Better grades through studying less
Everything popular is wrong — or why you need to shift your mindset from spending more time studying to becoming better at studying.
Disclaimer: There is much more you can do to gain better grades, but for simplicity and actionability I focus on the essentials. Despite my university grades being above average, I do not belong to the very best. I still have not figured out how better grades can benefit my career as future startup founder.
Throughout this article, you are going to hear about techniques which will sound counter-intuitive or wrong in the beginning. That’s normal. Out of fear, most people do exactly what the majority is doing and end up with something they did not intend: being average.
Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect. — Mark Twain
Do not let other people influence you and your studying. In order to have an outstanding performance, you need to believe in the contrarian. You need to act differently. You need to do what nobody else does.
Mythbusters
I need to be smart to get good grades. -> There is only a very weak correlation (0.3 Pearson coefficient) between intelligence and good grades. Other factors are much more influential than your given cognitive capabilities.
I need to attend every lecture. -> Professors will not like hearing that but attending lectures have actually the lowest retention rate of information (only 5% after 24h). This is largely due to its passive character.
I need to study a lot. ->Top students study on average less than their peers. Spending more time studying can help but is again only one out of many factors.
Principles
So if intelligence and attending lectures only have a minor influence, what does impact the academic performance? Being passionate about Mathematics, I put this into a formula.
Study formula: Good grades = time x focus (%)
This simple formula consists only of 2 variables: time invested and focus of studies.
Obviously, if you spend more time learning the material, you will most likely achieve better grades. But just spending time revising and practising material does not get you anywhere if you get distracted every 3 minutes by your phone. You need to focus.
Focus is not only about your concentration, but should rather be understood as a broader term including what material and how you study.
Time and focus both lead to success, but its composition determines how well you can do in the long-run.
Almost everybody only changes time variable, either by starting a week earlier or spending more hours studying each day.
A day has only 24 hours, so increasing your time investment to achieve better grades is limited. Improving how you learn, on the other side, is infinitely scalable.
Focus is still a vague term. Let’s break it down into its single elements.
Focus (%) = motivation X effectiveness X efficiency X energy
Motivation: Know your ‘why’ and set meaningful goals
Before we dive into concrete action steps, let’s step back and reflect. You want to get good grades and perhaps you already know how to achieve it. But why?
Do not just be like “better grades help me with my career “. This is just a generic reason and does not reflect your true purpose.
You need to have a meaningful goal in your mind to stay motivated. It can be the requirements for your desired Master’s degree or your dream job. Being aware of why you have to achieve good grades gives you an immense competitive advantage.
Let me share a personal story.
Back in high-school, my grades was not very impressive, very average to be honest. I admit that everything else was more interesting than studying for upcoming exams. With no goal in mind, I had no clue why I should even bother about grades.
This changed when I discovered WHU — one of Europe’s leading business schools. I was 15 years old when I first came in to contact with this amazing university and after talking to many inspiring students during the open day, I decided I have no other choice but studying in Vallendar.
From that day onwards, I adapted my whole life to make my dream come true. To be even considered for admission, I had to improve my grades tremendously. The following months were hard, but having this goal in mind gave me the necessary energy to achieve this and much more.
Think about why you want better grades. Write it down. This small time investment could have the highest pay-off in your entire life.
Reflect on why you are pursuing good grades and setting a meaningful goal with a specific deadline
Effective is about studying the ‘right things’
How many times have you studied for something which was not part of the exam? Or has it ever happened to you that you miscalculated the time and ended up in stress, not finishing some exercises? I did. And I hated it.
Before you start locking yourself in a study room, take time and develop a sophisticated study plan. Studies have shown that 1 min of planning can reduce execution time by up to 10 min.
Get the big picture first. We often get lost in the details without truly understanding how everything relates to each other. This is not only important for the exam but helps you to apply to the knowledge to real-life problems later on.
Gather all available information. Go through your university’s Blackboard/Moodle to download every file. Having everything easily accessible, make list or set up your Trello Board and put in it everything you need to know (content slides, readings, exercises, mock exams, etc).
Eliminate irrelevant content. Everything you do not have to know frees up your time. Ask your fellow students and professor to find out which topics are not relevant and cross them out. If in doubt, do not study it.
Prioritize by doing what you do not like. If you had only 1 hour to study, what would you do? And what would you do if you had 10 hours? Setting your priorities right is key to your study success. A simple trick on finding out what you should do next is looking at what you do not like doing (difficult exercises) or tasks you have already procrastinated for days.
Make extensive use of your calendar. The key to good grades is focus. Set for each day a focus topic and do only this subject that day. (Advanced: Use the morning to plan your next day by setting blocks for specific tasks to accomplish.)
Gather all information at once, eliminate irrelevant content and prioritize your to-dos. Plan your day and schedule every task in advance.
Efficiency is about how to ‘study right’
People usually spend most of their time summarising the slides, little on doing exercises and almost no time doing old exams under real-life circumstances. As stated above, the way to success is often doing the complete opposite.
Start with a mock exam. With little studying before-hand, you will probably fail. But that’s the intention. Understanding is not enough, you need to apply your knowledge. Doing this helps you identify1) at which topics you suck 2) what your professor wants you to apply. Exams are usually very similar to the old ones.
Do exercises and only look at the slides on demand. In the exams, you have to apply what you have learned and the best preparation for that is training. Information only enters the long-term memory, when your brain defines it as important. If you do an exercise and are missing some key knowledge, then look it up. If some content is never asked for, it’s not important.
Do 10 min breaks every hour and get fresh air. Your level of concentration drops heavily after 45 min. Do not see pauses at a waste of time, but rather as part of the learning process. Avoid using your phone or get distracted otherwise, just walk around the block.
Focus on the application of knowledge — not just memorisation. Move from previous exams to exercises and only look at the slides when you need to.
Sufficient sleep, exercising & nutrition give you the required energy
There have been written uncountable books about improving your lifestyle and performance. Sleep, exercising and diet are the most important.
Sleep at least 7.5h per night. More is better. Your brain moves information to long-term memory only during sleep. Therefore, having a good night sleep is an elementary part of your learning process. Never sacrifice sleep for studying more.
Never consume caffeine after 16h afternoon. You are not able to enter the deep sleep phase when you still have caffeine in your body. This reduces your sleep quality and thereby your memorisation process dramatically.
Avoid sugar at all costs. Studies have shown that sugar not only makes you stupid but causes your energy level to fall below your original level afterwards after the initial sugar shock. In simple words: eating sweet snacks gets you tired. Instead, consume water and nuts/fruits.
Exercise every day for at least 10 min. Sport helps you reduce stress and increases your level of concentration through increased blood flow and higher oxygen saturation in your brain.
During exam periods, spend more time on sleep, exercising and nutrition than before. The increased level of concentration allows you to learn faster and recover the ‘lost’ time.
Summary
If there is only one thing you should take away, it is shifting your mindset from spending more time studying to becoming better at studying.
Take 5 minutes to think about why you are pursuing good grades and write down a concrete goal. The more ambitious, the better.
To become a better learner, get more effective through extensive planning, gain efficiency by starting with the application of knowledge (mock exams -> exercises -> content slides) and have more energy by sleeping at least 7.5h and avoiding sugar.
Recommended resources
Ted Talk (14:37 min): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Na8m4GPqA30
Deep work (7:30 min) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTaJhjQHcf8
Just like you, I am still in the process of learning. I would be happy to receive feedback!
@Force Good luck with statistics!
