This episode is the second of three episodes that talk about how you should study if you want to become a smart student. I share my personal experience as well as that of other smart students I have gotten to know throughout my time in school.



The content is this episode is very practical and once you start to implement it, you should begin to see changes in the quality of your studies. These changes will soon also reflect in your overall academic performance.





Episode 9: Smart Student Podcast

This episode is the first of three episodes that talk about how you should study if you want to become a smart student. I share my personal experience as well as that of other smart students I have gotten to know throughout my time in school.



The content is this episode is very practical and once you start to implement it, you should begin to see changes in the quality of your studies. These changes will soon also reflect in your overall academic performance.





Episode 8: Smart Student Podcast

Hello and welcome to another episode of the smart student podcast with Dr. Ehoneah Obed your host. You are highly welcome. And if this is the first time you are listening to me, I am very grateful for listening. On this podcast, my aim is to train you to become a smart student and excel in your academics.



In today’s episode, I am talking about a particular question that has been on the mind of several students and I have had a number of students, especially my mentees, ask me. The question is how many hours in a day should I study if I want to become an excellent student? Or if I want to become a smart student?



Has that question ever crossed your mind? Have you ever asked yourself whether the number of hours you are studying could probably be the reason why you have not gotten to that level that you want to get to? Or could it be that you are spending very little or you are spending less of your time in your academics and you are eager to know what’s the actual number of hours.



Or do you even have a feeling that some people are spending way too much time learning and you are wondering why? Ok so in this episode we are going to address the issue of how many hours in a day should I study. This is a very good question anyway but there is not a straightforward answer to this question.



And I will explain why I say there isn’t a straightforward answer to this question.



When it comes to studying or the ability to study and understand. At the end of the day before your study, you have an end goal. And in a previous episode of the smart student podcast, we talked about goal setting in terms of your study. 



So you have already set a goal for yourself in terms of your study. If you are coming to set a  number of hours, that number of hours should help you achieve that set goal.



However every individual is different in their own unique ways and that is what you will need to understand in order to even answer this question for yourself.



That you are different, I am different. So if I happen to study for two hours a day it doesn’t necessarily mean that you also need to study two hours a day. There is something we call IQ and we all have different levels of IQ.



And based on your IQ (intelligent questions)you may require more time to study in a day or you may require less time to study in a day to achieve a particular result that we are looking at.



How then do I answer this question for you? How many hours do I have to study? To the best of my knowledge and experience, what I can tell you is that you need to reassess all that you have done so far.



You need to reassess all the hours you have been putting into your studies so far. So prior to this time or today’s very moment that you are  listening to this episode. How many hours have you been spending in a day studying?



Alright let’s assume you are studying in a day. You study for 5 hours. The next question I want you to ask yourself is how the results of this are. The five hours you are studying is yielding the kind of result you are looking for or not.



I just need you to appreciate this before we move on. That is not the core of what I am going to advise you to do but I need you to appreciate it. To come to an agreement that this is the number of hours that I’m studying and this is the result that I’m getting.



Is there room for improvement? Should I be looking forward to increasing the outcome or the results. Then the most important thing that I’m going to tell you about if I meet you one-on-one and you asked me this question.

Hello welcome to another episode of the smart student podcast. Once again I’m your host Dr. Ehoneah Obed.



In today’s episode, I am going to talk to you about a particular learning philosophy that I have used for a very long time. 



This learning philosophy is what I have called learning by teaching. So this is a philosophy that I have seen a number of excellent or smart students use to succeed.



Personally, I have used it all the way through my education. I can look back to my days in primary school when I was even using this not knowing how powerful it is. 



Today I’m going to walk you through what it is and how you can use it in your own studies. 



As you know this is the smart student podcast and on this show I train you to become a smart student.



So learning by teaching is one philosophy that every smart student needs to apply. 



Back in senior high school or even at the university level, I realised that almost all the very good students were students who were found teaching others or they were students who other people always engaged to be taught by them.



If you can bear with me, almost every brilliant student in your class right now has some other people looking up to them to teach them.



So that is the philosophy of learning to teach. Before I talk more about it, let me share an experience where I realise the importance of this particular philosophy that I have been using. 



When I was in senior high school, when we vacated I used to go back home. The thing is that I stayed in a different place from where I schooled. 



I had to travel to where I schooled and that is more in ” a town” so I have to go back to the village where I’m coming from. 



The unfortunate thing is that, on vacation I didn’t get anyone to take me through this source of vacation training. 



You know in the cities in Ghana we have a lot of vacation training going on and people are ready to pay and go. 



A lot of my colleagues in that same school were attending some of these vacation classes. 



However, unfortunately for me I didn’t get to attend any of them. Even when you had the money and you needed someone to teach you no one was available to teach you. 



We will come back to school and all these other colleagues of mine have gone to learn new things from their vacation classes and they are coming to show off and the likes. 



So, in my mind I’m like how do I get to learn some of these things that they have gotten the opportunity to learn because they went for classes. 



That is how all began. But, eventually I realised that even some of these people had gone for classes they still did not understand or appreciate some of the things that they’ve been taught in school. 



So eventually they came back to me. God been so good I was one of the  smart students in the class.



They will come back to me to help them understand some of the things that they have done during their vacation classes.



With time I picked up and what I started doing was that, when we come back to school I will 



make sure to find out what they have learnt during their vacation classes then I start learning them. 



Then anytime anybody came to me that they wanted me to help them understand certain things or they wanted me to teach them certain...

Hi! and welcome to another episode of the smart student podcast.  In this episode, I am going to talk to you about the topic ‘why you need to join a study group’. 



In fact, do you really have to join a study group? If you should ask me this question, my straightforward answer to you is yes you have to join a study group.



Before I even talk to you about the reasons why you need to join a study group. Let me, first of all, discuss with you some of the reasons other people have given for not being interested in joining a study group that is to say the disadvantages of being part of a study group.



 I have realized that it usually boils down to about three disadvantages or three concerns that people have when it comes to not joining a study group. The very first one that they have accepted is some sort of time-wasting. 



That is to say, when you spend time with a study group you know usually you join a group that has a number of people even though we recommend not more than seven people in a study group and maximum of seven averagely it should be around five  So five people in a study group. 



So if you have about five people in a group and you are going to discuss something usually almost every one of them has an opinion about what is being discussed. So comparing that to when you are learning alone. 



When you are learning alone, you are the only one so once you understand the concept you move on so you spend less time debating anything because who are you going to debate with. It is just with yourself. Once you understand you move on.



Unlike that of the study group because in the study group you have to discuss with others and at times you can debate over one thing for a very long time so some people who are not interested in debating with people feel that it is a waste of time.  



However, there is an advantage to this particular point which we will look at later so I don’t think that it is a valid point for you to say because of that I’m not going to join a study group. 



The second concern that people have raised is the group members may potentially have a negative impact on you depending on the kind of group that you find yourself in. You see how I ended that part depending on the kind of group that you find yourself in.  



So that should not be a reason why you will not be in a study group but it should be a reason why you have to be in the right study group. 



Alright, you don’t have a choice, you need to be in a study group if you want to be a smart student. Well, there are others who can argue that have never been in a study group before and I’m still a good student. 



Yes, it doesn’t mean that if you don’t join a study group you are not going to be a good student you are going to be a good student you can be an excellent student but I believe so well that joining a study group can add an extra level to your success. 



Who doesn’t want that extra level if you want to go further than where you have reached right now. 



Even if you are the best student in the class, there is definitely another level that you can go to, and joining a good study group or the right study group for that matter can help you achieve that next level that you have been looking for. 



As a smart student one thing that you don’t want to ever do is to be complacent with where you have gotten to there is always room for improvement and if you have not joined a study group joining the right study group  is th...

Hi! Welcome to another episode of the smart student podcast.  I am your host Dr. Ehoneah Obed and in today’s episode, I’m going to talk to you about one particular question that I keep being asked almost all the time.



A number of students have asked me this question.  Which study method would be best for me? That is to say, they asked me to recommend a way of study for them that would make them excellent students.



 In this particular episode, I’m going to walk you through how to settle on a study method or a way of study that is going to turn you into a smart student. 



With the study methods,  there are a lot of ways that individuals can use to study to achieve excellence in their academics. 



However, I have put these study methods into two main categories and we are going to discuss those two main categories. These two categories that I have put them in I referred to as the active methods and the positive methods. 



That is to say that when it comes to studying, there are active methods that you apply to study.  Active methods mean that you apply yourself. 



You need to be equally engaged when you are studying okay you have to focus on what you are studying and you have to plug a certain period of time to invest into studying that will become an active method of studying. 



The passive method will refer to as, when you have time or you are doing something else but you can equally be learning at the same time. 



Passive methods unlike active methods do not necessarily need too much of your focus.  I am therefore going to break down these two categories of study methods that I have mentioned so that you appreciate them and know how to use them. 



When it comes to studying methods the problem that a lot of you have and I think I should make clear here before we even talk about the various study methods is that, one in school mostly you have less time to study. So that is your problem or that is the first problem that almost every student has, less time to study. 



Then secondly, it is about your ability to even remember the things that you study. So there are a lot of things that you need to study and you have to be able to recall all these plenty things that you are studying. 



Hence anytime that you are studying you want to make sure that you have made good use of the time that you have.



 So the little time that you have you should be able to learn as much as possible and the lot that you learn within that short period of time that you have you should be able to remember as much as possible. 



How then do you achieve these two things?  How do you spend the little time that you have learning a lot of things and being able to remember all these things especially for the sake of your exams? so that when you write your exams you’ll be able to come out with flying colours. 



Now let’s take active learning.  Most of you or I would say that most students are actually aware of the active study methods. 



When we talk about the active study methods that most students use is just sitting down and reading your books.



So  a lot of you are used to it.  When you go to class you are taught something and you come back home. The only thing you have to do is to sit on your book and read it.



As  you know this is time involving, which means that it is an active method of studying because you need to plug a certain time for yourself and sit over it.

Show Notes



Hello and welcome to another episode of the smart student podcast. Once again, I’m your host, Dr. Ehoneah Obed. And in today’s episode, I am talking about the reason why you need a mentor.



So whether you like it or not every smart student needs a mentor. Yes, take it from me that every smart student needs a mentor. So if you have gone through school without a mentor, then this is the time to rethink it.  And in this episode, I am going to share with you the reason why you need a mentor. 



When I refer to a mentor,  I am referring to anybody at all that you can talk to that can share some insight with you about your academics, how to succeed academically. or can share with you some secrets in the particular level that you find yourself.



So in choosing an academic mentor for that matter you need to choose someone who has been where you are before. What I am trying to say is that you are not going to choose somebody who is in the same class with you as your mentor neither are you necessarily going to choose someone outside the program that you are studying. 



If you want to choose the right kind of mentor that is still referring to an academic mentor then you have to choose someone who is probably a senior colleague of yours who read or read the same program that you are currently reading. 



Here are the reasons why you need a mentor. When I went to the university actually, It was very unfortunate that I did not know anybody in my faculty and  I didn’t know anybody who was reading the Doctor of Pharmacy Program at the time and hence I was on my own for a long time.



It was right before the mid-semester examination I came across someone that I knew was actually in the faculty.  And that is how a mentorship relationship began.



What they do for you is that, since they have been where you are now before,  they know the secrets. Some of them did things that helped them succeed and some also did things that did not go well for them or that affected them negatively. 



So as you get any of these people, having a mentor in this case when I refer to a mentor, it could be a former mentorship program. Some faculty or some schools have established a former mentorship program where they pair you with a senior colleague. 



But whether it is a former or an informal one. You talking to the person and not necessarily establishing it on paper that you are my mentor and I am your mentee. It could be your own friend who is actually ahead of you.  But in your mind, you have to see it as some sort of mentorship.  And these are people that you can walk up to at any point in time to listen to the secrets that they have to share with you. 



The reason why you need a mentor  is that:



The mentor should have secrets to share with you.  And the secret should be centered on two things. That is if the person is a very good student or the person is one who is doing very well academically. Then you want to know what their secrets to their academic excellence are.



So what is making them succeed academically?  Let them share that secret with you and if however, your mentor is one person who is not doing so well in terms of the academic then you want to find out why they are not doing well. 



Some people will give you the advice that you should always choose a mentor who is academically stable, a mentor who is doing so well. Alright but I have a counter view on this. What I advise is that whoever you are choosing should have some secret to share with you and the secret could be sec...

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Smart Student Podcast. Once again I’m your host, Dr. Ehoneah Obed and in today’s episode, I’m going to talk about “goal setting” for students.



In fact, every student has a goal to succeed in school. I know that you would agree with me that even before you started school, that is one expectation that whoever took you to school as your parents or your guidance had of you. They expect you to succeed in school and come out to work,  make money and live a happy life. 



But something that students get wrong is how they go about setting their goals. So even though you have a goal to succeed, that is a very generic goal. And at the end of the day, you as an individual have to also sit down at any point in your academic life to set goals for yourself.



So specifically I am talking about academic goals. And in this particular episode, I am just going to hammer on some of the issues that l found that students make when they are setting their own goals. And I would lead you in the right direction as to how you are supposed to go about your goal setting.



The first issue that I have found out about students and how they set their goals is that you usually set vague goals. The goals you set usually are too vague to stand that you can not really make meaning out of them.  



Let me explain further, for instance, you want to succeed as we all know that you want to succeed. But if you set a goal like this academic year I want to succeed.  That is a vague goal. What is success to you? Because obviously what is success to you may not be a success to another person.  You know,  so you have to be more specific. 



Have you heard about the word ‘smart goals’? Alright so at any point in time when you are setting goals you aim at setting smart goals.  And SMART is just an acronym so the ‘S’ is for Specific, your goals should be specific.  



The  ‘M’ is for measurable, your goal should be measurable. So at the end of the day, you should be able to measure it. Then the ‘A’ is achievable. Your goal should be achievable. Don’t just set any vague goals at all, make sure your goals are achievable. ‘R’ is realistic so your goal has to be realistic. 



So we have specific, measurable, achievable, realistic then finally we have time-bound. Your goal should be time-bound. So this is how to set a great goal or how to set a goal the right way. 



Let me summarise all these that the acronym smart is telling you to do. When it comes to goal setting, you have to set results-oriented goals. So your goals should be results-oriented. 



For instance, if we are still talking about the goal of succeeding which I said is vague, you can come in and say that okay for looking at my performance last semester I got this grade in this course so this semester, I want to increase it by let’s say 25%. 



Okay so by 25% you are going to be able to calculate what that 25% is. So for instance, if I had a 59% in a particular course and I intend to increase it, I could set a goal that in this particular semester, I want to get a grade of 80 let’s just assume that is my goal.



So in this way, I have made it results-driven. My goal is now specific. I need to achieve 80. In the planning stage, that is also one mistake that people do. You set goals but you do not plan towards achieving the goals.  So at any point in time when you set a goal you have to also draw out a plan to achieve that goal. 

Succeeding as a student has everything to do with the kind of mindset you have. In this episode, you will understand how important mindset is towards achieving academic excellence.