5. Turning the invisible into the visible

Now, you have been studying hard and (hopefully) also smart but have you asked yourself what you have been trying to achieve so far ? Do you want to get a full marks in mathematics 1 and 2 ? Do you want to get distinction grades for all the foundation units ? or including all the further units ? Or do you just want to get 5 distinction grades so that you get a First Class Honours classification ? Ladies and Gentlemen, let me introduce you to the concept of "Achievements".

Let me sidetrack a bit, I used to play World of Warcraft and got the concept of "Achievements" from this game. Now you see that being a gamer is not actually a bad thing.

The purpose of "Achievements" is to offer satisfaction to goal-oriented people who manage to overcome the challenges. You can think of it as a recognition to your hard-work. Here are some list of Achievements that I have thought of during my studies.

 The list given above is definitely not comprehensive. Feel free to add more on your own.

The achievement number 6 was originally named "Flawless Victory" but when I told my friends about it, their reactions were "Are you nuts?" and I decided that their expression was more appropriate.

The achievement number 7 is only applicable to degrees which only have 4 foundation units and BME is one of them.

I was inspired to introduce achievement number 8 during my third year. Third year BME was one of the most stressful years in my life. I found out that the competition for the LSE External Study scholarship was very strict. Most recipients had obtained achievement number 10. Not to mention, I had to sit for 6 exams (each subject is not closely related to each other) which were very painful. Honestly, I was really afraid that I would lost my mind before the exam began and hence the achievement.

The achievement number 10 was created due to the large number of First Class Honours recently. I suspect that these people only obtained 5 distinctions out of 9 units. So, I was thinking that  the First Class honours should be categorized as follow (this is not from UOL, but from me)

a. First Class among the First Class (9 units of distinction)
b. Second Upper among the First Class (8 units of distinction)
c. Second Lower among the First Class (7 units of distinction)
d. Third Class among the First Class (6 units of distinction)
e. Just a simple First Class (5 units of distinction)

Usually I attach the achievements that I want to get, together with my exams timetable. I call this end product "Motivational Timetable". So if you are Diploma in Economics students sitting for exams in May 2011 then your Motivational Timetable should look like this:

The purpose of listing down the achievements is also to make you aim as high as possible. Do not aim just for "pass" or "merit". Most of the time you will get the grade below what you aim. I personally always aimed to score 90 and above for each subject and as you have seen that I ended up getting 70 - 80+ .