Feature

Want to become smart?

Sajid Mahmud

After spending almost three years in Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering here in Monash University, the most important lesson I've learnt is that “University is to learn how to learn”. It's not about graduating with first class honors or how smart a student you are.

Now only I realize that I didn't fall back in school because I didn't study hard, it's because I didn't study smart. Being said that, the energy that powers your knowledge is actually the way you think. This is the primary reason why we, Bangladeshis fall so back in education when compared to Westerns and Europeans. We just don't know how to think and work smart.

I still remember, in SSC and HSC, my math teachers used to say Practice, Practice and Practice. Even though in some cases it is true but what I've learnt here in Monash is that practice is good but thinking differently doesn't require you to practice much. So what is this different thinking? Being an engineering student, let me give you an example from an engineer student's point of view.

For all those Electrical Engineering students reading this, I'm sure you all have studied Transistors and Diodes. But have you ever thought about the reason of these components? Have you ever tried to find their application in real life and not just the typical circuit application your lectures cover? If you have a different thinking method, then the first thing you'll realize seeing a bunch of decoration lights flashing on & off is that how its flashing. You'll soon see that the Diode you've learnt in class is the prime reason for this flashing. Then you will refer your Diode knowledge and link how this flashing works. THIS is called thinking.

We come across loops in C programming almost in every C program. But have you ever tried to find its real life application? Have you ever realized that you can actually use this C programming loop in a cars computer system for automatic transmission? If you have thought of similar links while studying then you know very well what I'm trying to say.

If by now you haven't grasped the way to think then try to analyze everything in a different way. By different I mean try everything the harder way when learning. This leads to deep understanding. I'm sure you all have tried this before. If not then try finding the answer of 2x10. Instead don't just use the multiplication formula, try adding 2, 10 times. Off course you'll find the multiplication rule easier but what you'll learn from this different way is much more knowledgeable. So stop practicing the same problem over and over again and just think how it works.

This is why my Australian friend could solve a mechanical (even though he's an electrical student) problem using Fourier Transform (a mathematical process) when my other Bangladeshi friend was trying to remember what he practiced.

So lets become smart by changing our thinking and let Bangladesh provide the better educated overseas, not the other way around.

Electrical & Computer Systems Engineering, Monash University