Pencilling

Kids in smaller grades are taught with pencil till they can master their alphabets and has lesser mistakes. And while they are at it, they are told to use the rubber generously. When I was in grade 5, we were officially shifted to ink pens, which meant, lesser mistakes were expected of me. A special kind of pen, known back then as a blanko, was used in case a student needed to erase ink and rewrite something. The blanko allowed for one time correction only. The pen which could write on top of a blanko was non erasable, hence the only time correction only.

I used this procedure all through the rest of five grades, then college and finally, university. During our final semesters I happened to get acquainted with a class genius. I was intrigued with the way she used pencil, almost childlike. As I saw more and more of her studying methodology, I think I began understanding her logic. Pencil meant room for mistakes. She allowed herself an unlimited number of mistakes while she studied. This generous array of attempts meant more room for creativity and stress free understanding of concepts.

I liked this idea so much that I adopted it in no time and sure enough, I could feel an improvement in my thought process while studying. I felt I had more room and ample time to sink in what I was studying. For students, this is a very small, almost negligible step in improving your quality of study, yet one that can be of great value.