[Views expressed here are not officially endorsed by ISI.]
Welcome to ISI. I am sure you are all very good students. But
possibly you feel a bit apprehensive about whether your good
days will continue at ISI. Indeed, this apprehension is
justified, as ISI days are going to be rather different from what
you have seen so far.
If you think carefully you'll notice that
your good academic career so far has depended on these three factors:
You lived in a supportive environment (your parents cared
for you, maintained daily routines, kept disturbances away
etc).
You knew the exam patterns well in advance (using textbooks,
private tuitions etc).
You were way ahead of your class. So you could spend time
pursuing your own ideas (hobbies, solving difficult math problems,
whatever) without sacrificing class performance.
Here at ISI the first two points are definitely missing! And the
third point will also be missing for most of you.
The hostel environment (with its poor maintenance and
boisterious inmates) is far from what you are used to.
Most teachers teach based on their personal intution about
the subject, and do not follow any textbook. Exam patterns may vary
drastically from year to year and teacher to teacher.
Typically at most five students in each class can boast to
follow everything discused in a lecture. And even these students
may founder in certain classes.
None of these points can be changed easily. So you need some way
to survive in spite of these.
Don't expect to understand everything. But carefully keep
track of what you are understanding and what you are not (and why).
Here is how this may be achieved. Maintain one fair note for each
subject. It could be the same as your class notes (if you have a
good fast handwriting), but having a different fair note is more
effective. In this fair notebook, you'll write down all the
things that you have understood and, for each unclear point,
identify where the problem lies:
Do you know the definitions of all the terms and symbols? If
not, underline the unclear ones.
Do you think that this step is wrong? e.g., you seem to be
able to find a counterexample? Then jot down your argument in
the margin.
Do you have no idea why this step is correct? Write "How?"
in the margin.
You understand the step, but you do not see any
motivation behind it. Write "Motivation?" in the margin.
Do not spend more than 5 minutes to decide these points for each
step. The important thing is annotate like this all the class
notes on daily basis. Do not get stuck up with any single problem
before you finish doing the above to all the notes for that
day. It is like appearing in a competivie exam with lots of
MCQs. Spending too much time on one may mean missing an easy
question later on! It is not very difficult. But this
single technique will allow you to survive quite merrily at
ISI. Many of your problems will automatically go away when you go
though your annotated notes before the exam, because many
questions get answered down the way. Also, you'll have precise
questions to ask your teachers instead of a confused request like
"Could not follow anything for the last month, please help!".
Teachers at ISI sometimes experiment with the course
structure. If you feel that things are not working out well for
you, you must first inform the teacher. Doing so collectively is
a good idea. There are teachers who appear unfriendly in class,
but area actually quite friendly when you visit them in their
offices personally. Do not get irritated with a teacher before
talking to him/her personally at least once. If the
teacher's response is not satisfactory, then talk to the class
teacher about it. If even that does not solve your problem, well,
then start believing in God so that you can blame Him!
If you are new to hostel life or are not familiar with Bengali or
Hindi, then chances are that you'll initially hate hostel life
here. That is natural. But let me assure you that when you'll
eventurally leave ISI, you'll miss
that very hostel life that you had once hated! The key to start
loving the hostel life is to actively explore ways to love it. The worst
mistake that you can make is to sit inside your closed hostel
room immersed in cyber space pretending that you are still back
home. Make friends (take the initiative), play, read story books,
and above all don't skip meals or sleep. If you have some hobby,
don't just leave it saying "I don't have enough time any more". Also explore the nooks
and corners of the campus, the rooftops, ponds, the new building
under construction, and the strange
hidden stairways in S N Bose Bhavan (I leave you to find them!).
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