Benoit Phy PDF

A complete guide in how to
Study
Maths
Physics
How to become a world-class
Physics/Maths student
BY BENOIT SERON
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Benoît Seron
Paperback Edition Friday 22nd November, 2019
ISBN 9781080518821
© Benoît Seron. All rights reserved.
Benoît Seron asserts the moral right to be identi�ed as the author of

this work. All rights reserved in all media. No part of this publication
may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in
any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the
author and/or the publisher.
C��
C�� i
1 Introduction 1
1.1 Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.3 Goals of this book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.4 Who is this book addressed to ? . . . . . . . . . 6
1.5 How to read this book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.6 Bibliography and disclaimer . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.7 A taboo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2 How to study 13
2.1 Basics of study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.2 Deep work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.3 High school Maths and Physics . . . . . . . . . 30
2.4 Studying �rst year Physics . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
2.5 Real Mathematics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
2.6 Studying real Physics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
2.7 Studying other topics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
This is a preview version of my a small part of the book. I’ve dedicated entire months of my
personal time in this work. If you like it, please support my e�orts by buying a paperback
version on Amazon. It’s only a few dollars, and means a lot to me to see my work being useful.
You can also send an email (see C��), and share this file with friends.
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2.8 Studying during the year . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

2.9 Exam preparation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
2.10 On the exam (written) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
2.11 On the exam (oral) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
3 Factors related to study 137

3.1 Habits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
3.2 Mental health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
3.3 Social . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
3.4 Work environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
3.5 Exam anxiety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
3.6 Procrastination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
3.7 Students like athletes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
3.8 Sleep . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
3.9 Taking responsibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
4 Active work 197

4.1 Communication in Science . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
4.2 Experimental projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
4.3 Homework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
4.4 Master Thesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
4.5 Naive advice on research . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
4.6 Teaching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
4.7 Presentations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
4.8 Laboratories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
4.9 Group works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
4.10 Programming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
5 Being a physicist 255

5.1 What it means to be a physicist . . . . . . . . . 255
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5.2 Mastery in Physics/Maths . . . . . . . . . . . . 257

5.3 Becoming a greater mind . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
5.4 People . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
6 Career 265
6.1 What do you want to do with your life . . . . . 265
6.2 Choosing your classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
6.3 Where to study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280
6.4 Letters of Recommendation . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
6.5 Why choose Physics ? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287
6.6 What can a physicist do ? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
6.7 Getting a PhD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
6.8 Students job . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300
6.9 People skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
6.10 University years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304
7 Conclusion 311
7.1 What to do now ? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311
7.2 Closing words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313
7.3 Contact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314
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1.1 Acknowledgments
Great many thanks to Joseph Ralph LaFlamme, who took upon

his personal time to edit this book. This work wouldn’t have
been possible without his help and dedication.
This book is the product of countless discussions with peo-
ple brighter and wiser than me. In no particular order, I would
like to sincerely thank those who participated directly or indi-
rectly to the creation of this book :
Romain Ruzziconi, Sacha Ferrari, Andrei Popescu, Serge Ovchin-
nikov, Lionel Podlecki, Marko Sojic, Alexis Darras, Ulrich Sper-
hake, Pierre Dauby, Peter Schlagheck, Yvik Swan, Peter Tinyakov,
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Fabio Capela, Gregory Kozyre�, Dorian Dejace, Quentin Glaude,

Jérémy Hiernaux, Gaël Buldgen, Marie-Hélène Polis, Fiona Whe-
lan, Martin Farnir, Maud Marcelin, Louis Preudhomme, Pierre-Loïc
Bacq, Murat Kuscu, Thomas Lejeune, David Vidal Bankier, Mar-
ion Guillaume, Alessandro Marcello Stavroghin Venieri, Maria
Dubrova, Delphine Médard, Guillaume Koenig, Guillermo Opollo,
Iina Gylden, and �nally my family who made my studies possible.
1.2. F��
1.2 Foreword
This book is the book I wish I had before I started university.

I wrote it with the younger me in mind. I collected my ideas,
re�ections, and especially my strategical mistakes over the years
in a thick �le, then analyzed what would be most relevant for
the general public.
I’ve made lots of errors. And, I have not had it easy. I did the
whole of my studies with serious, even life-threatening (mental)
health conditions. I don’t want to count points for my victim
card, but I believe I had more obstacles in my path than the
typical student.
I had no choice but to be e�cient in my study : I had less time,
focus and stamina available than most. For instance, during my
master-thesis year, I spent 16 hours a day in bed, because of
mononucleosis (in addition to the rest of my problems, and some
pesky borderline orbiting around).
However, I was focused towards one very clear goal : be-
coming a researcher. I knew little about myself, in retrospect,
but that at least I knew. I would be happy in this job, and would
hardly �nd any meaning elsewhere. This meant that I had to
be an excellent student. The competition for academic jobs is,
honestly, soul-shattering.
I hope that you can bene�t from my experience as a highly
dedicated student. Despite my extensive list of di�culties, I
managed to pull out excellent marks, with the highest grades
and being the best student each year during my bachelors (3
years at ULg, in Physics), and �rst masters (2 years at ULB, in
Theoretical Physics). Then I spent one year studying for a Mas-
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ter of Advanced Study (in Applied Mathematics) in Cambridge.

I sincerely hope that your marks and your life will improve
thanks to the e�ort I put in this book.
1.3. G��
1.3 Goals of this book

My aim is to provide you with all the tools required to become
an excellent Physics or Mathematics student. I am a theoretical
physicist and am doing a PhD leaning more towards Applied
Mathematics, so my writing will be naturally in�uenced to-
wards that direction. The words Maths and Physics will be used
somewhat interchangeably unless otherwise stated, so that this
book be useful for both physicists and mathematicians.
I believe that Maths studies are more di�cult per se, because
they are more abstract, but Physics is more di�cult to study,
because of the vast amount of material in each class. So, part of
the advice here may not grasp the interest of mathematicians.
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1.4 Who is this book addressed to ?

My aim is to help anyone who wishes to be a better student, and
perform exceptionally at university. I wrote this book mainly
for prospective theoretical physicists (which thus makes it inter-
esting for the broader range of physicists and mathematicians).
Some of the advice is very speci�c to Physics, but a larger por-
tion of the book is applicable to any kind of student, whether he
is still in high school, or �nishing his master thesis and looking
for a PhD.
1.5. H��
1.5 How to read this book

Each section of this book is essentially self-contained, and you
are invited to read them in the order that suits you best. You can
skip some, as I paid care to repeat the most important elements
you would miss doing so, in the other sections.
High school students and non-physicists/mathematicians
will bene�t from the more generic sections, such as on basics of
study, habits, procrastination, exam anxiety, etc. However, read-
ing the others is also interesting as it might give you inspiration
and ideas for your work.
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1.6 Bibliography and disclaimer
This book is not a work of science. I am not a trained psychol-

ogist, and my writing is not extensively based on the latest
research. Do not take my advice as gospel. Take it as you would
a Quora post that became longer and longer up to the point of
becoming this book. This book is my opinion.
However, I believe my advice will be more relevant to you
than the generic advice given by psychologists. Both Maths and
Physics require special study techniques, given the stringent
requirements and rigor needed to succeed in those �elds.
I believe that my credibility comes from the following :
imagine being in the middle of the jungle, and being given the
choice of a survival partner. You could either have an academic
biologist, probably most knowledgeable about every species in
the forest; or you could go with a local who grew and thrived in
this di�cult environment. I am the latter. My advice may not be
ideal, but it is pragmatic, and comes from �rst-hand experience.
And it worked. I don’t know many pedagogues who also studied
Physics, however.
Given the nature of this book - an opinion I built over my
years at university - I found it irrelevant to try to document
every single claim. They should be read like suggestions and
not taken as facts.
The literature surrounding most of the material here is not
very precise nor self-consistent (and in fact quite often self-
contradicting), so a precise bibliography could be provided but
would be worthless. However, I found it valuable to give sug-
gested readings for those interested in going further, at the end
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1.6. B��
of each section.
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1.7 A taboo
In this book, I took the risk to address a touchy topic in Physics/
Maths faculties : mental health. I personally su�ered from seri-
ous, debilitating issues, and I know that a majority of students
do too, in one way or another. This is especially true in elite
schools.
I read an alarming article (BlueSci, Easter 2018) on mental
health in Cambridge. The mathematics department (which also
includes theoretical physicists, astrophysicists,...) systematically
ranked lowest or close to it in any poll. In the overall study, only
40 percent of Cambridge students asserted not to have mental
health issues (!). Mathematics ranked last in terms of overwork,
peer pressure, support from faculty and second to last in regards
to sta� pressure1 . Quite a feat if you ask me.
Why this is is a matter of controversy. One can say that
mathematicians and physicists have below average social and
emotional skills (let’s be honest with ourselves here), and are
prone to overwork as well.
Whatever the reasons, mental health is still very much of a
taboo, and, in my experience, much more so than in the wider,
’real world’ society.
The worst that can happen to someone with mental issues
is isolation. It takes a village to keep a sane mind. This is
why I chose to write extensively about this topic in the present
book. I believe that a non-negligible portion of students will
1
To be rigorous, I must admit that the statistical sample was small. How-
ever the ranking, I have seen those issues in many people’s behavior. It is not
a contest of victimhood - but the extent of this trend was visually blatant.
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1.7. A ��
�nd themselves in some of my words, and hope that I can o�er

helpful advice to them, or that they may relate to my experience
and feel less lonely in their su�ering.
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2.1 Basics of study

I assume that you already have a fairly good idea of how to study.
I wrote this book with younger students in mind, assuming you
are about 18-20, before beginning university, or still completing
your bachelor. I don’t think I have to teach you the basics in
great depth, but it’s always good to remind you of them. You
might have bad habits without being aware of them.
Here is some terse advice that can be applied to anyone. If
you apply all of it, then you are already on an excellent track to
success.
1. Be active.
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• Take responsibility for your own learning

• Process the material by doing summaries, or para-
phrasing or even explaining in a simpler language
(in contrast to just copying the class)
• Read 20 minutes of class, then try to give its main
points out of memory, with your course closed
• Make challenges out of boring classes (e.g. how fast
can you do one chapter? Can you �nd inaccuracies
in the text? )
• Use a highlighter (still quite a passive practice though,
it’s better to write)
• Teach others
• Take notes as you read
• If you are not having di�culties, then you are learn-
ing ine�ciently. Increase the cognitive strain.1
2. Study regularly
• Memory works best when the material is repeatedly

studied, over increasingly distant periods of time.
• Ideally, a single piece of information should be re-
peated over the following intervals:
a) After 20 minutes
b) After a day
1
Cognitive strain changes your thinking patterns from a broad, di�use
one to an analytical one, see for instance ’Thinking Fast and Slow’ from
Khaneman.
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2.1. B��
c) After a week
d) After a month
e) After two months
• Study at least six days a week
• It’s better to study 10 times one hour, than 10 hours
straight.
3. Go to class
• Take notes, constantly

• Write continuously to stay focused, as well as to
learn to write fast for tests
• Pledge to make your notes public so they have to
be of high quality. Do the same for your summaries,
and announce them before you do them, so you have
peer pressure to set yourself at work
• Start focusing 5 minutes before the class begins, by
trying to summarize the last class in your head, or
better still, to the guy sitting beside you
• Don’t read class notes before class (otherwise you
will be bored, get passive and waste your time)
4. Work hard, rest hard
• Prede�ne your work and rest periods

• Break down your work into two-hour blocs with
large breaks (about half an hour) in between.
• Each bloc should be divided into 25 minutes of work,
with 5-minute rest periods
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• Use a (physical) timer to limit your pauses

• On a break, go outside, open the windows, social-
ize, clean up - don’t go on your phone and avoid
watching videos
• Allow for some quality ’me-time’ in advance, and
write it down ahead, so you work with it in mind
• Pay attention to having a stable and restful sleep,
from 22h to 6h, every single day
• Work in the morning with a two-hour block before
classes start
• Keep a positive mindset towards the class
• Plan your day according to your typical energy lev-
els (e.g. high in the morning, low at 14h,...)
• Separate between work that requires focus or not
5. Use memory techniques (if required - I never had to)
• If you don’t want to study, it’s not going to work -

you need to have an interest and motivation
• Make sense of the material
• Make visual associations in your mind
• If you have lots of by heart material to study, learn
from advanced memory techniques books - it’s the
best time investment possible if you study medical
school or biology for instance
6. Plan your study

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2.1. B��
• Plan each day the night before, limiting yourself to

six objectives (Ivy Lee)
• Don’t plan hour by hour unless you’re at an ad-
vanced level - if you don’t keep up with your sched-
ules, then they are pointless
• Take yesterday’s 6 objectives, and start with the �rst
one up until completion, and don’t touch the others.
Go to the next one. Repeat.
• Study what you like �rst, then what’s hard, then
what’s easy, then what’s boring
7. Set up a clinical work environment
• Set aside part of a room, or even a full room, dedi-

cated for study
• Make it agreeable and personal with posters and
photographs
• Everything should be clean
• Your desktop should be totally empty, except for a
lamp and the current material in use
• Hide your computer and phone in another room.
Put your phone on silent. If possible, give them to
someone while you study.
• Lighting should be intense, and fairly cold (5000K
or more) during the day. It should be dimmed hours
prior to sleep.
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• Eliminate any other distraction such as music, noise,

pets, people. Known lyric-less music can be used to
cover up noise.
8. Study from general to particular
• Scan the class a handful of times, each time slower,

so you know what we talk about and what matters
before you study. (It helps to avoid getting stalled).
• Look at the objectives of each section: what are they
trying to do/answer? (It helps in being proactive).
• Method SQ3R (if needed):
a) Survey (what is the text about?)
b) Question (what is this section answering?)
c) Read (and answer the previous questions)
d) Recite (the answer to the previous questions)
e) Review
• Method THIEVES (if needed):
a) Title
b) Headings
c) Introduction
d) First sentence of every paragraph
e) Visuals (graphs, tables)
f) End of chapter questions (problems, exercises)
g) Summarize
9. Eat healthily
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2.1. B��
• Eat �ve times a day

• Do have breakfast
• Eat a low-carb, high-protein diet (carbs will crash
out your focus and make you hungry all the time)
• Cook by yourself
• Discard anything that your great grandmother wouldn’t
recognize as food
• Drink alcohol only for parties, even if in small amounts
(no casual beers)
10. Prepare for tests
• Be deliberate about learning

• Obtain previous tests questions at all cost, and plan
your study according to them
• Study everything at least once, even if super�cially,
rather than focusing on one chapter that you study
in depth (hoping the exam questions are about this
one)
• If convenient, study by teaching others. (It requires
having relatively little material, such as in high
school)
• Do all the exercises, without �rst looking at the
answers.
• It’s better to fail while studying than on the test. If
you fail while being active, you’ll recall much better
than if you just read the exercises’ solutions. Don’t
be afraid of failing: it means you are learning.
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• Do harder problems than asked

• Checkout other textbooks and their problems (which
are likely sources of your exam questions)
11. Enforce good behaviours
• Sit in the very front of the class, so you have to be

focused
• Pledge to make summaries in front of the whole
class for a given date
• Pledge to teach whoever is interested, at a given
date
• Don’t take notes on a computer, it makes distrac-
tions too close for comfort
• Ignore fancy colouring strategies for your notes:
stick to content and clarity
• Break down large tasks into smaller bits to avoid
procrastination
• Work towards resolving anxiety issues (go to profes-
sionals rather earlier than later - you’ll thank me)
Keypoints :
• Be active
• Be regular
• Study in short bursts, with frequent breaks
• Set up a work-dedicated environment

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2.1. B��
• Take responsibility for your study
Going further :
• Many books exist on how to study, and most of them are

crap, because they do not provide pragmatic, �eld-tested
ideas. Sometimes I feel like the authors just have an idea
that looks good (in their idealistic head), and, not being a
student anymore, go on and write an entire chapter on it,
thinking it would work. Often most, authors of self-help
books do not apply a third of what they advocate.
• That said, you can look on YouTube at MedSchool Insiders

and to the website called MindTools.com
• For memory techniques, check out ’How to Develop a

Brilliant Memory Week by Week: 50 Proven Ways to En-
hance Your Memory Skills’ from Dominic O’Brien, as well
as ’The Memory Book: The Classic Guide to Improving
Your Memory at Work, at School, and at Play’ from Harry
Lorayne and Jerry Lucas.
• ’10 Steps to Earning Awesome Grades (while studying

less)’, Thomas Frank.
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2.2 Deep work
Shallow work
We live in a strange generation of constant business, and very

short attention span. Social media and smartphones are rela-
tively new, and we have not yet set up good habits as a society in
using them. While I may sound like an old granny complaining
about new technology, they do have very real e�ects, and partic-
ularly negative ones. Large increases in suicide, depression, and
anxiety rates are attributed to social media. They are built to be
addictive. They treat you as a Pavlov dog, with the bell being
your phone’s noti�cation sound. You get a small dopamine shot
each time you get a message or a like.
We speak about interconnectedness as if those tools made
us more productive, while in fact they do the very opposite.
We have an incredible number of distractions at our disposal.
Multi-tasking is not something you can do at a deep level. We
are trained as monkeys and get a very shortened attention span
because of it, especially for tasks that don’t give immediate pos-
itive feedback. Studying is one of them. You don’t get your little
bell ringing every second or so. It’s plain boring in comparison.
Most people say they work, while they really are just busy.
And society pushes us towards that direction, because you must
look like you are working; and this constant chatter sure does
look like it.
You cannot be e�cient with your smartphone at hand, send-
ing messages every few minutes, and your computer with music
or videos in front of you.
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2.2. D��
There is a lot of work that is pointless, because it’s ine�cient.

If you are not fully focused, you cannot really study hard topics
such as Physics or Mathematics (or, probably, any topic).
Deep work and the �ow

Good Science, and good study, are like old craftsmanship, they
take time. They do not �t in the modern image of work cen-
tred around business, connectivity, shiny moving diagrams and
similar bullshit.
I advocate that, to enjoy your work, you should cut the
distractions and forget the modern image of work, to go back
to what it looked like centuries ago. Think of someone building
watches, alone in their little, quiet room.
It sounds like a most boring activity, unless you are very
much into watches. You could think of other similar crafts
where the same comments would apply. But this state of quiet,
uninterrupted, intense focus is the key to enjoying your work
and study, if not your life, given the proportion of time your
studies and job take in it.
There is a psychology term to express that state of full im-
mersion in your work: the �ow. It’s this impression to be in the
zone, when you are completely absorbed by your activity, and
you don’t see time passing.
Being in the �ow should be your aim for your work. (We will
discuss how to do so below). It’s a kind of happiness. It’s the way
to feel energized and satis�ed with what you do. What’s nice is
that it does not really depend on what you do, but more on how
you do it. Let’s see how to be in the zone for your studying. We
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will �rst discuss deep work, which is the philosophy of doing

meaningful craftsmanship instead of constant distraction, then
particularize our discussion to explain how to be and stay in
the �ow.
How to set up your environment for deep work

Deep work, as the opposite of business and distraction, is like
interval training for athletes. When you work, you should be
fully dedicated, and when you rest, you should forget about
work as much as possible. The worst way to train is to make
hard training too easy and easy ones too hard. The same should
go with the hard parts of your work.
The most important part is setting up your environment. It
should be clinically free of distractions. As much as you can,
you should set up a room fully dedicated to that kind of work. If
you don’t have the luxury of having a full room available, you
can still arrange part of a room, for instance your o�ce. (And
do other stu� in your couch or on your kitchen table).
You should not have your phone available nor beeping in
the background. It should be on �ight mode, or, even better,
o�. The less connected you are, the better. You should not be
distracted by people walking around. You should not have your
computer at hand, if possible. And, if not, you should remove the
possibility of going to social media and similar distractions as
much as possible. You should not be on your email either. There
are good website-blockers extensions available, just google them
(ex. Stayfocusd).
While this sounds like a monastic life, it should only be so
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2.2. D��
when you are working. And you should work in prede�ned,

intense periods, like bursts of e�ort. A good rule of thumb is
called the Pomodoro technique, and it states that you should
work for 25 minutes, rest for 5, and repeat this four times total
to make a bloc of two hours. Between blocs you should take
larger breaks.
How to train your mind for deep work

The main di�culty in doing deep work in the modern age is our
conditioning for instant grati�cation. We have short attention
spans, and are used to checking our phones, emails or Facebook
constantly. If you have never made the experiment, try to set
up an application that counts how many times you unlock your
phone per day, you’ll be surprised.
So we must train ourselves in the other direction, by learning
to delay grati�cation and resist distractions. You should learn to
embrace boredom. Gradually, you must train yourself to refuse
the urges of checking your phone that is right beside, or to
quickly go on your email or to watch a video as soon as you are
slightly bored.
Self-control directly correlates with intelligence, and work-
ing on the former increases the later. In general, any cognitive
strain makes you think more clearly, as you go from a di�use,
intuitive state of attention to a focused one. Paying attention in
this way is very energy consuming and e�ortful.
You have an attention budget every day, and each little bump
on the road diminishes it. Attention is like a muscle, i.e. fairly
limited, but improvable through consistent and dedicated work.
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Overworking it will tire it too much and it won’t be e�ective

training. Likewise, not working hard 1 enough leads to marked
intelligence and attention losses 2 .
Any type of intellectual e�ort is mental training. It need
not be task speci�c. This way, doing other cerebral activities
than Science will still boost your brain. You can do crosswords,
mental calculations, play videos games (yes !), memorize theatre
plays, practice a musical instrument... The possibilities are
endless - but do keep your brain up and working.
How to be in �ow
Note: read this section very attentively, and maybe even a few
times in a row. It can change how you study from horrible to
pleasurable. It is quite dense, hence pay attention to the precise
phrasing. It is one of the most important parts of this book.
Staying in the �ow while studying is your prime objective
as a student. It’s the only way to have lasting happiness in your
studies, if not your life. The �ow is this ’zone’ of uninterrupted,
wholehearted, intense attention at a single task, where time
seems to be �owing and one loses its consciousness.
How to be in the �ow? The �ow state and its absence are
a product of perceived skills over perceived challenges. If the
challenge and skills are both low, then we fall into apathy. If
only the skills are high, boredom. If, on the contrary, skills are
perceived as low and challenges as high, we become anxious.
2
Reportedly (Siegfried Lehrl), you can lose up to 20 IQ points by not
putting any strain on your brain during the summer, between classes.
26
2.2. D��
One can escape those states and attain �ow by equilibrating

the perception of this challenge and skill. If you are bored, then
create new challenges, such as doing the task as fast as possible.
If you are apathetic, break down the task to �nd a little thing
you believe you can do, and work on improving your skills at
doing so. If you are anxious, then ask questions to assert if
the work is really that hard, and if you really are that bad. If
you fall into anxiety-induced procrastination, then just start
working - do anything. You’ll quickly see that you can indeed
do something, and that your perception of the challenge was
inaccurate.
For an activity to induce �ow, its goals must be clearly
de�ned. You must know exactly what to do. The nature of the
activity is irrelevant to the experience of �ow. You must feel
competent at solving the task at hand, and have a clear idea of
how to tackle it. It must be a challenge, however, and ideally
one that sits slightly higher than your current level of skills
yet is still achievable. Acting on the task must provide instant
feedback, such as when driving a car: you know when you do
it right, and can quickly adapt your behaviour if you don’t. At
last, you must not be subject to distractions.
On having instant feedback: it is probably the most di�cult
part to workout in the case of studying. There are two relevant
words here: instant, and feedback.
For the immediate nature, it’s a matter of perception, and
this perception can be worked on. If you are used to lots of
distractions, and to stop working as soon as you’re bored, then
only extremely short time gaps will give you the impression of
immediacy. However, take some farmer on top of a mountain: a
27
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good �ve minutes looks like instantaneous to him. By working

on getting out of the modern society of relentless business, and
retraining your brain to a more natural state, you can increase
the time span of things that look immediate.
Regarding feedback, you must set it up in the case of study.
If you study according to the techniques described in this book,
the feedback is naturally set up for you when you spit out of
memory what you just learned (see further sections, namely
on studying real Physics). Doing exercises, with solutions (or
easy to check for consistency) is also another good way. At last,
doing the steps between the lines is satisfying: it’s usually short
(5-10 minutes top), and you have the answer, you simply have
to connect the dots.
Keypoints :
• You want to be in ’the �ow’ while studying
• To be in �ow is a balance between perceived skills and

perceived challenges: you should feel challenged, but
believe you can accomplish the task at hand
• If bored: increase the perceived challenge
• If apathetic: increase the perceived skills
• If anxious: do a small, manageable part of the work to see

that the challenge is smaller than in your head
Going further :
28
2.2. D��
• The idea of deep work is not new, but has been exploited
in an interesting yet somewhat lengthy book: ’Deep Work’
by Cal Newport.
• The idea of �ow comes from the book ’Flow: The Psy-
chology of Optimal Experience’ written by Mihaly Csik-
szentmihalyi.
29
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2.3 High school Maths and Physics

Note: I tried to make this section as self-contained as possible
to avoid high-school students reading other, sections that are
less relevant for them.
Introduction
At this stage, the material is so elementary that Physics and
Maths can be assimilated. The language of Physics is Mathemat-
ics, and basic Mathematics were written mostly by physicists,
with Physics in mind (Newton,...). You cannot do Physics with-
out Maths in the same way that you can’t write poetry without
knowing grammar in the �rst place. Reciprocally, elementary
Mathematics is very visual and far from abstract. They can be
pictured in daily-life contexts. For the rest of this section we
will thus use the words Maths and Physics interchangeably.
The goals of Maths

Most of you won’t need to perform integrals or �nd the locus
of an ellipse in your future life. And even if you needed to,
you’d google it or ask someone more quali�ed. Some university
programs will involve some more Mathematics and Physics, for
instance in medical schools. Only scientists and engineers will
really use Maths extensively.
So what’s the point in having countless hours of Maths in
high school? Certainly not to teach you Maths. At least not as
a primary objective - it’s just an added bene�t for those who’ll
need math later in their life. You’ll forget everything anyways!
30
2.3. H�� M�� P��
The point is in teaching you how to think. Maths are there

to develop your capacity for abstraction, rigour, reasoning (de-
ductive and inductive); and that you be able to apply similar
thought patterns in non-mathematical areas (that is, life).
Why you (might) hate Maths and �nd them boring

Because rulers of our magni�cent regime read the previous
paragraph with the complete opposite order of priorities. For
them, what counts are ’competences’ and skills. That you are
able to perform calculations - mindlessly or not, that, they don’t
care for the least. They’d prefer that you use Maths as a tool,
following nothing more than a soup-recipe: put this in that,
cook for �ve minutes, and get a result.
Why Maths matter: pragmatic version

Most of you will go to university, and study for a few more
years. You’ll learn something speci�c. But most often, you will
end up doing a job that has little in common with the skills you
learned. (STEM jobs are some of the ones where you apply what
you learned most directly, but even then, which corporation
would care that you are an expert in superconformal algebra).
The market is highly competitive, and very often, there will be
people who have better skills than you in any given area.
But if you learn how to think, then you can adapt, essen-
tially to any complex cerebral task. And that is what makes you
a much better candidate. People crave physicists and mathe-
maticians just for that: they know how to think. Both jobs are
amongst the most well-paid of any profession. (Belgium is a
31
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very odd case with few physicists and mathematicians, those

professions being seen somewhat badly; in Germany, you do
Physics to get a job !3 ) If you want to make big money, do Maths
or Physics, and go to �nance; salaries are exorbitant.
If you know how to adapt, how to approach a complex prob-
lem, how to break it recursively into more and more manageable
steps, and if you know how to be autonomous in �nding infor-
mation and learning, then you can quickly learn any given set
of mental skills. It won’t matter whether you learned this or
that in high school - you can learn it quickly once you need it.
In fact, as you go on further with your studies, you’ll learn
exponentially faster. (An actual exponential, not a misuse of the
word). In the �rst year at university, what you learned in the
span of months in high school will often cover no more than
two hours. And that is just for the �rst year. Imagine after 5
years of study, or even after a PhD!
Why Maths is badly taught

Because, as we said, they make people focus on skills and not
on thinking. Mathematics is not a set of cooking recipes. They
are an art in the doing, based on the notion of insight. They can
hardly be induced systematically, but teaching should focus on
laying the ground for you to get them.
A class should go along those lines: preparation, incubation,
illumination, formalization, veri�cation, and application. We
should �rst present you with a small problem, fairly easy to
solve. Ideally, one that you know already. You should be the
3
Dixit one of my professors, who was German.
32
2.3. H�� M�� P��
one trying to solve it, and the solution should not be given to
you sitting there and being passive. Then, we should add the
slightest possible amount of complexity, and solve again, then
repeat.
After a while, the student might notice correlations. This
is insight. The student sees a more profound net liking all
the problems. At this point, he might guess a general rule.
Mathematics is not only an art, but also a language - a very
precise one. The rule should be formulated exactly, with all the
formal notations.
To make precise the guesswork, we might then ask ourselves:
is this right? What cases can I imagine where the formula breaks
down? What if this parameter becomes very large? If this one
grows, should the result grow or diminish? This will result in a
domain of validity for the claim, namely hypotheses (if x, then
y).
Mathematics is also based on rigour: the result should be
proved, using known results and properties. Proving will be
a generalization of how you solved all the simpler problems,
laying down your intuitions and insights on paper.
Finally, once a theorem is established, you may notice that it
can be applied in areas that do not seem related to the problems
�rst given to you, and that you can now apply the general result
to those cases. The theorem might also simplify complicated
cases into simpler ones.
33
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Your role as a student

All those steps should be performed by the student. He should
discover, think, try, and ask himself questions. The role of
the teacher is to set up a path for the student to make those
discoveries, to ask himself the good questions,... according to his
own level. The teacher should be a guide, not someone reading
you results that you copy passively, accept as true, and apply
mindlessly.
How to learn e�ciently

In a given ’prepared’ sandbox, the near totality of the teacher’s
speaking time should be in the form of questions. In my teaching
experience, it’s incredible how much (1) people know and (2)
don’t even try. In most cases, you can, as psychics do, make a
student give the answer by himself, by just asking questions,
questions that the student could easily ask himself as well.
Learning to ask yourself those questions is primordial: not
only does it helps you if you’re stuck on a test, but it also helps
you to think. Facing a problem, mathematical or not, you learn
how to decompose it to smaller sub-problems, again and again,
until each one is trivial to solve. It helps as well to crosscheck
your answers: do they make sense? Are the units correct? Do
you expect a number of that size? What if you change this or
that parameter, how should the result change?
I think that most students could do near perfect scores in
Maths and Physics. There is no question of ability at this early
level (I’d say, even in the �rst years of university). It’s all about
study. And people don’t study very much. Especially in high
34
2.3. H�� M�� P��
school. (Some study a lot but in an improper way - memorization

- for mathematical �elds).
High school is appalling for many reasons, but the motivated
student who is willing to work should take it as an opportunity
to prepare himself on how to study for university.
Why people do not study is more a question of sociology,
but I think that part of it lays in the boring nature of the classes.
Learning cooking recipes is not very engaging. Discovering by
yourself, however, is highly rewarding.
Reciprocally, some people fear math and experience an al-
lergic reaction to it because they feel that their skills are way
below what they are asked to solve, hence they give up in front
of this ’impossible’ task. In that regard it’s even more important
that students perform as many small problems by themselves
and that they discover the theory from their own insights: in
this case they will naturally feel able to do Maths.
Pragmatically, if you want marks, it’s very easy: practice.
It’s all about practice. You are not going to do something that
deviates much from recipes: the exercises at the exam will
always consist of mixes and combinations of exercises that you
solved in class. If you know how to do those later ones perfectly,
then you can hardly do badly at an exam.
One reason for unsatisfactory grades that is ironic in the
case of good but mindless students is that they might do badly by
rehearsing the exercises too much, and expecting near identical
questions. That is against the philosophy: you should know the
methods and have applied them many times, but what counts
is how to use them in a problem.
That is maybe the more challenging part for students: how
35
H��
to go from problem to equation. Going from equation to result is

a matter of drill. Putting a problem (given in words) in equations
requires more thought. But here again, practice rules. In this
case, however, it’s more di�cult to derive a cooking recipe.
Nevertheless, there is general advice to be given on how to
proceed:
1. Read the problem carefully
• Highlight everything that should be answered (it’s

all too easy just to forget some minor points)
• Write at the same time as you read, as if taking notes
from an oral speech. Write any relevant-looking
information.
• Immediately write the numbers in SI (metric) units.
Always do it, it should be a re�ex. Once everything
is in SI units you need not keep track of the units in
the totality of your calculation, and may just give
the expected ones when stating the result.
• This forces you to slow down and read every ele-
ment. When you study correctly, you’ll recognize a
problem as being similar to the typical ones you did
in class. The drill-built habit might kick in, and you
might go too fast, and forget important variations
• Read it to the end. Very often the answer to the �rst
sub-question is hidden in plain sight in the latter
parts of the problem. Seeing further questions will
guide your solving strategy. Problems are often well
designed, and made to help you. It’s incredible how
36
2.3. H�� M�� P��
little this advice is applied. (And, still, after six years

of university, I even failed to apply it !)
• When relevant, do a drawing, or a diagram. You
might also want to sketch ’steps’, in problems where
Alice does x in step 1, then y in situation 2 etc.
2. Stop.
• If you’ve studied a lot, you will want to jump into

the calculations too fast, as you ’know’ how to solve
- bad idea.
• There is often a clever(er) way to do things, one
that requires little calculation, that directly results
from the problem’s hypotheses. If you don’t pay
attention to that, you might run straight in a very
lengthy computation that will eat a lot of precious
time. And, the longer the calculation, the more likely
the mistakes. So it’s not because you see a way to
solve that it’s the one you should use. Ask yourself:
can I do it more directly?
• Make sure you read the problem completely. It is
good practice to read it again.
• Write down some sort of strategy for yourself, be it
a diagram or a few words.
3. Write down the strategy in plain English.
• State that you are going to take x, put it in y, use

theorem z,...
37
H��
• Just that line can give you half the points already.
• It’s also good because you know where you are go-
ing. If you just write computations devoid of ex-
planations, they are meaningless for the professor.
What are you doing? I too can write anything on a
sheet of paper if I wish, but it doesn’t mean that I
solve the problem convincingly.
• I’ve had countless students rush into a calculation,
get some formula or number, and then being stuck...
because they didn’t know what they were looking
for in the �rst place! So, writing phrases is never a
waste of time (and will earn you more points) 4 .
4. Solve the �rst sub-problem
• Try to be clear and neat in your writing style and

presentation.
• If you use an equation written previously, name
it (�) or (1) and explain what you do with simple
phrases such as (1) → (2) to say that you substitute
equation (1) into equation (2).
4
Anecdote: I gave classes to engineers at university, and had to correct
their exams. In a question where you were asked to compute the impedance
of a circuit that contained only capacitors (C) and inductances (L), a handful
of students found me an answer containing resistances (R), while there were
none. And that, simply because they remembered a general formula for the
impedance, which had every component in it (RLC). If students who passed
an entrance exam and one year of university are so oblivious that a type of
electrical component that is not present pops up in their calculations... where
are we going? Standards are too low, obviously.
38
2.3. H�� M�� P��
• Once you get the result for this section, check if it

makes sense. Are the units correct? Is your result
coherent with the hypotheses? Did you expect a
number of that magnitude? If you get one billion
times the size of the observable universe for the
distance at which a mobile will touch the ground
after a parabolic motion, you might want to go back
and check. (Happened for real, believe it or not). It’s
incredible how little critical thought students can
have.
• Conclude: give a phrase summarizing what you did,
and do a box with the result. It will be helpful if
you need to go back to this subsection while solving
later ones (as you will often do). If you have trouble
reading what you wrote when you go back to it,
imagine what it is for someone else reading your
work!
5. Solve recursively, then �nalize
• Make sure you answered everything (as you high-

lighted all you need to answer, it should be easy)
• Quickly re-read yourself.
• Give a conclusion phrase, such as ’So, the �nal result
to problem x is y’
Practical ideas
• Just work. There is no better advice. I don’t know anyone
who doesn’t have the potential to do top grades in high
39
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school Maths/Physics if they wanted. And trust me, I’ve

seen exceptionally dumb people. Saying you ’don’t have
a mind for numbers’, or just ’can’t do it’ or ’understand
nothing’ is defeatist and weak. Have you even (really)
tried? Don’t be a snow�ake.
• Professors are lazy: obtain last year’s exams, and you may
expect the same. Writing an exam is lengthy, and it’s very
di�cult to do one that is neither too easy nor too hard. So,
rare are the people who will write completely di�erent
questions every year.
• More often than not, the questions are copied (adapted,

as we say politely) from standard books. So open them
and you should have no surprises.
• Google is your friend. Learn to use the countless tools

that are available. Billions of students (literally) learn the
same material as you do: if you have a problem, someone
had it as well. There is an incredible amount of videos,
websites and books that explain in great detail all you
could need at this level.
• Most books can be found ’illegally’, and links for that are
easy to �nd. The price of books attained scam-high levels
and even best-selling authors can’t live from their writ-
ing. So don’t feel too guilty about it. Editors essentially
steal authors (making huge pro�ts by the way, the book
industry is growing).
40
2.3. H�� M�� P��
• Teach other students: there will always be people lazier

than you (especially if you’ve made it this far in the doc-
ument), and they will be happy to take the path of least
e�ort. If you teach them, they won’t have to think very
much or face di�culties by studying alone. For you, it’s
a great way to study. It’s the best way to really master a
topic.
• Wikipedia pages are often excellent resources. In my high

school years, every professor was bashing over Wikipedia,
and it was plain stupid. Wikipedia is much more reliable
than most low-level books, and even some more advanced
ones. Any mistake in mainstream articles is quickly edited
away - quite the contrary with a book, which cannot be
modi�ed after its print, and is edited by only a handful of
people. Many writers contribute to a given Wikipedia ar-
ticle, so the text is re�ned and clear (while a single, expert
author might miss possible di�culties in the student’s
mind). There is even a special ’Wikiversity’. There are
mistakes, but it’s the case everywhere, and no reference
should be read without that in mind. Trust, but verify,
comrade.
• Use Wikipedia pages to start your research: the texts

are well referenced, and the ’further readings’ often well
chosen.
• Do something. Don’t stay staring at your sheet expecting

the answer to pop up in your head. However, you can get
intuition if you write down something; anything!
41
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• Likewise, teachers want to give you marks. If you leave

a blank, they can’t give you anything. If you put even
just your raw thoughts or the standard formulas and no
further, they can give you a few marks, which might make
the di�erence between a pass and a fail.
• Put phrases in plain English telling what you are going

to do, how you are going to solve a problem, stating your
hypotheses, concluding your results. Be as clear and clean
as possible in style and presentation. It does play a role.
It will impact your marks - even if people tell you the
contrary. If your sheet is easy and agreeable to read, you’ll
get better grades. It’s especially true for the beginning of
any exercise: if we feel that you know and have a good
start, we are more likely to be generous if you fail at the
end.
• Be sure to check if your calculator is in radians/degrees

(there is often a little symbol visible on the main screen
with ’R’ or ’D’).
• Know how to use your tools. You have so much at your

disposal. Graphics calculators (such as Casio 35+) can
compute nearly everything: integrals, solve equations,...
You can often get the �nal answer in a few clicks, so you
can guide your developed calculation and check yourself
with that.
42
2.3. H�� M�� P��
Students as athletes
A student, particularly at the university level, is close in many

ways to an athlete. You are judged in sometimes as short as
15 minutes for a whole year of work. A single moment to
perform. Fail it, and the rest doesn’t matter. The same goes for
an Olympian: if he’s out of focus, and fails, it was his only shot
and that’s it. All this work for nothing. Well, we can ask two
questions. (1) Is it really for nothing? (2) How to avoid such a
fate.
It’s not for nothing. Sure, you don’t get the recognition. But
if you work and live for recognition and status, then you will
live quite a miserable life. Running after goals, time and again.
Once you complete one, you’ll be mildly happy for half a day
then run after the next one. It will never be enough. You won’t
feel satis�ed.
Athletes train so hard not because they want to win, but
because they like training, they like the process. Willpower
is quite a weak force in the human mind. No one will put
this incredible amount of e�ort just for winning. And, as a
student, you should likewise learn to love the process, and
detach yourself from the result, for it is not completely in your
power - some part of luck subsists. The examiner might not
like you very much, might be in a bad mood, you can be sick
or there can be much better students (e�ectively lowering your
mark as they are often the benchmark to renormalize marks).
Not everything is under your control. We very much un-
dervalue the power of chance in the great successes. There are
thousands of failed Marc Zuckerberg and Steve Jobs who quit
43
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college thinking they’d get at the top of the food chain. They
now live miserable lives, and certainly regret their choices. Who
wants to hire someone who quits?
Those exceptional successes are just that: exceptions. A few
guys in hundreds of millions. They just had a good idea at the
right time, in the right circumstances, being surrounded by the
good people who would decide to give their marginal plan a
shot.
You must detach yourself from the outcome. It does not
matter. Say you are going to get a gold medal at the Olympics,
in ten years. Say that’s the goal of your life. Getting that medal.
You’ll train countless hours, make incredible sacri�ces, food and
social life to name a few. You’ll get up thinking training, go
to bed thinking training (at a time determined by, guess what,
your training). And then you’ll get that medal. You’ll have
what, a week of glory? Be in the newspaper, people around
you commenting on your social media accounts. One year later,
people will have respect for your performance, but will have
largely forgotten. You’ll have achieved your goal. Now what? If
you did this only for the recognition, you essentially wasted a
good chunk of your life for a week of glory. I’m no economist,
but I think it’s not an incredible investment. Plus, you’ll just
feel empty. And that was the good case scenario. What if you
don’t have that medal. Your life sacri�ced for nothing.
Love the process, discard the outcome. People who get gold
medals, and their likes, all of them, they love training. That’s
why they go on. Sure, they want medals. But their life is not
medals, it’s training. Daily, they train. Exceptionally, they get
medals.
44
2.3. H�� M�� P��
’If you get up and get to a job every day that you hate, that
ain’t living, that’s existing. At the end of your life you will just
have existed.’ You must do something that you like on a daily
basis. But that’s more about choosing your job and studies;
what if you have no choice as in high school? A great part
of happiness is being able to transform chores into challenges.
Seeing and doing the boring work in the light of a challenge you
set yourself. For instance, doing the exercises quickly, setting
a time. Or, trying to be the most e�cient in your study. Or,
teaching others (best way to remember). A good goal should be
Speci�c Measurable Achievable Relevant Time-bound Evaluated
Rewarded (SMARTER). For instance, if you typically do a certain
set of exercises in two hours, try to do the next one in an hour
and a half, timer in hand, with some reward at the end of the
work, like playing your favourite video game.
To get back to athletes and students, both are judged in
critical moments, and all before is a preparation for them. Like
an athlete, you should train, but resting correctly is more im-
portant. You cannot digest a class if you don’t give your head
time to process it while you are not thinking about - have you
ever had those ’ah ah’ moments of illumination about a problem
while you were doing something unrelated, like running? That
is your mind working in the background. It’s an essential part
of the work. The training is stress put to your body, which will
recover, and get just a bit stronger. The same goes for studying.
You cannot hope to prepare for the Olympics three days
before the event, however hard you work. You’ll just arrive tired,
and unprepared. Likewise, Maths should be studied throughout
the year. Only after years of study, when you are �uent with
45
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the language of Mathematics, can you do such things as study

a course in three days before the exam, because you procras-
tinated it up to there. (Quite a fun thing to do to be honest -
challenges again). Athletes train hard, but before a competition,
they usually take it easy, and especially avoid training the day
prior. Likewise, when the exams come, you should give yourself
a real good time to come fresh. Do something that really makes
you happy.
Athletes clearly separate training and distraction time. I
doubt that football players are on their phone while playing
matches within the team. Distracted work is lost work. Worse
still, it’s frustrating. You neither enjoy nor move forward: you
just wasted a few hours of your life. When working, you should
be in a clinically clean environment. A table, light, water, and
a sheet of paper. That’s about it. No phone, no computer, no
whatever.
Working intensely for two hours is more productive than
distracted for eight. That’s not an exaggeration. So if you don’t
like what you’re asked, take responsibility, do it all at once,
focused.
Do you imagine an Olympian that would spend the night
before the competition drinking co�ee and working frantically?
Or training, discovering new techniques in the few minutes
before the start of the event? I doubt so. You need to sleep, and
to sleep a lot. Even for university students, working just six real
hours a day is su�cient (for average levels of success), giving
you plenty of time to rest well. Reading the material just before
the exam is very bad: many things have become habits, and
you do implicit assumptions. Things that you don’t even realize
46
2.3. H�� M�� P��
you take for granted. Habits are very di�erent from short-term
memory. And this memory is very limited in capacity, as well
as unreliable. The worst is if you get at a con�ict between your
short term memory and habits in solving the exam. If you did
not put anything in short-term memory prior to the test, you
would have no such con�ict, and just do as you always did,
in a slightly brainless manner. You cannot allow yourself to
doubt everything at the exam. Don’t try to amp up your level
of comprehension: do as usual.
And apart from that, remember that it’s just like at home.
Di�erent chair, di�erent table, but similar exercises. If you could
do it at home, it’s the same here. You’re just doing the same
drills in a di�erent room. Don’t act di�erently than you do at
home. Don’t start to be shy about trying things you’re not too
sure about. Attack the new di�culties as you would with a new
exercise in practice. Do. Like. At. Home. Took me three years
to realize that.
Keypoints :
• Math is taught with the wrong focus: look towards being

a better thinker instead of raising skills without thought.
Skill will then come naturally.
• If a non-scientist, you will not use many Maths skills in

the future, but you will use your problem-solving and
analytical abilities. They are extremely valuable in the
job market.
47
H��
• People know more than they think, and often give up too
soon.
• Facing a problem, ask yourself questions: what do I look

for? Have I seen something similar before? Is there a
formula linking the quantities at hand? Or part of them?
• See the above list on solving problems
• At this level, if you work, you’ll succeed - and you don’t

need much work either.
Going further :
• In Belgium at least, I stand against the government men-

tality, which has unarguably been giving catastrophic
results for twenty years at least. So for my compatriots, I
highly discourage from reading governmental sources.
• I believe that at this stage, you don’t need much reading,

simply work. Other sections of this book can be valuable,
such as that on habits, procrastination, etc. You should
not limit yourself to this section if you are a motivated
high school student.
• If you really want to read something, there is a well-

known reference called ’How to Solve It’, from G. Polya. I
believe most of it is self-obvious when you start working
out problems by yourself, however.
• Here are two books with elementary problems-books to

take your mind higher up. If you are a high school student,
48
2.3. H�� M�� P��
even doing a single one of them will propel you to being

excellent at university right from the start. Note that I
said doing, as simply reading is essentially pointless while
solving is like weight lifting: you are training your brain.
You don’t get muscles watching people at the gym. I will
give exercises of the sort to my children (yes they will
su�er, but ’qui aime bien châtie bien’).
1. ’Abel’s Theorem in Problems and Solutions’, V.I.

Arnold. (It’s Soviet, and, remember, Soviet students
were beasts).
2. ’What to solve? Problems and suggestions for young
mathematicians’, Judita Cofman.
• ’Mind for Numbers: How to Excel at Math and Science

(Even If You Flunked Algebra)’, Barbara Oakley.
• ’How to Think Like a Mathematician: A Companion to

Undergraduate Mathematics’, Kevin Houston. (And it’s
high school level, not university-level despite the title’s
claims).
49

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A complete guide in how to

Benoît Seron asserts the moral right to be identi�ed as the author of

2.8 Studying during the year . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

3 Factors related to study 137

4 Active work 197

5 Being a physicist 255

5.2 Mastery in Physics/Maths . . . . . . . . . . . . 257

Great many thanks to Joseph Ralph LaFlamme, who took upon

Fabio Capela, Gregory Kozyre�, Dorian Dejace, Quentin Glaude,

This book is the book I wish I had before I started university.

ter of Advanced Study (in Applied Mathematics) in Cambridge.

1.3 Goals of this book

1.4 Who is this book addressed to ?

1.5 How to read this book

1.6 Bibliography and disclaimer

This book is not a work of science. I am not a trained psychol-

�nd themselves in some of my words, and hope that I can o�er

2.1 Basics of study

• Take responsibility for your own learning

• Memory works best when the material is repeatedly

• Take notes, constantly

4. Work hard, rest hard

• Prede�ne your work and rest periods

• Use a (physical) timer to limit your pauses

5. Use memory techniques (if required - I never had to)

• If you don’t want to study, it’s not going to work -

6. Plan your study

• Plan each day the night before, limiting yourself to

7. Set up a clinical work environment

• Set aside part of a room, or even a full room, dedi-

• Eliminate any other distraction such as music, noise,

8. Study from general to particular

• Scan the class a handful of times, each time slower,

• Eat �ve times a day

10. Prepare for tests

• Be deliberate about learning

• Do harder problems than asked

11. Enforce good behaviours

• Sit in the very front of the class, so you have to be

• Study in short bursts, with frequent breaks

• Set up a work-dedicated environment

• Take responsibility for your study

• Many books exist on how to study, and most of them are

• That said, you can look on YouTube at MedSchool Insiders

• For memory techniques, check out ’How to Develop a

• ’10 Steps to Earning Awesome Grades (while studying

2.2 Deep work

We live in a strange generation of constant business, and very

There is a lot of work that is pointless, because it’s ine�cient.

Deep work and the �ow

will �rst discuss deep work, which is the philosophy of doing

How to set up your environment for deep work

when you are working. And you should work in prede�ned,

How to train your mind for deep work

Overworking it will tire it too much and it won’t be e�ective

One can escape those states and attain �ow by equilibrating

good �ve minutes looks like instantaneous to him. By working

• You want to be in ’the �ow’ while studying

• To be in �ow is a balance between perceived skills and

• If bored: increase the perceived challenge

• If apathetic: increase the perceived skills

• If anxious: do a small, manageable part of the work to see

2.3 High school Maths and Physics