The Basics of Efficient Studying

If you’re studying extremely hard, then you’ve done something wrong. I know how counterintuitive this sounds, but it’s true. If you think about it, it makes a lot of sense. Most students study very hard to try and get results, but only a minority of students are straight-A students. Get the picture? Just because practically everyone does it doesn’t mean that’s how you should do it. That couldn’t be any truer when it comes to studying. Have you ever wondered how all these superstar students have the time to go to social events, head clubs, and still manage to fit in time to study to get those As? That’s because studying doesn’t have to consume your life if you do it efficiently.

Let’s start by defining the challenge ahead. Let’s say you have an exam coming up. First ask yourself these questions:

• Which lectures and reading assignments (or problem sets) are fair game?
• What type of questions will be on the exam and how many of each? (IDs, dates, broad syntheses of text’s major arguments…)
• Is the exam open (note)book?
• Will formulas be provided or should they be memorized?
• How much time will be available? (Does the professor expect it to be easy to finish in the time allotted or a challenge to complete?)

Now that you’ve answered these questions, it’s time to build a study guide. Below you will learn how to build a study guide for both non-technical courses and technical courses.

Build a Basic Study Guide (Non-technical)

Creating a study guide is very simple, but here are some tips to make it run more smoothly. It helps to have a plan. First, print out the corresponding notes for a given test. Then cluster the notes into relevant piles by topic fastened by paper clip. You should have “chapters” for each general topic covered. It’s as simple as that. Now that you have “chapters” split up, carry around one or two chapters a day and review the material any free moment you get.

Construct a Mega-Problem Set (Technical)

Problem set assignments are key, so make sure you keep all the ones you accumulate during the course for studying later.

• Make corresponding piles for each type of problem set
• Supplement with sample problems from notes
• Match the lecture notes to the problem set that covers the same material
• Copy sample problems from notes to blank paper (don’t need to copy steps or answer, just questions)
• Label the blank sheet with the lecture date (so you know where the problems are from and where to find the answers)
• Put this with the problem/lecture note set you created in the previous steps
• Augment mega-problem sets with technical explanation questions that ask to explain the basics of the topic (ex: “Explain the general procedure for drawing a molecular structure, why this is useful, and what special cases must be kept in mind.”). This will reveal whether you understand what you’re studying or not by forcing you to write out the basics.
• If practice exams are available, copy them and store them with your mega-problem sets

Prepare Memorization Aids

Flashcards, flashcards, flashcards. They are time tested and work. Start making them when you’re relaxing BEFORE you plan to study them. You need to schedule this out properly to avoid tiring yourself out. If you try to make and study the cards all in the same session you’ll be tired and have trouble remembering later what you spent all that time working on. So make sure you do the creating and studying separately to maximize results. Also be sure you perform checks to know you didn’t “just” memorize but actually understand.

These tips are inspired by Cal Newport’s books as well as my own insight as a student. See my other posts on studying here and stay tuned for even more study tips to come this week!