Starting this series with Cal Newport’s How to be a Straight A student
I think the book can be sectioned broadly into 3 parts:
Routines and time management
Strategic note-taking/ note-making
Tips for tests and exams
This post will be on parts 1 & 2.
Part 1: Routine Management#
Create High-intensity 1-hour Study Chunks rather than long Hours of Low-intensity Studying#
Cal argues that straight-A students, contrary to popular opinion, spend less time studying. They spend around 3 hours studying per day. But rather than passively reread materials, they engage in deep work: high intensity, high impact 1-hour chunks split into 50 minutes and a 10-minute break repeated twice or thrice at most. They then move on to something else after that.
Choose the Right Locations, times of the Day, and Duration to Study#
Locations: The best locations to study are quiet places. Find them! Use the library, find other study spots on campus: mancaves embedded deep in bunkers, holes in walls, you name it!
Times of the Day: Study during hours when your energy reserves are on full power—usually early mornings and midday.
Duration of study session: 1 hour chunks broken into 50 minutes of deep work and 10 minutes break.
Figure out beforehand what Needs to Be Done and when#
Plan out exactly what to study before the day it is studied. Invest in day planners or calendars!
Update Your Calendar Each Morning#
Make it a part of your morning routine before leaving for any class to update your calendar, by blocking time for important tasks you hope to accomplish that day.
“The goal for your scheduled list each morning is to figure out how much of the scheduled work you can realistically accomplish that day”
Treat Sundays as Workdays#
Simple and straight to the point. Treat Sundays as workdays; not weekends. Hence, for activities that need to be taken care of in a certain week, schedule them for Sunday!
Have a Task Management System#
Doesn’t have to be an application. Cal says a pen and paper you carry with you is enough to do the job. Simply jot down actionable items.
But…
It’s okay to relapse. Get up, check your calendar, schedule the day’s tasks, and move on!
You Can’t Defeat the Urge to Procrastinate, so Use it#
Create a work progress journal: Build a daily journaling habit to positively guilt you into keeping yourself accountable.
Feed the machine: Eat! Drink lots of water during the day and when studying. Cal says to treat food as a source of energy, not satisfaction.
Spice up horrendous tasks: Make an event out of the things you don’t want to do. for example, I started writing this post in something less of a “cafe”. Straight-A students try as much as possible to leave a place they’re comfortable with to avoid falling into the trap of procrastination. Now, they’re left to do what they came for.
Identify “protected hours” and build a routine: identify protected hours and use them to do the same work each week.
“The goal is so you no longer have to convince yourself to do that task..”
- Plan a may-day: don’t wait till deadlines come knocking, deflect those missiles before they even come close!
Bring a Book (or Any other Study material) to Read with You#
So you spend those minutes between classes being productive: reading an interesting book, creating flashcards, or slowly chipping at projects (rather than scrolling endlessly on social media).
Prepare Your Mind for flow on the way to Study Spots#
Get to your study spot, sit, open your study material, and get to work! That should be the preferred sequence.
Find other Study Spots#
Although mentioned earlier, the idea here is to have a place for different kinds of studying. The library might be better for more intensive study, while a cafe is appropriate for less intensive study like working on a paper.
Part 2: Strategic Note-taking and Note-making#
Use a Laptop for Non-technical Classes#
This applies less to us Nigerians 😆 as we don’t “take notes”. But the point remains, unless you write on paper faster than you do typing, there’s no reason to not take non-technical notes on your laptop. It’s easier and more searchable.
Use High-quality Notebooks and Stationery for Technical Classes#
You want to at least be able to read what you have written right? Not stare at flamingos wondering what the heck you were thinking in class.
use front-matter, cause well… they matter 😉
see what I did there?
Review Your Notes after Classes#
LISTEN. There’s no 2 way around it, if you don’t review your notes, YOU WILL FORGET important parts of it. No matter how well you understand or think you understand the topics discussed. Our brains have been hardwired to forget, so stop faking Superman and go through your damn notes!
Focus on Sample Problems in Technical Classes#
Examples and problem sets.
Own Your Notes#
Annotate your notes! make it yours. If you not gonna have these kinds of notes,
then you might as well just have these kind of notes
Record the Solutions to Problem Sets Properly the First time#
For technical students, write out the solutions to Psets properly and not on a random sheet of paper!! Engineers! Get yourself together! 🙄
Organize Your Materials and Properly Review Them#
Organize your materials intelligently, and then perform a targeted surgical review procedure of them.
Create Mega Problem Sets for Technical Classes#
bring all solutions to assignments, sets, examples, test questions, tutorial questions 😏, you name it! and bundle them all into one massive set. Add explanations where necessary to aid you when you’re reviewing them.
Make Use of Flashcards and Stop Rereading#
We need to talk about why they don’t teach us the importance of flashcards! (This deserves a standalone post). Create them whenever you get some free time—at least a week before the day you plan to study them.
Do not Organize and Study on the Same Day#
Just stop! It’s way too tiring. Organize at full power, study, and review at full power.
Explain Concepts in Your Own Words#
If you can (and are allowed to)
Find a Treadmill to Do Reviews on#
I mean, Cal says it… It’s a book review, so…
Separate the Task of Memorization and Review#
They’re two entirely different tasks, why are you giving your brain extra work?
Take Note of and Schedule time to Work on the Question Marks in Your Notes#
The question marks here are those areas/topics you don’t get enough time to study properly before the exams.