The Ultimate 3-Step Guide To Maximise Your Study Time

Disclaimer: This post was inspired by the Seedly Comic Series: The Ultimate Step-By-Step Guide To Maximise Your Savings, hence the title.

During our schooling journey, I believe many of us think that the key to good grades is pumping many hours into reading notes, doing ten-year series, or memorizing answers. While these methods could manifest in a certain degree of success, you might not necessarily be using your time effectively.

To better explain what I mean, I shall use the theory of the leaky bucket.

It is marketing theory, which I shan’t delve into the specifics, but I shall set the variables.

First, imagine a constant flow of water into the bucket as the effectiveness of your time spent studying and the leaks in our bucket is our brains forgetting whatever we have studied.

So, how do we increase the flow of water, while plugging the leaks in our buckets, such that our time spent studying is maximised?

If you are thinking that this post is going to give you a fool-proof way to maximise your flow of water, you clearly haven't read the previous post. So, I’d encourage you to read that post before reading this one.

Now, on to the important bit. How do you plug the leaks? My 3-step guide would require you to first understand, sleep, and then, consolidate.

Have you ever missed that key word in your test and therefore lost that one precious mark? Yea shit happens. But that’s on you, because you merely memorised the answers without really understanding what it means.

The first step to plugging that leaky bucket of yours is to fully understand the content. Only through understanding can you picture how blood flows from the aorta to the arteries to the capillaries to the veins and back to the heart via the vena cava (Editor's note: Not bad; proud teacher moment). Only through understanding can you have the answer flow out like you are writing a story book. Only through understanding can you stop hating yourself for forgetting that key word. Trust me. I've been through all of this.

Subsequently, I encourage all of you to nap / sleep more. Ever felt like your brain is going to pop if you were to move on to the next question, and then proceed to mindlessly scroll through your Instagram feed, but only to feel even more tired after that?

Scrolling through your social media feed isn’t exactly giving yourself a break. You are still bounded to the law of diminishing marginal returns, and whatever you study from then on forward will sadly not get into your head. Your mind needs rest. Take a nap / go to sleep. Wake up refreshed and your bucket will be able to retain water better!

Seriously, delete your Instagram if you are J2.

Finally, consolidate your work after a long and tough day. Scan through whatever you have studied and see whether you still can remember the formulas/keywords/equations. If you can’t, congrats, now you know what you have to study first thing in the morning!

Good luck and have fun!

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This post is once again proudly contributed by Ian Lee (RVHS Class of 2019).

If you are a current student / alumni, free feel to reach out if you would like to contribute a post too! All are welcome!