This post is about how to study in a time-efficient way, and improve your grades without spending your entire life stuck in a textbook.
Introduction
I think it’s quite rare to be both a minimalist, and a college student at the same time. Most people my age haven’t figured out what is important in life (and what isn’t) yet. At this stage, everything is exciting and worth doing! Yes to everything! Study hard? Yes! Go to parties? Yes! Spend time with family? Yes! Take on yet another hobby? Why not!
At some stage we learn that saying "yes" to one thing actually means saying "no" to everything else. I’m sure that’s a famous quote, but I can’t quite remember where. The wisdom is true, however, and I live by it. So, when you’re deciding what to spend your time and effort on, you also want to realize that you can spend your time and effort efficiently for those things that you do say "yes" to. I am still saying "yes" to college every day (even though it may be a reluctant yes at times!) but that doesn’t mean I have to throw everything that I have got at it. I know I’m going to graduate, but I have decided to not try to get huge grades and I have decided to not strive and strain to be a valedictorian. I’m spending my time investing in skills like blogging, writing, and online business.
Study efficiency
So, now that we’ve decided that I am going to study, how can I do it in the most time-efficient way? That’s not to say, cram everything into one short space of time at the end, the night before exams, but instead, it’s to optimize the time that I do spend to have the biggest impact. One short example: right at the beginning of the course, get a few of the last year’s exam papers, and go over them. It’ll take you less than an hour, but will give you some huge landmarks to watch out for in your course material. Then you can focus on those topics and practice the sorts of questions on the exam, so that you get the best marks with the minimal complete amount of study.
Learning efficiency
Some people learn by reading, some people learn by doing, and others learn by listening. Everyone’s brain is different, so you need to find what works for you. For example, I like to learn by listening to podcasts. I listen while I’m at the gym, while I’m walking, while I’m doing chores. If I take notes while I’m listening, I’ll be able to remember what I’ve heard much later on. If I don’t take notes, I’ll still remember some of it, but not as much. If you are like me, then it can be tiring to attend a lecture when you can hardly hear the professor, or even worse, if they talk extremely slowly. I like to listen to my lectures afterwards, on "2x" speed, and that way I get through it in half the time. If you are lucky enough to be studying at a college that offers online coursework via an elearning platform, then by all means try this. If you love the sound of your elearning voiceover, then by all means listen at "1x" speed or “normal” speed, don’t feel pressured to follow all of my advice precisely! If you don’t have these high-tech options, then unfortunately you may just have to attend the class and spend the time.
Group assignments
The big challenge with group assignments is always that there are a few people who want to do everything, and a few people who want to do nothing. Don’t be either of those people, they’re terrible in both cases. The overachievers end up fighting and putting in way too many hours and still get a bad grade. The moochers end up being hated and resented by the rest of the group (including other moochers) and also get a bad grade. So my advice is to get a small but well defined chunk of work, do it well, and do not waste more time on it. This way, everyone will give good feedback about you (just like the over-achiever would receive), and everyone knows you did some of the work, and will still like you as a person.
Studying and minimalism
I think that minimalism and studying go together pretty well because the things you do while studying are normally a lot of fun mental stimulation, but they are also quite specific. The problem is that while you are studying, you end up doing a lot of things that are pretty non-minimal. For example, you’ll probably go out to get coffee, you’ll probably eat out, you’ll probably buy a lot of textbooks. I’m not saying that these things are bad, what I’m saying is that you will do a lot of them, and it’s a lot of money to spend at once. If you’ve got the money, then spend it, but if you’re a minimalist, then you’re probably not spending money on anything anyway.
Parting advice
Try to think more about what you spend your time on, and all of a sudden you’ll have a lot more time on your hands, and probably similar grades to go along with it. Don’t fall into the trap of just reading textbooks, or taking notes, or watching lectures. It’s not that any of those things are bad, but they aren’t the most efficient way to spend your time. If you’ve got the money to spend, then spend it on things that will help you get through the semester, rather than a book that you’ll only read two chapters of.
