Counting hours and massing

Don’t spend hours studying at a stretch (a habit called “massing”) over and above college learning hours and homework assignments. Breaks between study sessions are important for your brain to digest all that you’ve learned. Study hours are not proportional to the quality of studying.

You can use the Pomodoro technique if you want a disciplined approach. It is an elegant and simple productivity improvement technique that can be flawlessly applied for completing assignments, reading & reviewing study material, managing study/learning load, etc. Here is how it goes.

• Pick a timer, Set it to 20 or 25 minutes
• Spend 20-25 minutes on a topic (or sub-topics)
• Once the timer rings, stop.
• Take a break of 5 minutes (cycle 1)
• Return to another 20-25 minutes for learning a new topic(s)
• Take a break of 5 minutes (cycle 2)
• After 4 such cycles, take a longer break

I recommend using this study technique when you need to study for long hours, especially before an exam. It is ideal for a quick review because you can systematically cover individual concepts or sets of quick facts one after the other. With this study method, you’ll be able to review a large number of topics in a few days without exhausting yourself with boredom and anxiety. It’ll help you learn something instead of giving the feeling that you’ve studied well – only for the exam to prove you wrong.

Study tip: Don’t study for long hours – study in small chunks of 20-45 minutes along with breaks. Or, use the Pomodoro technique.