1. Have a fixed routine and fixed time block each day to focus. No distractions. Keeping the rythm is important.
2. Don’t rely on tips and tricks. Understand the material. Don’t do rote learning.
3. Make sure your understanding is correct. Don’t assume. Verify your knowledge with external reference.

I explain the subject to my cat. Phrasing it helps me to notice gaps in my knowledge, and review them.

What works for me for learning is…

• Start 6am weekdays, no weekends
• Pomodoro technique
• UML class diagrams
• Spaced repetition flashcards

What works for me for good grades…

• Learning professor’s biases and playing into them

When I studied to become a Radio Officer (Marine, not Navy) I joined a Radar Maintenance class with six guys from various parts of India.

They added a new page to my ‘technique’. I visited them and saw all their notes plastered on their walls. They didn’t sit and revise - they walked around and stared at the walls… it was amazing.

So first of all, we’d do a class - maybe a couple of hours - where I’d mark diagrams (using colours) and take notes (also using highlighters to mark important sections of printed notes).

• After the class, during break, I’d spend the first five minutes just scanning over the whole class one time.

• When I got home later, I’d go over it again for about 15 minutes and basically blu-tac them onto the walls. Then I’d scan across the older notes.

Within a week of scanning them, I could basically scan from further away until I could remember most of what was on them without being close enough to read them.

• Only tidy away what you know - but be sure you know it before you move it to longer term storage. I could basically recite the contents of an A4 sheet by just scanning down the headings at this stage.

When I was sure I’d internalised a sheet, I could take it down and stick it in my folder.

The hardest subjects are the most boring, and often least relevant, parts of the course. I think I must have put in 80% of my efforts into less than 10% of the actual coursework.

• Flashcards are awesome. You should have them in your pocket - Question one side, Answer on the back. You should have them in your pocket always, in the toilet, on a bus, wherever you go. If you do just 5 minute sessions multiple times every day then you’ll know them all at the end of the week.

As a testament to how well this worked, I remember learning hundreds of ‘Q’ codes. If you randomly throw one up at me, I’ll remember every detail…

Stuff I remember learning iin 1984, like QRA - Q: What is the name of your vessel/station? or QRK for 'What is the readability of my signals?` with answers rated from 1 to 5.

I never went to sea - so I never used this stuff after I finished College (Margarette Thatcher put the plug on that) but it’s all there.

• Visible Thinking to make use of the Levels of Processing Effect and to take notes. I also sometimes do the thinking routines out loud rather than writing them down. Although you lose potential notes, it’s faster.
• Acceptance and Commitment Therapy to handle my emotions and my behavior
• A Mind for Numbers to understand when and how to switch from and to different tasks
• And Getting Things Done to organize my time and engage with the tasks at hand