Note taking is dead
3 study tips to live by this year
Okay, for starters, if you haven’t heard of Ali Abdaal yet, what are you doing. This man is a business, productivity, and academic genius.
I’ve watched countless hours of YouTube trying to find the best study methods out there. Today I will share with you three of my greatest learnings from him and other study experts over the years.
Note taking is not effective
As Ali points out in this video, taking notes is simply not the most effective way to study.
Picture this:
I’m studying for my first year accounting midterm. There are about 25-30 practice questions on the homework list. Instead I start with re-reading chapters 1-4. I take notes on all of it. As I scan the textbook I rewrite everything verbatim on lined paper. Now I basically have a second copy of textbook.
Fast forward to test day, and I flip through the midterm. There wasn’t a simple theory based question that my notes would’ve prepared me for - everything was application based like the homework.
Of course this could be different for you depending on the class. Something like mythology, psych, etc. would probably have a lot of short answer or multiple choice questions based on your knowledge base.
However, note taking is still not the best way to prepare - doing practice questions, or anything application based, is. I’ll get to that more in #2.
Lastly I will put an asterisk on note taking. Summarizing a live lecture in your own words would be much more effective than writing down a textbook word for word. Like when your professor says “you should probably write this down”, absolutely write that down. But I would rather, read the lecture ahead of time, write a few notes, and that way come to lecture already having briefed the materials so I don’t feel pressured to write super fast for the entire class.
Practice / Test Questions
They say practice like you play in a game.
I think simulating a test environment with practice questions is, unequivocally, the best way to study.
By doing this, you will not only be getting reps in before test day, but you will start to uncover patterns about what your weak spots are, with enough time to dedicate some focus to that subject area.
I would start off with any practice quizzes/midterms, flashcards, or homework questions you haven’t done. Re-doing the homework is a bit deceiving because you have some bias as you’ve already done the question before, even if you don’t remember the answer. I also think getting a friend group and quizzing each other is a great way to study.
Pomodoro Technique
I like this one because it’s got a realistic expectation for us and our shortened attention spans (thanks to our phones and social media btw).
The pomodoro method is this:
a. pick a subject or task
b. spend 25 minutes on it
c. take a 5 minute break
d. repeat, and every 3-4 cycles take a longer, 15-30 minute break
Was that so hard?
Pomodoro allows us to be focused and productive without burning out.
I will say though, if you enter a flow state and can keep focus for longer than half hour at a time, by all means keep that flow state and keep studying.
The bottom line
The TLDR of this whole thing is that you’ve got to find what works for you.
These are simply suggestions or a starting point for your studying.
If note taking somehow, miraculously works for you, so be it…
Happy Monday
ak