What is it that Smart Students do which help them score good marks in school? This question bugs many students and parents alike. Author R. Chandan Deshmukh has tried to answer this in his book, Six Secrets Smart Students Don’t Tell You. In this article we shall talk about the book, Interview of the Author R Chandan Deshmukh and YouTube video review of the book .

Please Note: An exam is just an exam it doesn’t define you as a person neither it defines your fate. The academic marks have been mistakenly termed as judge of student’s ability in all spheres of life. Just as your weight and height are taken as the measurement of your health so is marks in school taken as a measurement of how much have you learnt. 

Our article  Marks,Exams,Success : Chetan Bhagat & Vir Das talks about Marks and Exams, Story of ill effects of measuring everyone on all subjects , letter to Parents on  Not Putting too much pressure on Kids, an article of Chetan Bhagat on His views on exams and Marks, Video on Marks by Vir Das

Overview of the Book: Six Secrets Smart Students Don’t Tell You

The discussion which goes on at the dinner tables of most of the Indian homes will be about how to become like ‘Sharma Ji ka beta.’ The book, Six Secrets Smart Students Don’t Tell You, authored by R. Chandan Deshmukh, tries to answer the pressing question which is asked by all students and parents – how to become smarter at studies? It is in story-telling format, simple, easy to read, is only 116 pages long(small size), is not heavy on Gyan part (low on lectures), has situations from students daily life(complaints of teachers in class, Parent-teacher meeting) and is easy on the pocket too. (Rs 150 only and lesser if you get discount)

• Quotes:
  • I have never let my schooling interfere with my education-Mark Twain
  • The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra – Anonymous
  • You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club – Jack London
  • The best revenge is a massive success – Frank Sinatra
  • Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare – Japanese proverb
  • If you don’t run your own life, somebody else will. –John Atkinson
  • There may be bad teachers, but not bad students.
• Interesting anecdotes
  • Comparison of Indian Education system with that of Indian Railways.
  • Kumble in India vs Pakistan test match, 2nd Innings, Delhi)
  • About the competition where the person climbed the wrong building, which emphasizes the need to focus on the right building first which he uses to emphasize how to set correct goals.
• The secret recipes of smart students: Some of those secrets are well known such as Goal Setting, keywords, Atmosphere you live in influences 70% of your decision, behaviour and character.

Load Aim Shoot

This chapter is about Goal Setting. It talks about acronym Chennai Police ATE Ice-cream (Constructive, Practical, Arithmetical, Time-Bound, Elastic, Individual) to set SMART Goals.

Peacock with two Chairs

In the USA, most families have 2 cars. One could be for the office on weekdays, the other for picnics on weekends. The weekday car is usually a sedan – which gives you a professional look, whereas the weekend one is an MUV/SUV which can accommodate family members and luggage for a long journey.  Involuntarily, the mood and the mindset change with the car you sit in.

Students must have 2 chairs for studies. One chair for reading/comprehending the chapters. The other must be the recall chair where you recall what you have just read.

• For every one hour of studying, five minutes of recollection is recommended.
• Studying on a sofa or a Bed Will Make Johnny’s Concentration Dead.
• If your study materials are not within the reach, Deviations will be.
• Make your study time a no gadget time. As he says If you indulge in  Right-Click-Reload during study time, Your results will Right-Click-Refresh Your Academic Year

A 500-page book on the Tip of Your Tongue

You have memory problems only if you get up in the morning and fail to recall your own name.

Studying Math by reading it is like learning swimming by watching YouTube videos, concentrate on some keywords in objective tests

4 Tools to learn fast 

• Bedtime stories
• Let us Have a Peg,
• Rubber Band: have an acronym, Names of 6 noble gases He-man Ran to Krish’s house and NeArly killed him with an aXe.
• Go Home mind map

Tuition Fees in the Bank

Tutions are a waste of time and money. He calculates time and money spent on joining a tutorial and says If a student doesn’t attend tutorials, He/She will turn Half a millionaire by the time he/she gets a job. He encourages children to take their own notes. Notes should be short, to the point, well organized and an easy read. The three tools help in note making are

• Tool 1: Gimme Bullets
• Tool 2: Spidey Map
• Tool 3: Cornell System

Stand and Deliver

There are two rules of life, no matter if you accept them or not.

Rule A: This is YOUR Life

Rule B: Like everybody, even you’ll have problems and two options to deal with them. One: be upset that you have a problem. Two: Take charges and solve it.

It talks about how to get over low self-esteem, talk on stage and make friends. using tools like Stand and Deliver and Magnets.

Stand and Deliver is about how to give a good speech.

Magnets are based on the principles found in the book “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie.

Time Machine

It gives a solution to being a “No Time boy” who has no time for anything. The two injections to cure No Time disease is having a Priority Matrix and Weekly Planner.

10 Step by Step approaches to be the star of the class this year

How he dispels Myths using concepts from the most patriotic word we Indians ever imagine – Cricket. Such as

Don’t delay your studies for the exams, Start your innings with an average of 4-5 runs per over with a target of 300 in 5 years. 

Don’t worry about looking a dumbo if you ask for help or question frequently as Even Sachin needed a coach.

If Newton had studied in India, the third law would have been- “For every Karma, there is an equal and opposite Karma”.

Typical complaints of students in teachers in class

I had a great laugh when I read the following lines. We all have come across these at some point or another in our school life.

• Whyy are you laaaffing? Tell me also no, I also waant to laaf.
• • Whyy do you camm to school if you don’t lyke stadiees?
• • Ees thees a class or a fiiish maarket?
• • I yam taaking to you vonly. Whyy are you looking baack an all?
• • Yuvar juniarrs are mach mach saylent than you. Larrn from them noo.
• • Whyy you don’t bring vomework? Do you farget lunch baax?
• • Ai will thrrow you aut of the claas.

Interview of Author Chandan Deshmukh

BMA: Should students study for marks or knowledge? Shouldn’t one follow one passion?

Do we eat to quench the hunger or to get nutrition? It’s both. Similarly, I have an opinion that we should study for knowledge as well as for marks. The latter is automatically taken care of when the former is achieved. Furthermore, the whole process will be easier and interesting when we use the tools mentioned in my books ‘Six Secrets Smart Students Don’t Tell You‘ and Five Lies My Teacher Told Me.

From the book Don’t study to become an engineer in an MNC or a doctor at a multi speciality hospital. Study to learn. Study to scale up and improve the system. Study to improve the country. The pleasure of being a Narayan Murthy or a Kiran Bedi is immeasurable. 

Call me insane, but I believe in the saying You are what you do on a Sunday. On any weekday, a person may be obligated to do something for a living, be it a student, janitor, teacher, architect, etc. But does any weekend go by without you thinking about the one thing, one unusual thing, which you always dreamt of doing and are unable to do on a weekday?

Everybody has to have a passion, a Sunday Project.

BMA: What do you think about Indian Examination System?

India, unlike other countries, is a complex nation with 1652 different languages, 1.3 billion people with varied culture and traditions – it is obvious that the education/examination system will be complicated and ambiguous. That doesn’t mean that it cannot be simplified and enhanced.

India is a young country where more than 50% of the population is below 25, and yet the students are taught “TO” study and seldom on “HOW” to study and succeed.

I feel that with further digitization, transparency and strict exam boards, we can see a better system in near future.

BMA: Are  Six Secrets Smart Students Don’t Tell You true story? Did Shamika, Kumar really exist and you bribed them?

I preferred studying brilliant students than the textbooks. And I shadowed all the activities undertaken by top-ranked nerds – right from the way they listened in the calls, the way they tied their shoelaces, the way they chewed their back of their pencils till the way they brainstormed. Bribing them with delicious home food from my lunch box was the usual method applied.

Most of the situations described in the book relate to my real life and timelines may differ. A few are made up to add spice to the story. The flow may seem filmy, but that’s thanks to the fairy tales my parents narrated while feeding me in childhood.

BMA: Do these Six Secrets.. help one to get up to 81% only?

That’s a good question. The book helps you raise yourself to the next two levels. I was a below average student – and went on to be an above average student.

As the saying goes – a donkey can become a better donkey, and not a horse. I was a bad donkey – I became a better donkey by following the shortcut methods (sigh!).

BMA: Do these Six Secrets help in college? In Job?

This helps anybody who wants to raise their bar high and attain success. Irrespective of age, gender and demographics.

BMA: Do you think Tutions are waste of time?

One of the most challenging and humorous aspect for students is attending tutorials.

The setup in the tutorials is like any class in the school/college- one to 40 students, teaching the same curriculum after hours.

Instead, I feel that studying every day for an hour right from day 1 of the academic year is te best way to achieve good grades. And the student can use the tutorial time in pursuing a hobby!

And as per a study, if the student doesn’t attend the tutorial and save the money in a fixed deposit, he/she can become half-a-millionaire by the time they graduate!

BMA: What are the Five Lies My Teacher Told Me? Is that also a true story?

Six Secrets Smart Students Don’t Tell You– my debut book went on to become a bestseller. We have sold around 75 thousand books- that was an inspiration to me. When researching in Pennsylvania libraries in New Jersey, I realized that there are many more aspects which could be told and hence I wrote my second book “Five Lies My Teacher Told Me”. It is a story of a student named Tarun, and how he deals with his problems with his teacher Mrs Ahalya.

BMA: What role do parents, teachers have in the life of a student?

I understand the students are already burdened with kilograms of books, there is continuous pressure on students from peers, teachers, parents, the society and the student’s life sometimes goes haywire.

I feel that the parents and teachers have to calm them down, and mould them using storytelling approach. Also, to equip them with right tools, give them my books as a present (haha)

BMA: What are plans for the next book?

I am elated by the response I have been getting on the social media and the messages have been pouring in. Most of their queries deal with the choice of career – and so I am planning to write my next book on the same subject – how to choose a career.

After that, I will switch to romance genre!

YouTube Video on Six Secrets Smart Students Don’t Tell You

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• Why Talk About Money to Kids, Why Kids Should Learn about money
• Marks,Exams,Success : Chetan Bhagat & Vir Das
• School or Sports Career: A Parent’s dilemma

Do marks matter? How do you encourage your children to get more marks? What is the secret of getting good marks?