Tawau, 22 April 2022: “1 Book, 1 Semester 3R: Read, Review, and Revive Competition” (1B1S3RC) organised by the Academy of Language Studies, University Technology MARA Sabah Branch (UiTMCSH) Tawau Campus is aimed at cultivating the activity of reading as an instrument for self-development and lifelong learning among the Pre-Diploma students on UiTMCSH Tawau Campus. The programme is being held every Friday for seven weeks. The weekly competition started on April 12 and will end on June 10, 2022.
“The Art of Thinking Clearly,” an international bestseller by Rolf Dobelli, exposes 99 cognitive errors commonly made by people. Using psychological biases and reasoning fallacies, illustrated with real life examples, the author unveils our irrationalities in thinking and helps us avoid errors in thinking and make better decisions in life. The 358 -page book has been chosen this semester to promote critical reading and thinking skills among the Pre- Diploma students on UiTMCSH Tawau Campus. Each student was assigned to read and review three chapters of the book. Every week, five students are required to present their chapter reviews and discuss the chapter contents during the Readers Club Meeting.
The first week of 1B1S3RC was successfully held on April 12, 2022. From the three chapters assigned, each participant chose a chapter to present and review. Each chapter contains a main idea and they had to share their gains of the chapter using their own words. Most of them presented their chapter review with a good understanding of the main idea, but some did not. The first participant, Nurasilah, said, “I have a good understanding of the book since I really like reading books and this book contains a lot of thinking errors which I can relate to, so this is definitely a good book to read.”
The Head of the organising committee, Dr. Choo Siow Chin saw the need to assist students who do not manage to grasp the main idea of their chapters. One of the participants, for example, was not able to identify and express the main idea accurately. So the next day, after the competition, Dr. Choo spent some time to expound the chapter and make the main idea clear and understandable to students. In that way, it is hoped that students will not give up reading the book, although understanding the essence of each chapter may be a challenging task to many students.
On Friday, April 22, 2022, the second week of the 1B1S3R Competition was held. Five students were involved in the second week of the reading competition and they also presented their chapter reviews. “I am really excited about this programme because I can learn a lot of things during the Readers Club Meeting. For example, I have learned how to express a quoted idea using my own words and many more,” said Desynie, one of the participants who presented her chapter review in the second week.
Like the first week, all the second week participants also received feedback from Dr. Choo. Most of them were well-prepared for the second week’s competition because of the comments given by Dr. Choo in the first week’s competition. This proves that comments are important for students to improve their way of presenting ideas from the book.
To date, a total of 10 students have presented their chapter reviews in the 1B1S3R Competition. In addition, a total of 30 chapter reviews were produced in the competition which has lasted for a fortnight.