Some excellent advice there. I’m surprised spaced repetition isn’t mentioned although that’s more a question of when to study rather than how to study. I also liked point 2 - Its incredibly useful in biology which is composed of processes. Envisioning the biological process taking place is much easier than memorizing each step.
I would add that mindset is important. The goal in studying is to learn something—to end your studying session knowing more than you did before. Hence my general strategy is to try to figure out what I don’t quite understand and then if I can’t figure it out then I seek help. If I come across something that doesn’t make complete sense, I will pause and ask myself : “so how does this work?”
If you’re not challenging yourself, then you’re not studying. Skimming over notes while nodding your head isn’t studying. Looking over problem set answers and nodding when you understand and thinking “I would have never come up with that” when you don’t understand is not studying. Selectively looking over things you already understand isn’t studying.
Having said all of that, there seems to be an implicit assumption that top students do well because of how they study. I have no doubt that good studying habits help, but intelligence is also very important: From my experience good studying has raised my grades by 2⁄3 on average (for example from a B to a A-). Copying the studying habits of the best MIT student will not get you the same grades—that is an unrealistic expectation.
Some excellent advice there. I’m surprised spaced repetition isn’t mentioned although that’s more a question of when to study rather than how to study. I also liked point 2 - Its incredibly useful in biology which is composed of processes. Envisioning the biological process taking place is much easier than memorizing each step.
I would add that mindset is important. The goal in studying is to learn something—to end your studying session knowing more than you did before. Hence my general strategy is to try to figure out what I don’t quite understand and then if I can’t figure it out then I seek help. If I come across something that doesn’t make complete sense, I will pause and ask myself : “so how does this work?”
If you’re not challenging yourself, then you’re not studying. Skimming over notes while nodding your head isn’t studying. Looking over problem set answers and nodding when you understand and thinking “I would have never come up with that” when you don’t understand is not studying. Selectively looking over things you already understand isn’t studying.
Having said all of that, there seems to be an implicit assumption that top students do well because of how they study. I have no doubt that good studying habits help, but intelligence is also very important: From my experience good studying has raised my grades by 2⁄3 on average (for example from a B to a A-). Copying the studying habits of the best MIT student will not get you the same grades—that is an unrealistic expectation.