For people not familiar with the UK education system, a distinction is similar to an A grade. It’s the highest possible title one can get and is required for people who want to go on to do a PhD in Cambridge. Although I don’t plan to do a PhD for now, I do aim to get a distinction (the title sounds too cool to be given up). But as I go through my courses, I realized it wouldn’t be as easy as I thought. The economics program in Cambridge’s tough. For reference, no one in the program get a distinction last year. And on average, about 3 to 4 students get it per year (for the Diploma, not Mphil course). With the odds against me, I figured that I’ve to devise some strategies to achieve my goal.
1) Study like crazy (not too constructive, but necessary)
2) Aware of my learning; stop when get lost; don’t waste time on unproductive activities
3) Analyze problems I have and find ways to tackle them
4) Find out what parts are difficult and what parts are easy for me and why
5) Practice past exam papers
6) Think about the implications of things I learned
7) Relate what I learned to my experience
8) Reflect on what I studied and consolidate the different bits
9) Summarize what I read (with book close)
10) Jog down questions, and discuss it with others
11) Get organized and make notes easy to review
12) Keep my energy level high (eat healthy and stay fit)
13) Enjoy it (or for some topics, find ways to make it interesting)
Let me know if you got more ideas or suggestions.
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