The secret to top exam marks is reading books

Literature has taken a beating in recent years largely due to advancement in technology.

The era of letter writing as a means of communication is long forgotten and has been replaced by WhatsApp messages, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other social media platforms.

The result is that many can no longer express their emotions, feelings, fears or joys using words because they only need a single smiley to say it all.

Exposure to reading enhances one’s creative and critical thinking skills because one is constantly in touch with new scenarios that expand their reasoning.

The benefits go past language competence to also include writing skills.

A lesson for students

Students who are waiting for their exams need to appreciate the fact that the Internet and social media is entertaining, engaging and informative, but they need more than that as far as preparing and handling exams is concerned.

Questions, especially on literature, require a critical mind that can not only memorise but also comprehend, interpret, apply and synthesise information read.

The reading culture exposes one to different topics and perspectives of the world.

Thus, such a reader can write authoritatively on any topic under the sun.

Through stories, a reader meets different life scenarios woven into a piece of writing and as the problem is solved, he or she learns from the experiences of the characters.

For example in The River and The Source, as various characters interact and conflict with each other, the learner awaits the resolution which is also applicable to real life scenarios.

Great leaders, great readers

Great leaders have always been great readers. Some of them include Barrack Obama, Nelson Mandela, just to mention two.

Leaders who read live a thousand lives in one life time due to the exposure to diverse books. Barack Obama is a classic example of a good reader who has penned a few books and whose speeches have always been captivating and inspiring.

This is the kind of all roundedness required of an individual.

Remember, a student who has comprehended a text is able to retell the story, giving the fine details using their own words.