The A-Z of Studying Effectively: 26 Tips From a First-Class Cambridge Graduate

Below are 26 tools/tips/ideas that over the past decade have helped me study more effectively at some point or other.

I’ve never been ‘gifted’ academically. I was the first person in the history of my family tree to even go to university.

Learning, studying and taking exams has never been easy for me. This has been a blessing because it’s forced me to cultivate a desire to find strategies, tools, and techniques that can compensate for my incompatibility with being a high-achieving student. 

I intended to make this A-Z a snappy ‘reference’ post that can and should be reviewed regularly. If there are a few things you want to start implementing, I thoroughly suggest one at a time. Chain these new habits and principles into your routine gradually if you want to reap true benefits.

Enjoy and I hope you find this useful-

A-Attention Management.

Schedule your work according to your attentional state. We all have three states that fluctuate throughout the day- Proactive Attention (super on it), Active Attention (starting to flag a touch), Inactive Attention (can’t concentrate for the life of you). Work out when you’re typically in these states during an average day. Then read new material, write essays, and do problems/equations during PA. Do casual note taking and creation of revision resources in AA. Do anything but study during IA (e.g. admin, exercise, or socialise). 

B- Breaks.

Long study stints simply don’t work. Studying done right is incredibly intense on the brain. The brain therefore needs short breathers to recoup. It’s exactly the same as sprint training- short explosion of energy followed by a quick rest, before then going again. So find your ‘goldilocks’ studying period; for most people the Pomodoro technique works best- 20 minutes study, followed by a 5 minute break. I’ve recently become a serious convert to this and have found myself become much more productive and able to remain focused for hours on end. 

C- Cut the Complaining. 

“I’ve got soooooo much revision to do.” Yep, you do. “Exams are soooooo stressful.” Yep, they are. And then you sulk off to the library. Unfortunately, you've already lost. You see the problem is, when we’re in a negative or overstressed mental state we're actually putting a mental clamp on ourselves. Negative thoughts and worry impair cognitive performance through using up too much of our working memory, something that’s incredibly finite. The more you stress out, the less cognitive resources you’ve got to get your study session done. Complain or embrace what you signed up for- your choice. 

D-Drop Double Dumps.

The humble ‘Brain Dump’ should be mandatory before and after every session. Simply spend 5 minutes writing out anything you know, think, and feel about a given topic before you start a study stint. Use this to acknowledge where the knowledge gaps are and let that provide the GPS coordinates of where your study session needs to go. Take another dump after your session to help what you’ve just covered commit to memory. It also builds the skill of information retrieval, arguably the most important thing in any exam. 

E- Exercise.

Move the body to move the mind. There’s no excuse. Any expert in any field almost always admits to finding their greatest ideas/insights/creative brainwaves when pounding the pavement or hitting the gym. Even a 20 minute HITT workout done in your bedroom will give you a buzz of endorphins that will carry you over for hours of productive study. 

F- Funnel Your Knowledge.

There are no shortcuts if you want to understand something inside out. You have to start broad and then slowly remould and chisel away till you’ve got concision yet density. When tackling my exams at Cambridge I funnelled my knowledge by creating the following for each topic- 

• Original Condensed Essay Notes- These would start at around 5000-7000 words per essay topic. I’d then cut them by 500 words on every read of them, leaving them at around 2500 words.
• Key Information Sheets- Roughly 1000 words per topic and would include all essentials for the topic, e.g. Theories, Concepts, Studies, and Evaluations/Analyses of these.
• Mindmaps 
• Flashcards- Side A= sociologist/psychologist’s name and the date of their study. Side B= name of study/theory and brief description. 
• Practice Essay Plans
• Practice Essays- I’d try to do 2 essays for each topic, 1 untimed and 1 timed.
• Practice Essay Argument Point Sheet- This was the final piece in my academic jigsaw. These became the master-sheets where I had 6 main argument points for each topic, which would be points that could be easily adapted depending on the question that came up in the exam. 

This is a lot of work. But variety keeps it interesting…. to an extent.

G- Goal Setting.

This is not referring to grades. This is referring to giving yourself a more tangible focus when sitting down to study. Before every study stint you should write out three short goals for what you hope to get out of the session. These should be incredibly specific- e.g. “Find and alter a definition of ‘xxxxxx’ into one concise sentence or “Find three ways in which the writer uses technique ‘xxxxx' in this chapter. Most students blindly read through content from start to finish. Goals allow you to actually see what you’re learning. 

H- Hijack Your Distractions.

If you find yourself habitually reaching for your phone and wasting god knows how many hours on social media then look to infiltrate this addiction, rather than eliminate. Step 1) Download Cram.com app and create loads of flashcards. Step 2) put the Cram app at the front of you ‘social’ apps folder in your phone. Step 3) Do 5 minutes of flashcards every time you automatically reach for your phone and open up your social apps folder. Very quickly you’ll find that you’ve done countless extra hours of bitesize revision. 

I- Iteration Cycle.

Realise that the first draft of anything is dreadful. There’s no such thing as a good essay first time round. To give yourself every chance of writing a good second draft follow these simple steps of the ‘iteration cycle’ aka WIGWAM method: 1- Watch- What is happening? What’s working and what’s not? 2- Ideate- What could be improved? What are your options? 3- Guess- Based on what you’ve learned so far, which of your ideas do you think could make the biggest impact? 4- Which?- Decide which change to make. 5- Act- Actually make the change. 6- Measure- What happened? Was the change positive or negative? Should you keep this change, or go back to how things were before this iteration? Spend 15 minutes thinking over these questions and you’ll be surprised at the brainwaves that come along. 

J- Just Start.

There’s so much friction just as you’re setting up in the library or at your desk, no doubt about it. Once settled you’ll look at the time and see it’s still 12 minutes till the next hour starts. Good excuse to go on social media or scroll through some online shopping sites right? Oops it’s now 5 past. You’ll start at the next half hour. 

I have no sympathy for you. Sit down. Shut off everything that provides any form of distraction and drag yourself past that pre-start pussyfooting. 

K- Keep All the Plates Spinning.

Everything you’re learning can be thought of as a spinning plate. Some things you know like the back of your hand- the freely spinning plates. Other things, you don’t really know at all- the wobbly plates. Yet when it comes to revision, most students will just revise entire topics from start to finish in a one way linear fashion and therefore spend an equal amount of time on all plates. That’s a waste and plain stupid. The wobbly plates will remain wobbly and chances are these are the ones that pop up in the exam- always happens doesn’t it? Allocate your time depending on how wobbly the knowledge is. 

L- Location Switch Ups.

Staring at the same four walls drives prisoners insane and causes thousands of corporate “fuck this, I quit!” epiphanies every year. It’s in our DNA to explore, to move, and to seek novelty. If you intend to spend 6-8 hours in the same spot for a day of study, you’re a fool. Change it up every couple of hours. A 10-minute walk between libraries, cafes, or your study bedroom is the perfect reset button that will allow you to actually use those 6-8 hours most productively. 

M- Meaning Markers.

If the information you’re learning means absolutely nothing to you then can you honestly be surprised that you have a tough time remembering it? If you want something to stick then apply it to a context you find meaningful. After a day of study find a TED talk, current affairs story, or listen to a podcast that is somewhat loosely related to a topic you covered that day. Then spend 10 minutes journaling how that dry theory you covered can be applied/supported/contested through what you saw/read/heard in that snip of infotainment. Things will miraculously start to stick. 

N- Nibble Regularly.

Don’t be that guy/gal who thinks they need to ‘treat’ themselves with a boulder burrito for lunch because they managed to read 2 research articles in the morning. And definitely don’t be that guy/gal who then complains about feeling sluggish for the whole afternoon after doing so. Snack every couple of hours. And make sure it’s good stuff- nuts and fruit etc. 

O- Optimism At All Times.

To build onto C (cut the complaining) what is arguably even more important (and interesting) is that when you’re in a positive state of mind, all the learning centres in your brain open up. So even if you’re hitting the library with a bit of a ‘meh’ attitude you’re still not in the optimal state to learn most effectively or be as productive as possible. So prime yourself with positivity. This doesn’t have to be American happy-clappy shit. Any positive emotion will perk you up. So listen to some music that makes you happy on your walk to the libros. Or take some time to think about something funny that happened earlier in the day.

Or, just realise you’re incredibly privileged to even have the opportunity to study what you’re studying.

P- Partner up.

A study buddy works wonders for your productivity due to the simple pull of accountability. It’s easier to let yourself down than someone else. So if you’ve both agreed to cover a section of a topic to teach one other, you’re much more likely to actually get it done. And it’s cliché, but two heads really are better than one (as long as your friends are not idiots). 

Q- Quiz Yourself.

If you had an important sports match coming up in a month would you train by just doing skill drills? No you wouldn’t. In every practice you would replicate the actual context and setting of that match through training matches. If your revision involves nothing but rereading notes and looking at mind maps you’re effectively just dribbling a ball around a stationary cone. It’s therefore imperative to quiz yourself daily- force yourself to do timed essays plans, full essay paragraphs or problems/equations. How many times you’ve read your flashcards is irrelevant if you’re not comfortable with the actual context in which you have to utilise and apply that content. 

R- Record Your Progress Daily.

If you fail to cement new knowledge at the end of the day through a quick recap of key learning progresses and improvements, then they just won’t stick. Before you go to bed, write for 5 minutes about three things you progressed on, no matter how insignificant. Progress is progress. Relive it to reinforce it.

S- Schedule Everything.

Most humans suck at doing things unless they are told to do so. Sometimes it’s ourselves that need to do the telling. Out of necessity I schedule my entire day from the second I wake up to the second I go to sleep. This includes when I exercise, when I eat, and when I socialise. I’m not a freak, it’s just I work around 20-25 hrs a week on top of doing a full-time Masters. If I didn’t do it, I’d get nothing done and all my commitments would crumble. So even if you have a free day for ‘reading’, actually put in your diary what reading it is in terms of course/topic/module and when that reading will be done. Those pop-up reminders 5 minutes before a scheduled event kick you into gear, even if it’s self-imposed guilt tripping. 

T- TED Talks.

A TED Talk a day, gives you something interesting to say. Whatever you’re studying, there is a strong chance someone has done a TED talk related to it. And there is a strong chance they are also an expert in that field. You’d be a fool not to let an accomplished other give you a unique perspective or angle that could foster a bit of creativity or uniqueness into your essays. 

U- Unwind Every Day.

You NEED a shutdown routine after a day of studying. Finish up with a recap of the day’s learnings and write out your to-do list/priorities for the following day. Then do something enjoyable. The reason for this is due to something called attention restoration theory- the idea that non-work activities actually allow us to improve our concentration. This is because we only have a finite amount of what is known as ‘directed attention’ and if you repeatedly exhaust it you’ll quickly burnout and trap yourself in a state of constantly thinking about work but not having enough juice to get it done.

V- Verbalise.

Don’t keep what you’re learning in your head. You’ll fine tune your understandings and conceptualisations the more you talk about new knowledge. Relay everything you’ve learnt to your mum on the phone; she’ll have no idea what you’re on about and this is a golden opportunity to break tough concepts into easier ‘lay’ chunks. If you can make your mum understand it then you’ve won. 

W- Water.

Two simple points here. 1) Dehydration is the enemy and it messes with your brain functioning before you even realise you’re dehydrated- so sip regularly. 2) The more you drink the more you’ll pee. This forces you to move. And as mentioned, this movement will lubricate the mind and the rest is obvious- more productive study. 

X- X-Spotting.

The X-spot is the end point of goal accomplishment- in study terms this is finishing the essay or the problem sheet etc. And interestingly, the closer we get to the X-spot the more we ramp up our efforts. This is why marathon runners somehow run their quickest mile during the final mile of the race. What’s even more interesting is that we can trick our brains into seeing the X-spot earlier and more often. One study found that giving customers a perceived head start on a coffee loyalty card led to a quicker rate in filling that card with stamps for a free coffee (both groups had to buy 10 coffees but one group’s card had 12 circles with 2 already stamped compared with the other group, who were given a blank 10 circle card). The premise here can be applied to studying countless ways. One thing I do is add recent ‘dones’ to my to-do lists when working on live projects each day e.g. writing out ‘read chapter x in textbook y for essay’ and then immediately cross them out. Weird but it kicks you into gear. 

Y- Yearn For More.

You’ll never know everything. But you can always get yourself one snippet of knowledge closer. When you have that inevitable crashing point during a long day of studying- those times where words begin to look like mush- force yourself to reach for one last thing. Ask yourself “Based on all I’ve learned today, what is one more thing that would be useful to know?” Then spend 5 minutes searching for it. This could be a simple definition, a novel example of a concept in action, or even finding a new paper/journal article to read on the topic the following day. The point is to end each study slog with a step out of the comfort zone. Don’t end the day in stagnation. Finish with a step forward and future ones become easier to take. 

Z- Zzzz.

Cop out I know. But sleep is important. The amount varies for everyone but there’s something else that’s essential- consistency. During the week, do your utter best to go to sleep at the same time and wake up at the same time. The latter is perhaps more important, at least in my experience. Also, if you watch shows/films before you go to bed then make sure you get Flux- a great app that adjusts your display to remove blue light after dark. 

Summary

Much of the above may be common sense but time after time, we see that common sense does not lead to common action.

Even if no tip struck a chord with you I hope that the premise of this A-Z at least raised your awareness towards adopting a more strategic yet simplified perspective towards studying. Simple changes really can make huge differences.

Feel free to drop me a line if you want elaboration on any of the tips ([email protected]).

All the best with your studies.

Sam

Originally posted at www.perfpsysam.com