– By Devina Sethi, Sophia BMM

You walk into class for the first time, nervous and scared. By the first week you know how your college is, what the course is about and you gradually begin to make friends. You taste a different kind of freedom for the first time. By the second or third week of class you are introduced to your projects. You get excited because this is probably the first time that you will research, understand, analyse and present all at the same time.

Well, there are two types of students. The Type One kind of student works each day and finishes his/her work bit by bit. They are often known as the methodological or the organised kinds. The Type Two however, are the “work-only-when-absolutely-required” type. These students do not start their work till one night before the submission. If Type One works for an hour for four days, Type Two will work for three hours the night before the submission.  There are both kinds of students on all batches. Which type is your type? Which way of working will benefit you more? That is for you to decide.

Soon, you will be introduced to a different kind of project, called a “Group Project”. Each group has different way of working.  Some groups are the collective democracy kinds; the members of these groups sit together at all times to complete the assigned task. Whereas the other kind of is group is the group which believes that individual work will yield to better results. They assign different tasks to their group members and come together once the individual work is done to put the whole project together. However, what is common between both the groups is that a group leader will emerge from amongst the group. This leader will not be selected, nor elected; he/she will just voluntarily take on the responsibility of being the communication link between the group members and moderating the discussions.

By the time you come to second year, groups will see a lot to ‘marriages and divorces’ between the group members. Laughter and tears will be shared. Is BMM just about projects? Well, though projects take up our major study time, a BMM student is required to study for the semester end exams.

Honest is what I’ll be with you now.  Most BMM students do not study throughout the semester. They are focussed on projects. They seldom bother about their course in the exam. Is this the correct thing? Well, I’m not too sure.

However, it can be fatal not to read the newspaper, not to watch advertisements, news etc. Why? Wait, I will give you an example to tell you why. Once I was in my Cultural Studies and the question was “Give an example of an ad where there is gender stereotype.”  There were many students who could not attempt this question properly because they did not watch enough advertisements!

So, whether you study the course material or not, it is very necessary to read and watch all forms of media. Doing so, will help you throughout the course, in your projects and in exams.

Most students tend to study a few days before the exams. Some students prefer to study in groups as interacting helps them analyse certain things better. On the other hand students like to study alone. Both ways work depending upon what works for you as an individual.