Three Ways Smart Students Reduce Study TimeSeptember 13th, 2007 · 6 comments
One of the most surprising traits I observed about top students is how little they actually study. Though we cover the specifics of their habits in great detail on this blog, I find it useful to occasionally step back and review some of the big picture ideas:
- Smart students don’t study in long, unbroken stretches. You are more likely to find them studying in the morning and afternoon; often in small chunks, squeezed in between classes and other activities. Students have more energy early in the day, and by breaking up the work it’s easier to avoid mental fatigue — meaning that work gets done in less total hours.
- Smart students don’t study in groups, dorms, or public areas. You will often find them, instead, in the most isolated possible library on campus — probably buried in a cubicle high up in the stacks. It’s easier to focus in isolation. When you focus, work gets done better, and, crucially, it gets done quicker.
- Smart students don’t spend a lot of time studying. The bulk of time most students spend studying is dedicated to catching up on missed reading assignments, gathering notes from missed lectures, and trying to make sense of what they managed to jot down from the classes they did attend. Smart students try to get this work done as they go along. Among other things, this means they always attend class and do the most important reading assignments. They don’t just record information, but also, during the heat of the moment, try to process the information into the ideas they support. In other words, they do this thinking during class not the night before the test. They ask questions when unclear and often go to office hours to further clarify the professor’s thinking. It’s not unusual to find them remaining in the classroom for 5 minutes after the bell to clean-up their notes. The result: a lot less work to do come test time.