the air

What defines a good student? What defines a great student? Have you ever taken the time to wonder what the differences and similarities are? Maybe a good question might be, how can there be any significant difference between a great and good student? You would be surprised as to the level of success and happiness enjoyed by good students and great students. Needless to say, there are not many differences between a good and great student, but they are noteworthy.

Differences Abound

• great students help other students
• great students take risks
• great students are pro-active
• great students are willing to fail

Help others

Great students take the time to help other students whenever they can. From my experience, many good students simply shy away from helping others because they do not want to or they do not have time. However, a great student will make time because he/she knows that by helping others, only then can you be assured of mastering a topic. In other words, by helping others, you can prove to yourself how well you know a particular topic or concept. If you struggle explaining, then your grasp of the content is not very good and you may need more time to study it. Besides, it’s always a good idea to lend a helping hand because you never know when you may need their assistance.

Take a chance

How many students do you know are willing to take a chance and try something new? Good students will follow the prescribed course plans laid out, but great students will deviate from that plan. Why? It is important for any student to get the most out of their educational experience, that is why it is essential to try new things. Risks come in many forms and some risks are not worth taking (e.g. cheating). Some risks that I have taken include taking courses that were not required or becoming President of a student organization. Sometimes risks teach students invaluable lessons which can only help them out. Sometimes those risks can inflict emotional pain and cause great suffering. Great students are willing to take a chance and risk it all for the sake of experience and fun.

Go beyond the call of duty

When I mention the term “pro-active” it means that great students go further than what is required. If you have a report to do, make it extraordinary or beyond the instructor’s expectations. For example, my instructor some time ago asked me to write a three page review of a lengthy article. When I was done, I had actually written five pages of review and my own thoughts/opinions backed up by supporting documents. In addition, I had taken the time to document my sources as well as attach a cover page. Overall, this small assignment became a full-fledged formal report which went above and beyond what was required. The end result was that my instructor cherished my work and kept it as a sample of an excellent paper. Make sure you obtain approval of your instructor if you can be creative with the assignment - very few will say no - before attempting to go all out. The best part of doing something like this is that you can learn more and ensure a great grade.

Fail and Succeed

Remember how I talked about taking chances? What if you fail? Is that something you are willing to do? Most likely not. Great students are not only willing to take risks, but also fail. They understand that failing is not exactly failure but another opportunity to succeed. Try not to look at failing as the end but rather, as the beginning of something more. Whenever I fail, I use that as an opportunity to find out what I did wrong and improve. In fact, I’ve said this to many people before and that is: would you rather succeed a thousand times and fail once or fail a thousand times and succeed once? Think about that because once you fail after a thousand successes, you will never understand why you failed. You’ll wonder and wonder and ask yourself, “well I’ve been doing everything by the book before and it worked, why now?” However, if you succeed once after failing a thousand times, you will understand that in order to succeed, you must continually change your approach because the same formula will not always work. Do you agree or disagree?

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