personal assessment test. Within the first forty days the student was mastering and retaining the content, it's now time to deliver the content.
Parents, let us give students 6 hours every day for personal studies. Students, the next academic year will be a marathon not a sprint. You should know when to sprint in a marathon. This 50 days is the time to sprint. When you'll come back to school you'll be already miles ahead of others.
Start from where you are, use what you have, do what you can.
(THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN PATENTED BY MR SAM VIDAMBU, ANY FORM OF PLAGIARISM PARTLY OR WHOLLY WILL BE TREATED AS AN UNLAWFUL ACT IN THE COURT OF LAW).
By Sam VIDAMBU.
Vidambu is an Academic Mentor with over 1700 high schools in Kenya running his academic programs.
His Finishing Strong and Starting Early Academic Mentorship Programs revolve around Syllabus Understanding Strategies, Content Mastery, Content Retention, Content Delivery, Proper Revision Techniques, Time Management Strategies, Working Timetable, Study Book, Classroom/Staffroom Intercordination, Academic Cultures, Study Habits, among other great topics.
He is a Trainer of Principals during KESSHA conferences and teachers.
He is the President of Global Student Mentorship Center, Author, and a Lecturer.
To have Mr Vidambu Mentor your student during this holiday break call him 0743480435.
To Have Vidambu launch their Finishing Strong Candidates Academic Mentorship Programs in your school and be a Class Mentor kindly call/text/whatsapp 0743480435 (Sam Vidambu).
His Website Is www.samvidambu.com.
His page is Sam Vidambu (The Previous Articles By Him Are Found On His page)
Kindly Forward This Article To Whatsapp Groups of the Teachers, Guidance and Counselling Teachers, Parents and All The Principals you know.
To Be Added To His Whatsapp Group Full of Principals To Receive His Motivation and Mentorship Kindly Whatsapp His Number (0743480435).
You Are Blessed.
