The title of this post is the name of a book written by Ken Bain. I heard about this book while attending the workshop on "Effective Teaching" by Dr. Pankaj Jalote at IIT-Delhi. I read this book  cover to cover and here I note down the important points I found within the book. Each bullet point mentions different qualities of best students

  • Goal oriented: Best students know what they want to do. Do you know?
  • Deliberate Practice: To achieve mastery in any specialized field, best students involve themselves in deliberate practice sessions. This practice should be done with consistency
  • Interconnections: Whenever you learn or see anything new, try to correlate it with the existing knowledge you have
  • Growth Mindset: Always believe intelligence is not fixed, but it can be improved with effort
  • Self-conversation: Always talk with yourself. Who am I? What am I doing here? Do I really making any difference or am I living someones’s else life
  • Reflecting on experiences: Best learners not only use their experience but they reflect on their experiences, i.e., they ponder while observing the game
  • Self-compassion: They are open and hence take responsibility of good or bad. They face failures, but they know this is a part and hence keep moving towards their goal
  • Mindfulness: Is a state of awareness. You see your problems clearly  and accept mental and social phenomenon.
  • Encouragement: Self-comfort, self-examination, and dedication.
  • Liberal arts: Do always different works/courses apart from your focused field. This always helps you to create connections and broaden the horizons
  • Self-control, responsibility, deadlines

Reference:

  •  What Best College Students book by Ken Bain