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We were all students more than once in our lives. However, a good student
will know that he/she will probably be a student all their lives.
—Jonathan Tan, ’92 DEN
Balance. A good student balances his grades with his social life; his
wants and needs with the needs of the community; his fun time with work
time; his sense of the world and the impact he can make with the smallness
of his being; the sciences and the humanities; reality and his philosophy.
—Oscar Lee, FASS ’94
A good student is usually inquisitive and never fails to ask questions
that sometimes pose difficulties for the teacher.
—Dominic Leung, DEN ’75
A good student is one who puts thought into assignments and exams and
shows a willingness to critically apply concepts to real-life situations.
He/she wants to know where they went wrong in their exams.
—Eugenia Peck, FASS ’89
A good student has a positive attitude and strives for betterment, integrity,
etc. Academic excellence is not the only measure of a good student but
is part and parcel of it; it may be the result of a positive attitude.
—Sim Meng Hoe, SCI ’93
What makes good students good? Clear priorities and values. Time management.
Understanding, not memorising. Explaining concepts to friends who don’t
understand; this reinforces your understanding. A support/study group,
if it helps. A positive attitude: make yourself think you like the subject,
lecturer, your performance and most importantly yourself.
—Lim Kien Hwa, ENG ’91
Good students can see relationships and links between subjects that form
their coursework; a more holistic view enables them to make inferences
and gain new insights.
—Anonymous (alum)
In the “real world”, one of the critical “x” factors
is the ability to make good decisions based on limited information. An
under-emphasised aspect of education is the student’s ability to
give an answer—any answer. Students should try to give the best
answer possible based on available information rather than trying for
the “right” answer. The teacher’s ability to cultivate
an atmosphere which supports this is priceless.
—Edmund Tan, FASS ’88
A good student is one who has a “burning desire” to learn
and excel.
—Pallavi Ganotra, ENG
Good students treat failure as a key to the next success.
—Koh Meng Hong, ENG
University education is really about training the mind; being quiet during
tutorials and nonchalant on issues around us defeats the purpose of “testing
the ground”. People are so afraid to give the wrong answer. There’s
more to life than always agreeing and copying down everything the lecturers
say.
—Joe Lim, FASS
A good student has good integrity (no cheating, no lying, no breaking
sensible rules), a vision for his/her future and competence in his/her
subject.
—Dije, ENG
A student is good only when he uses his brains when listening, talking,
reading, etc.
—Kam Yuli Agnes, FASS
Are most Singaporean students slogging through school to attain flying
colours or to get an education? Consider the ultimate rationale and desired
outcome of your study. What does it achieve? Is it important after all?
—Wong Kok Leong, FBA
It is unfortunate that learning has been conflated with studying. Learning
is a process of becoming, an experience of discovery that you must want.
—Alfred Pang, FASS
It is better for students not to be compared.
—Li Rongqing, ENG
Good students never cease to wonder. They accept that better answers may
exist and that there may not be a correct answer.
—Anonymous (student)
Many NUS students regard university education as a means to obtain a degree
which serves as a passport to getting a well-paid job. They take a very
functional view towards university education. As a result, they seldom
seize opportunities available to them on campus—opportunities that
do not contribute to better grades but definitely to a broadened horizon.
—Wong Wai Quen, FBA
A good student should be simple, not have so many intricacies in the mind
to profit himself by hurting others. He should be responsible, considerate
and open-minded. In order to make a good society for us and others, we
need to be cooperative and put more concentration on conscience, morality
and mutual understanding.
—Tan Mingran, FASS
A good student seeks the truth by exercising his/her freedom with personal
responsibility; strives to have good values/morals; strives to excel in
his/her field of study; is a good communicator and user of communications
media; serves all through good works and knows how to plan for the future
to be of maximum benefit to all.
—Javier Calero Cuervo, FABRE
I found group effort extremely conducive for learning (e.g., students
getting together to talk about a subject, presenting (sometimes conflicting)
views, attempting to persuade others, appealing to rational standards
for justification, etc.). This is a very active form of learning, more
than just absorbing what others have to say, it is articulating and defending
beliefs in the common pursuit of learning. Much depends on being in an
environment where this kind of student interaction is encouraged. For
instance, departments will have to be less worried about students “copying”
from each other, or that students might come to share similar ideas in
their work.
—Loy Hui Chieh, FASS
Good students show respect towards their lecturers/tutors in all circumstances,
irrespective of whether a teacher is boring or interesting, and regardless
of the teacher’s personality. They pay attention when the teacher
is speaking and turn off all pagers and handphones as an act of courtesy.
—Anonymous (student)
A good student considers a teacher as a guide who can show him/her the
path to obtain knowledge but not as a “pundit” who knows everything.
—Harsha S. Kumarawadu, FASS
A good science student is one who knows the fundamentals in his subjects
well (one can do very well in exams even with very shaky fundamentals).
Good students are also articulate, especially during discussions in class.
A good learning environment is one where information and ideas, instead
of being kept individually, are shared and everybody learns together.
—Chin Yuen Yeen, ENG
The one “eye-catching” characteristic of good students is
not very honourable. They tend to keep to themselves more than one would
like. Should a weaker student who is not their close friend approach them
for help, they will not aid them with enthusiasm. It’s like the
poor getting poorer and the rich getting richer as the poorer students
have to turn to each other or lecturers (seldom) in order to get some
much needed help.
—Hoo Wah Kwei, ENG
It is unfortunate that learning has been conflated with studying. Learning
is a process of becoming, an experience of discovery that you must want.
—Alfred Pang, FASS
A good student is self-motivated, energetic and looks for work instead
of being chased by it.
—Ouyang Xiuzhang, FBA
Because our educational system focuses on grades, the best students in
secondary and JC levels try to outdo each other by throwing more facts
into their exams. They carry this mentality to NUS where their essays
are flooded with facts and they seem very pleased with themselves. No
wonder the rest, and even the teaching staff, find the phrase ‘good
students’ beyond comprehension.
—Anonymous (student)
A good student can get As even if no attention is given to him. He can
sleep in lectures, miss tutorials, go on a date during exams. There are
no mundane methods of being a good student....they are born with it.
—Lim Teck Cheng, ENG
When a good students learns something, he/she is able to figure out the
feeling of discovering it.
—Wang Shiqiang, ENG
A good student is not afraid of admitting that he/she is ignorant of
many things. The trend here is that students are often afraid to say “I
don’t know but can you please tell me” because they think
that they are expected to know a lot of things.
—Anonymous (student)
Good students manage to do well in their studies without neglecting other
aspects of their lives such as their social, spiritual and physical (health
and fitness) spheres. Such people are a rarity and should be recognized
for being well-rounded individuals!
—Phang Yin Pin Francis, FASS
A good student has an honest desire to excel in his endeavours, not for
prestige, fame or fortune, but simply to be true to himself and his parents.
Good students strive for what they believe in, work hard to achieve their
goals and to succeed, through sheer determination and, of course, a wee
bit of luck.
—Elias Michelle Anne, FASS
A good student is willing to share knowledge and smart observations in
time (i.e., ask original Qs during courses as implication for others)
with other classmates; able to initiate others in discussions, leading
to a creative atmosphere; an exemplar of an aider to other classmates
without prejudice; has the courage to raise counterpart issues on well-accepted
ideas.
—Du Jian, ENG
Good students do consistent work. They read before lectures and do tutorials
conscientiously. They contribute constructively in class and ask questions
when in doubt. They do their share in project work and are willing to
lend a helping hand to friends who are not coping well.
—Tim Ngiap Chen, FBA
Here is my frank opinion of the various definitions of a “good”
student.
- Good as in dean’s list material. In my faculty, once you mug
like hell and remember all tutorial solutions, straight As is almost
a certainty.
- Good as in eager learners. These are people who don’t usually
get to the dean’s list because they aren’t obsessed with
grades. They read widely and have a impressive the amount of knowledge.
People in categories 1 and 2 are usually mutually exclusive.
- Good as in ECA overachievers. Some of them train very hard to be
great athletes, that’s their secret. But not all these people
are mutually exclusive with category 1.
- Good as in wanton learners but don’t have the luck to excel
in grades. They study, practice hard and know their stuff, but it’s
against their principles to memorise tutorials, so when it comes to
exams they are always one or two tutorial questions behind. They are
often from category 2 and don’t think much about people in category
1.
—Anonymous (student)
Is a student good because he is able to answer questions? Or is a student
good because he is able to pose questions? Some students are able to juggle
an all “A” revue of results with an active ECA/hall life and
a romantic life as well. Others find it hard even to achieve an “A”
in any course. The question then might be: Are good students made or born?
—Anonymous (student)
To good students, the known is not taken for granted and the unknown
is a chance for a breakthrough.
—Tok Kiat Siong, ENG
Good students believe that “knowledge is power” and “life
is a continual learning process”. They are open-minded and constantly
review (and update and relearn when necessary) what they know and believe.
They understand the importance and purpose of examinations, but are not
overwhelmed by them. They believe in the importance of camaraderie among
fellow students and the need for cooperation. They are concerned about
issues and happenings and are ready to research, discuss, evaluate and
make objective deductions.
—Leong Saw Wei, ENG
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