policy & reform
campusreview.com.au
data. In 2018, over 58 per cent of the
university entrants did that.
It’s very encouraging, because a high
ATAR increases the likelihood of gaining a
placement. But not everybody’s going to
get a high ATAR. Just because they don’t
attain the high ATAR doesn’t mean that
they’re excluded from university. In fact,
what I’m saying is there are more people
gaining entry to university through non-
ATAR processes or lower ATARs, which
means in turn that the kinds of education
taking place in universities are different.
There’s an evolution occurring in tertiary
institutions such as universities.
What do you think is the key to succeeding
at university?
I think that as strange as it might seem,
because it’s not content based, one of
the key elements of success at university
is to understand individual difference.
And it sounds quite straightforward, but
it’s very complex. It’s part of the idea that
diversity is to be celebrated. It’s what all of
human evolution is based on, and it’s an
essential part of our own personal growth
and development.
University provides us with the challenge
to accept that learning for life is connected
to adulthood, and it’s essential to keep
one’s receptors open to new learning,
and dealing with vast amounts of content
and pressure, like never before. But it
is a key part of maturation, growth and
development.
A lot of students commute to uni. How can
they get the most out of it, and what kinds
of practices would you encourage?
I’d encourage the use of public transport
wherever possible, because it means you
can be a traveller in your own city and be
like a tourist. You can use fresh eyes to see
what’s going on around you. And it allows
time for reflection. It means you can make
links between the things that you observe.
There’s a lot going on around us. We don’t
need to block it out. We can actually allow
what life is offering us in this incredible
experience of living on this planet. From
time to time, it gives us a chance to write
things down and I think it’s key to share
those observations and thoughts, because
that’s what makes thinking real, once we
turn it into conversations.
There’s not a lot better than travelling
in a comfortable way and enjoying your
surroundings and having conversations
with the people you’re travelling with. After
all, what we see is that many people work
really hard for most of the year in order to
derive the savings that allow them to go
on a holiday and do that very thing, which
we can do each day in our own city, on a
commute to our place of study. morning of the exam. Release those
endorphins, get some good chemistry
going in the way that you move your body
through this world, and things to smile
about are very useful. And the final thing is
wear a watch, because time management
is crucial to exam success.
In your opinion what are the best websites
and apps to help you study? I would assume everyone’s suffered a
bad mark in their life. How do we bounce
back from it?
There’s a site I really like and have liked for
a long time, it’s called Zen Stories to Tell
Your Neighbors.
An example is a story called Working
Very Hard. The student goes to the Zen
master of martial arts and says, “I want to
learn to be a Zen master. How long will it
take?” The Zen master thinks for a moment
and says, “Ten years.”
And the student says, “I’ll work very hard.
I’ll work every day. Every waking moment.
I’ll give all of my energies to what’s
involved. I will work like nobody’s ever
worked before. How long will it take me
then?” The Zen master considers the
question and says, “Twenty years.”
I think there’s an important lesson in
there for us, and that’s an example of the
way that the Zen stories work. They’re a
great insight into human frailty.
The Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
is very useful for understanding how we all
make contributions to life, each in our own
way. It’s a psychological tool that identifies
16 personality types among humans.
And then from a thinking point of view,
and an organising strategies and planning
point of view, the Concerns Based
Adoption Model (CBAM) is a very useful
instrument if you’re a teacher or you’re
planning your own learning, [and want help
in] how to structure and sequence it.
On the morning of an exam, what should
students be doing?
Well, I think breathing correctly is
important. So, be aware of where your
register is, and often the register can be
in the upper chest or the lower throat
area, and that restricts how well we are
assimilating oxygen into our system which
in turn is affecting blood flow, which
in turn is affecting the operation of the
brain. Breath becomes absolutely crucial
to functioning.
So a certain calm goes with having
your breathing right. Of course, you have
a decent breakfast. I think it’s really good
to find something to smile about on the
One of the toughest things to do is to
be able to find a way out from some bad
news. Often relating to nature is a really
important thing. Do something different:
take a walk in the park, have a swim in the
ocean, watch the clouds. Realise that the
world is a far bigger place and that there’s
a lot going on in people’s lives that help to
put a bad mark into perspective.
What are some top memorisation tips that
students can learn?
Memorising large chunks of facts is really
important and there’s a variety of ways
to do it. My favourite is the mnemonic
method. An example of a mnemonic is
ROY G BIV. Most people know that as a
way of remembering the colours of the
rainbow by taking the first letter of each of
the colours.
It can be applied in lots of different ways.
You’re not trying to remember all of the
details together in a big clump, but what
you’ve done is you’ve systematised it in a
way that makes sense.
If you’ve fallen behind, how do you catch up?
My preference would be to say don’t
fall behind, and that way you can avoid
having to catch up. But in the event that it’s
essential to do some catching up, I think
it’s important to do it over a period of time,
extended as much as you possibly can. If it
seems like you need to catch up in a week,
try to give yourself a fortnight. It makes it
a lot more doable that way. Instead of it
being four hours a night, it might be two
hours a night.
That means the balance of life can be
maintained too, so those other activities,
the relaxation and so on, come into force.
One has to be careful not to get caught up
in working very hard or it could take twice
as long to do something.
Let others know that this is the situation,
and they will want to assist you if you’re
demonstrating that you have a strategy to
do the catch-up. ■
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