How to Study Efficiently

One of the most valuable lessons I learned from my 8^th-grade science teacher had nothing at all to do with science. We were allowed a cheat sheet for a test: a single 3×5 index card with anything we wanted written on it. Thinking myself terribly clever, I found a very fine-point pen and proceeded to cover both sides of the index card in tiny, tiny handwriting. I managed to more or less summarize weeks of classes on a single index card. I showed it to my teacher before the test, and he grinned at me and said, “So, you spent hours going over the material, thinking what you would want to include and how to organize it, and carefully copied it all over from your notes? Gosh, you sure showed me!”

I’d fallen for his trap. It wasn’t about cutting us a break by giving us a cheat sheet: it was about tricking us into studying via the act of creating the cheat sheet in the first place. It was such an effective study tool that, as it turned out, I didn’t really need the darned thing much to actually do the test. All that work wasted! … but not really, because it was precisely the act of making the cheat sheet that made it so I didn’t need it.

Since 8th grade, making a cheat sheet (regardless of whether we were allowed one) has been one of my favorite methods of studying. The acts of going over my notes, assignments, and previous exams, thinking about what the key points are, and deciding how to summarize them to make a useful resource with a limited space is hugely useful for me. By organizing the material for a cheat sheet, I’m organizing it in my head.

Whatever your approach to studying, there are a few key points to consider:

• Don’t count on cramming. Seriously, it’s often a waste of time. If you find yourself in the position of having a test tomorrow and not having prepared at all, naturally you should do some studying, but you’re better off getting sleep than pulling an all-nighter. Of course, ideally you want to avoid being in that position in the first place, which is why it’s important to…

• Stay organized. Don’t let yourself fall behind. You don’t want to start studying for a test and find yourself confronted by a big pile of disorganized notes that — you can only assume — made sense when you wrote them. Something as simple as keeping things in chronological order can make a world of difference. I would not have been able to get through college without my 3-hole punch and ring binders. And being organized makes it much easier to…

• Have a studying strategy. This is where the whole “make a cheat sheet” thing I like to do comes in. Give yourself a way to approach the material that provides some structure to your studying. Don’t just say, “I guess I’ll go over my notes and the textbook.” What happens then is you flip through them, go “OK, this is familiar,” and move on. Stuff doesn’t stick. Options include making (and using) flash cards, recopying your notes, and solving practice problems. Whatever you do, do it with pencil & paper instead of on a computer. Study after study has shown you remember things much better if you…

• Write it by hand. No real nuances to this, but it’s one of easiest ways to help stuff stick in your mind. As to figuring out what to stick in your mind? You need to give yourself a sense of what’s important and what isn’t. Which is why it’s useful to…

• Talk to your teacher. This one might seem obvious, but if your teacher tells you “the first midterm will cover topics A, B, & C,” you should probably listen. Your teacher’s job — literally — is to help you learn.

In the end, studying is a skill like any other, and like any skill, it improves with practice. Find what works for you and go with it.