Summary
Highlights
This video is the fourth part of the Student Academy's study methods training, focusing on planning. It uses the 'cyclist example' to illustrate the importance of having a plan. A cyclist has a week to cover 700 km, cycling 100 km per day. Despite bad weather or lack of motivation, the cyclist adheres to the plan because missing a day would mean missing their flight home. This highlights that a plan provides a clear consequence for not acting, giving value to each day, which is crucial for students to avoid procrastination.
A well-structured planning allows to dose efforts, detect delays in advance, and reduce unnecessary stress. A common mistake is to create an unrealistic plan at the beginning of a study period, driven by an artificial burst of motivation. A good plan must be realistic; otherwise, it leads to disappointment and abandonment.
A key challenge for students is estimating study time. A practical technique is to study for an hour and count the number of pages or exercises completed. This allows for an extrapolation of the total time needed for a course. It's normal for beginners to misestimate, so flexibility and using a pencil for the initial plan are recommended. Experienced students can more accurately gauge study time. Planning is essential in all fields, akin to a factory setting production goals.
The Student Academy offers a downloadable planning template. This template can be used in two ways: one sheet per day for a seven-day plan, or one sheet per week for seven weeks of planning. The first step is to mark exam dates. Next, identify all unavailable days (e.g., city trips, work, birthdays) that will prevent you from studying. This creates a realistic overview of available study time.
The next step is to list all exams and estimate the number of days required for each. If unsure, use the technique of measuring study speed per page/exercise. This is often the most challenging part, but practice improves accuracy. After listing required days for all exams, compare this total with the actual number of available study days on your calendar.
There are three potential scenarios. If you need 20 days but only have 10, it's unrealistic to cram. This either leads to burnout or superficial learning. In this case, you must prioritize and choose which courses to focus on, possibly dropping some. If you need 20 days but have 18, you can 'trim down' study time for certain courses (e.g., reducing 10 days for physics to 9, and 8 days for math to 7) to align with available time. The ideal scenario is when you have more days available (e.g., 25 days) than needed (20 days). In this case, schedule 'buffer days' for rest or catching up, which can be converted to study days if needed.
Once the theoretical and practical study days align, begin filling your schedule, ideally with a pencil for flexibility. It's generally advised to avoid studying multiple subjects in one day. Instead, focus on one subject for several consecutive days to maintain momentum and reduce the time spent re-acclimatizing to new material. When scheduling, try to study courses in the same order they will be examined. This maintains a consistent duration between study and exam dates for each subject.