You’ve planned your day out and you’ve decided that you want to spend an hour studying x subject. You sit at your desk, gather your study materials and… now what? If this situation seems relatable, then here’s what to do during a 1 hour study session.
5 minutes: set a goal
Before you do anything, you have to know what you want to do, otherwise you’ll be aimless and prone to procrastination. At the start of your study session, set a goal. Write down what subject you want to study, which topics, and what study methods you’ll be using. Also, clarify what “success” looks like; for example, memorising some dates or getting complicated integration questions right most of the time.
5 minutes: review previous content
If you don’t review past content, you’re very likely to forget it. So, at the beginning of any study session, spend some time going through past notes or reading the previous chapter of the textbook. It’s low-effort but high-reward, so make sure you don’t skip out on this step. This also functions as a warm-up to get you into a productive mindset: you’re essentially easing into the actual studying part.
15 minutes: read the textbook
Now, focus on learning the new content. Read the textbook, watch a leacture, or look at some teaching slides. When doing this, make sure that you don’t have any blind spots. If something doesn’t make sense, immediately try to figure it out by looking online or asking for help. The problem won’t suddenly magically make sense, you have to make it make sense.
15 minutes: notes & blurting
Now, close the textbook and try to make notes without looking at it. Write down everything you remember reading, then check if you’ve missed anything. This is a form of active recall, which makes you much more likely to remember the information for longer. That’s because you’re practicing retrieving the information, strengthening the mental connections around that piece of information.
10 minutes: practice questions
Finally, it’s time to practice what you’ve learned. Find practice questions or past papers online, and try doing them. This is essential so that you don’t just know the information in the abstract, but so that you’re also able to use it in an exam context. Make sure you leave time to check your answers so that you know what to focus on next time.
