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9 Multiple Choice Test Tips
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Learning to take tests better can help you score
higher with less studying.
Multiple choice tests can be easy.
I know… I know… You might not agree. Can any test
ever be easy?
Yes. When you know a few simple tricks for test-
taking, any kind of test can be easy.
You’re going to know just how to make that happen
by the end of this article.
Most of your struggles with tests in the past are
caused by everyone around you encouraging you to
use bad strategies. They make procrastination
inevitable and ruin results.
Once you get only a few points, you’ll see your grades
start to skyrocket.
Most importantly, you’ll feel proud of your grades
without all the stress.
The right strategy on a multiple choice test can
improve your final grade without studying more.
Study skills and proper test prep can help. They’re just
less important than in a typical test.
If you’re a regular reader of this blog then you might
recognize a few of these strategies from the blog’s
regular test taking strategies.
Use these strategies need to use during multiple
choice exams for an extra boost to your grades.
You need to know this:
1. Go Staggeringly Fast!
Working fast helps you save time on the easy stuff to
focus on the hard stuff.
At the start of any set of multiple choice questions is
the prime time to push yourself to move fast.
Often you’ll be able to answer a multiple choice
question in an instant.
When you can answer the question instantly, you
shouldn’t waste any extra time lingering on the
question. Answer it and move on.
If you get too invested trying to dig into your brain to
verify your answers then you may be asking for
trouble. The psychology of the whole situation
changes.
When you’re moving quickly you’re creating
confidence in your answers. You’re also putting
yourself in the best position to avoid “choking.”
Choking will shut down your ability to think.
Source: Grafton, S.T., & Lee, T.G. (2015).
When you slow down to think about it, you’re
encouraging doubt and second guessing.
Second guessing is okay but when you first pick up
your test, it’s much better to just get your gut
reactions on the page.
This is one awesome way to reduce your stress while
taking a test.
2. Eliminate The Obvious
You usually have more information than you think
you do.
Multiple choice exams have more to do with
eliminating the wrong answers than finding the right
answers.
This may not instantly make sense but consider this:
There are 3 wrong answers and 1 right answer. It’s
often easier to recognize 3 wrong answers than
recognizing the single right answer.
There are unlimited ways an answer can be wrong. It’s
easier to disprove an answer than it is to prove an
answer.
That is a problem when you have to construct the
answer. That is an advantage when you’re given a
choice.
Disproving an answer is also a lot easier stress wise.
When you’re not confident that you know the correct
answer to a question, it’s time to slow down.
You should try to rule out the answers that you know
aren’t correct.
3. Skip The Tough Ones And Big Surprises
The first time you go through a test you shouldn’t be
getting hung up on any questions.
If you think a question requires a little thinking (or you
know you don’t know it) then skip it. Save it until
you’ve completed all the easier questions on the test.
Difficult questions are a breeding ground for doubt.
These doubts can ruin your ability to answer the
easier questions you run into later.
It’s better to save that doubt until you’ve already
dealt with the easy stuff.
More instructors than not place the hardest questions
near the end of the test.
It’s still worth skipping early questions you’re
struggling with.

The “hardest” questions often end up being the
oddball questions.
They’re the kind of question your teacher mistakenly
expects you to know.
The late test hard questions are questions that your
studying should have focused on.
Some questions will end up being hard just because
you had no logical reason to prepare for them.
Generally, the “hard” questions are questions your
professor actually prepared you for.
4. Certainty Marking
You should be marking all the questions that you
know you answered right.
So, if you answered a question and were completely
certain you got it then put a check next to the
question number.
If you think you’re right then you might put a slash
next to it. Mark educated guesses with another
symbol.
Marking the questions helps you keep track of what
needs to get answered.
There can be a whole lot of questions to have to
answer and keeping track of them can help.
It also helps you assess your expected grade on the
test (which I’ll describe later.)
5. The Surprising Way To Remember It
With multiple choice tests, you don’t need to
remember the exact correct answer to get the
question right.
If you’re struggling to remember something then
don’t try to remember it. Instead, try to just
remember related information.
Surprisingly, this is often enough to locate where you
stored the required information. If you used a
powerful memorization strategy then you’ll almost
always be able to find it.
Have you ever struggled to remember the name of a
song or something?
Then you remember the band name that played it and
suddenly the song name just clicks.
Or maybe you start remembering the lyrics and the
song name suddenly becomes obvious.
This has to do with chaining memories. You can learn
how to use that for school in this series.
Memory works through the linking of information.
If you can find information that’s linked then you can
remember the required information.
Even if you can’t quite find the required information,
you’ll be in a much more prepared state to take a
guess.
You’ll be running through related information and
recognize potential answers.
6. How To Make Mind-blowingly Good Guesses
I’m going to be making a distinction between
educated guesses and more wild guesses.
Prioritizing educated guesses is important. That’s why
this distinction needs to be made.
In practice, the difference between educated guesses
and wild guesses can become a bit hazy.
These criteria can help you make more educated
guesses and less wild ones.
Familiarity
If you studied right then you should recognize
categories of information in the question.
Multiple choice tests make this easy.
If something looks like it doesn’t belong in the
question then you should assume you’re right.
(You won’t always be right but you’ll be right more
often than not when you’re prepared for the test.)
The less prepared you are for the test, the less trust
you should give to familiarity.
In fact, if you failed to prepare for a test at all (and it’s
a complicated subject like anatomy) you may want to
lean against familiar answers slightly.
(If you’re thinking a question seems stupidly easy, you
may be missing something.)
Checking The Test
Multiple choice tests are often the easiest test when
you know how to take advantage of the quirks.
In my experience, about 5-10% of questions will give
you a good clue of the answer somewhere else on the
test.
If you don’t know the answer to a question then look
for other related questions elsewhere on the test.
If you’re reading everything then you can often catch
your teacher giving hints at the correct answer.
This is one of the most reliable sources you have for
answering tough questions.
The teacher probably won’t lead you too far astray
with the information given in other questions.
What Would It Mean? Correct answers tend to be longer answers because
If you’re really stuck between a few potential answers right answers often require qualifiers.
then try to use common sense to answer them.
Teachers need to make correct answers
unambiguously correct.
Start asking yourself questions about the implications
of selecting particular answers. Wrong answers don’t need caveats.

On a history test, it might ask, “What year was the Wrong is wrong.
United States founded?” One potential answer might
be 1814. If yourself, “what would that mean?” you That leads to right answers saying “usually” and other
might be able to remember the War of 1812. qualifying words.

Even if you don’t know what happened in the war of

1812, if you know the United States fought in it then
you can rule of 1814 as the founding of the United
States.
That’s a particularly clear example. Some will just
improve educated guesses but they can be well worth
your time when you’re stuck.
7. How To Make Surprisingly Good Wild Guesses
That makes them longer on average than the wrong
answers.
If you notice qualifiers then lean towards them.
Similar Answers Are Better
If you notice two or three of the options are related
to each other (or exact opposites) then one of them is
correct.

If you’re taking a shot in the dark then you might as
well enjoy the view.
The following strategies are for when you’re really not
prepared for a question.
If you don’t have the means to make an educated
guess to the answer of a question, these strategies
can improve your odds of selecting the best wild
guess.
Longer Answers Are Better
Teachers use similar answers to make test questions
more difficult to answer.
That comes with the consequence of making guesses
on those questions easier.
All Or None
All Of The Above is a good wild guess answer.
Statistically, you’ll end up better off guessing it.
(With four questions it’s typically about a 50:50
guess.)
None of the above is less good a wild guess but it’s
better than an average guess.
Take note: if the teacher loads the test with All of the
above or none of the above, you can expect the
success rate of selecting it to go down.
Grammatically Correct
Check whether the answer you’re selecting is
grammatically correct with the question.
If the question ended with “an” and a blank then you
should expect the answer to start with a vowel.
If the questions was looking for a plural, make sure
your answer is plural.
Teachers often make little mistakes like that and give
away the answer to anyone paying attention.
8. Save Time For When You Need It
Your primary goal is to complete everything you know
fast.
You don’t want to waste any extra time on questions
that don’t require that extra time.
The point of getting through the rest of the test
quickly is to allow you plenty of time for answering
hard questions.
Then having time for checking your work and
estimating your own final grade.
Keep this in mind as you’re going through the test.
It is difficult to focus on a goal. If you’re not focused
then you won’t have time to get it done.
Your Priorities:
1. Your first priority is finishing all the work that you
instantly know.
That means, even if you run out of time, you’ve taken
all of the easy points.
2. Your second priority is answering those tough
questions and making big guesses.
This is where most of your test time should go.
3. You want to review all your work and make sure to
keep track of all the points you scored.
Don’t be afraid to change an answer. Scientific studies
have suggested that changing an answer isn’t bad.
You might think you’ll ruin your gut instinct but,
statistically, you’re better off.
9. Estimate Your Final Score
Tests can be seriously stressful. It’s a whole lot easier
to know what you scored immediately after taking it.
With all tests, you should be doing this but with
multiple choice tests it’s particularly easy.
When you answer a test question, you probably
notice your confidence level of what you write.
Sometimes you’ll answer a question and you will
know you’re right.
Other times, you don’t know but think you’re right.
Some other times you’re just hoping to luck out.
You can use those gut feelings to estimate your final
score on the test:
Give yourself full credit for answers you’re confident
about.
You get half credit for answers you think you got right.
And no credit for the rest of your answers.
Add those points up and compare them to the total
points on the test.
That will give you a low ball estimate of your final
score.
Having that low ball estimate of your score is
massively convenient for a number of reasons.
1. One is that you instantly can decide whether you’re
happy with your score or not.
That means you can choose whether or not to just
hand in your test and relax.
(Holding onto a test longer can get you a few more
points but sometimes it’s just not worth the stress.)
2. Another advantage is that you know whether your
study strategy had worked.
You don’t need to wait for your teacher to verify it.
If your studying didn’t work the way you hoped then
you can change it fast.
No more waiting for the teacher to hand the test
back.
3. It also allows you to accept your grade immediately
after taking the test.
As a stimulus-response animal this instant feedback
can help you feel the reward or punishment of your
grade right when your body can respond best to it.
Heck… it also feels good to hand in a test knowing
you’re probably acing it.
Multiple choice tests require a certain amount of
studying but never lose sight of how important the
actual strategies you use to take the test are.
With the right strategies you can study less and get
the equivalent grade of studying dramatically more.
(No, I’m not suggesting to skip studying completely.
Many of the advantages of these strategies require a
base knowledge of the subject. You’ve gotta’ read
this.)
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Unlock Your True Potential
Have you ever felt like you could be more?
I’m going to go out on a limb and say “You’re right.”
I know this because you’re here. Because you’re
reading this. (I’ve seen the analytics. Most people that
show up on this site don’t have it in them to read this.
Honestly, this stuff isn’t always easy to understand.
They’d much rather get back to their memes that
require zero IQ.)
Test taking can be one of the most difficult challenges
the average student has to face. Taking tests can lead
even the most skilled students astray. Students that
normally do well in class can end up so nervous about
failure that they’re unable to perform when it’s
actually needed. That being said, test taking doesn’t
have to be impossible. There are ways to make
passing tests or even acing a test or two dramatically
easier.
If you’re looking to know how to do well when it really
counts then you need to look into the these 17 test
taking tips. These testing strategies can change the
way you think about tests for the rest of your life.
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1. Start Fast
Some people go by the old “slow and steady”
approach. I consider this a breeding ground for
negative thoughts. Starting a test fast forces you to
focus. Most tests start as easy as they’re going to be.
If you’re not able to start a test quickly then, odds are,
you have bigger problems than the speed you’re
trying to take the test.
Anxiety can melt away when you’re distracting
yourself by moving too quickly. The test may not be a
race but the sooner you answer your questions, the
less likely you’re going to end up letting stress cause
you to get stuck.
2. Skip Anything Tough
If you don’t know the answer to a question
immediately after reading it (and there are still
questions that you might be able to answer
immediately,) skip the question. Your first read
through of the test should only be for answering the
easiest questions. Getting caught up on early
questions that you don’t know can lead you into
blanking on easier questions you should be able to
answer.
The answers end up on the tip of your tongue but
unfortunately you don’t turn the tip of your tongue in
at the end of the test. You need to get the answers
you know out of the way first.
3. Write Down What You’re Afraid You’ll Forget
Are you worried you’ll forget a formula or something
when you need it? Well… write it on the test. As long
as the test is started (and unless your teacher says
otherwise) you can write whatever notes you want to
write for yourself.
The most important reason to use this strategy is that
it allows you to stop worrying about forgetting tough
information. Little concerns like that can effectively
shut you down when you’re too hung up on them. If
you have the chance to reduce that anxiety then you
should take it.
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4. Accept Your Results
Once you start taking the test, somewhere around
90% of your grade is already decided. It’s a lot easier
when you accept that right at the beginning of the
test. No amount of stressing out or thinking will make
you learn something you don’t already know. (Even if
it could, that kind of stress would likely just make you
forget what you already know.) Once you’re handed
the test, you might as well have already gotten your
grade for it.
The sweat in your palms and butterflies in your
stomach come from thinking there is something that
can change your results. Sure… you do have some
ability to learn during the test but that extra stress
doesn’t help. Accept your results and some of the
stress will melt away.
Don’t worry. You’ll have plenty of stress pushing you.
This strategy can help keep it as productive stress
instead of becoming a distraction.
5. Grade Yourself
After you finish taking a test you can always assess
how well you did before you even get your grade
back. Sometimes it’s easier than others. The basic
premise is based on this idea. There are some
questions that you answer that you know you got
right. There are other questions that you think you
got right. There are some questions that you couldn’t
answer or guessed completely on.
If all questions are multiple choice with 4 potential
answers and all the questions are worth the same
amount of points, you can easily estimate your grade
before you ever even hand it in. You just count the
points for the questions you know you got right. Then
you count 50% of the points you think you got right.
Then you add those two numbers for a low estimate
of your grade. If you want a closer estimate then add
25% of the points of the questions you guessed
completely on.
With true or false tests the strategy is similar but only
include right answers or 50% points for guesses.
With essay questions it becomes more complicated
but most students are able to get a reasonable close
estimate based on their confidence level.
For a combination of these in a single test you just do
the math separately and combine them.

This is a strategy that can greatly reduce your
worrying post-test time. It can also help you decide
when you’re comfortable handing your test in.
(Because, is it really worth stressing over a few points
when you’ve already got a grade you’re comfortable
with?)
6. Never Even Look Like You’re Cheating
Your eyes should be uncomfortably locked on your
own paper. Don’t look around the room. Don’t check
your phone. Don’t try to hit on blonde next to you.
Don’t have your book anywhere near you. Don’t smell
assorted parts of your body for some strange perfume
combination personal note system (thumb,
strawberry, 1962!)
7. Almost Always Guess When You Don’t Know
Guessing is almost never punished on tests. Unless
guessing is punished, it should always be your last
ditch effort. In the last minute of your test you should
always be putting your attention towards making
reasonable shots in the dark towards the problems
you can’t answer.
It’s funny how often your random guesses will be able
to scrap up a few points that would have completely
lost on your exam. For multiple choice tests there are
strategies you can use to make more effective
guesses.
8. Give Too Much Information When You Can
If you ever wonder whether or not you should include
additional information the answer then the answer is
almost always yes. Did you do a math problem? Show
your work. Show units. Show arrows from step to
step. Graph it if you want. Anything that you can add
to increase your chances of accidental
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y convincing the teacher you know what you’re doing
is good.
Extra information serves a safety net function. If you
can provide it then you might as well provide it. Even
gifted students end up leaving out stupid details.
Leaving in too many details is the better approach.
9. It’s Not A Race But…
As mentioned before, at the beginning of your exam,
I suggest you treat your test like a race. Try to get
every single easy point as fast as you can. But… of
course… it’s not a race. There are no consequences to
finishing a minute before the deadline. Those extra
points you make from double checking your work are
worth it.
While you’re in the middle of your exam, you might
see someone else handing in their work. If that
bothers you, assume they’re handing it in because
they skipped a bunch of questions and now they’re
terribly worried because they didn’t know any of the
answers. (It’s probably not completely true but if it
makes you feel better, think it.) You don’t need to
rush your test.
The only time you should hand in your test is when
you’re reasonably confident you’re satisfied with your
grade. This can typically be figured out using the
method listed above.
10. Do Not Cram For Tests!
Ahh… the good old college cram. It’s a classic.
Cramming for tests is one of the most common and
least effective approaches to test preparation. It’s
wildly inefficient because your brain can’t magically
remember all that information in a single night.
Spreading a tenth of the cram time over a week would
provide better results.
To cram for a test is to tell your brain that failure is
not an option. This is a huge stress inducing situation.
You may improve your grades a little based on the
amount of time and frustration but it’s usually worth
skipping the cram and accepting a few less points on
the test because, at least then you actually have a
reason to prepare in advance the next time.
If you need to cram then you might as well have
already gotten the score lower than you’re capable
of. Accept that lesson (and grade) and make sure not
to repeat it. You’ll be better off that way.
Despite that, I know you won’t listen all the time. If
that’s the case then at least try to do it reasonably
using the ideas outlined in How To Cram For A Test.
11. Study Immediately Before The Test
Yes. I’m not a cram fan but the last five to ten minutes
before the test offer you the option of using your
short term memory to master any last minute
information you need to know. Use this in
conjunction with writing notes on your test when it
starts and you’ll practically always have the
information you need.
This can help you get distracted from worrying about
the test as well. If you’re stuck focusing on studying
then you don’t have time to have your heart beat out
of your chest. This is particularly good for that super
hard to remember information.
12. Know The Test Before You Take It
Most teachers virtually hand out their test for their
students to study off of. If your teacher gives you a
handout of what to expect on the test then take
advantage of it. Study everything on the list and try
not to study anything else (that you don’t have some
other good excuse to study.)
Your performance is going to be highly dependent on
your assessment of the test before you’re even given
it. The more accurately you can predict what’s going
to be on the test, the less you’re going to have to
study and the better you’re going to end up doing.
Set good priorities and you’ll be significantly better
off.
13. Study Less Stuff More Often
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Picking the right answer is a whole lot easier when
you’ve already seen the answers a whole lot of times.
Some students try to study a few hours for their
important tests here and there. A more effective and
efficient approach is to study a few minutes every
single day. Sure… it sucks to start studying daily but
you only have to study a few minutes to see better
results than the average “study for hours once in
awhile” strategies.
You don’t need to make every study session a big todo
that you have to go to the library for. You just need 15
minutes (or often less) to sit down with some
information and follow some simple study strategies
on. With only a little time regularly you’ll remember
information dramatically easier.
For more information on the 15MSS (15 Minute Study
Strategy) taught on this blog read The 15 Minute
Study Strategy or for some less specific aspects you
might be interested in 101 School Hacks For Better
Grades & A Better Life.
14. Settle And Don’t Stress
You can overcome your anxiety during your test.
Never let yourself get ridiculous with your fears. No…
your life will not end if you screw this up. Plenty of
wildly successful people have down miserably on
tests. Some will attribute their success to their
massive failures. Screwing up is not a problem.
If you find yourself digging into a question for a
ridiculous amount of time and don’t see yourself
making progress, don’t be scared to settle and give
up. You may have 20 minutes to work on the test but
20 minutes of stressing out will only hurt your long
term feelings about tests. You’ll learn to hate tests if
you continue to stress like that and no one could
blame you for it. When you make tests life or death
they’re not going to be a pleasant experience.
The truth is, sometimes you won’t know the answer
or how to get the answer. You can always learn after
the test. It’s good to try but don’t let it harm your long
term enthusiasm.
Of course, overcoming the stress is good but
prevention is better than the cure.
15. Prepare With Testing
This is where the vast majority of students screw up
their studying. Studying is best approached like daily
warm ups for the test.
Reading information is a terrible way to lock
information in your long term memory. The best way
to lock information in your long term memory is to
practice remembering it (or just practicing it.) Think
about your studying in terms of testing. You need to
be remembering information and not just reviewing
it.
Fixing the average students read to study strategy can
almost always produce an instant boost in that
students grades. I remember one student telling me,
“I just never thought I was all that smart until I did
this.” After a while things that seemed impossible
become, not only possible but practical. Study success
is almost always dependent on a student’s willingness
to use recall.
Recall is one of the fundamental goals of any good
memory strategy.

16. Know Your Teacher’s Style
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Every teacher has a different style of testing. If you
know the kinds of questions that a teacher likes to ask
then you get to go into the test prepared to handle
them. If you know a teacher likes to be tricky then
hard questions can suddenly become easy. If you
know a teacher likes to give partial credit then you
should come prepared to show as much work as
possible. Details can make a surprising difference.
Stuff like this can help you gain every free point that
you can get. Of course, also keep an eye on the
instructions and directions you’re provided because
they can end up saving you from a whole lot of
embarrassment. Also, if you’re ever struggling to
figure out what a question is asking you can also try
to base it on what you’d expect the teacher to be
asking.
17. Learn From Your Mistakes
As you’re watching the clock tick down on a test that
you’re confident you completely bombed, you’re
afforded a great opportunity to learn something.
Most students choose to take failing a test as a horror
story. I think it’s better to approach it like a cautionary
tale. If it ends up happening then you need to figure
out what the cautionary tale is warning you about. Did
you fail to prepare for the test? Did you stress out
during the test? Did you skip the homework?
Most students will never learn from their mistakes.
They’ll go from grade school to high school to college
pretending that their failures were just flukes. The
more responsibility you accept from your failures the
more things you’re giving yourself the opportunity to
learn.
You never fail if you become a better person for it.
Then again, you never have to fail if you’re properly
prepared for a test. Using the methods in this list of
test taking tips or even just one or two of these
techniques can improve your grades fast. Small
changes implemented regularly can make a huge
impact.
Whether you’re taking math, history, science, final
exams, or pop quizzes for high school level, or college
level, virtually all the common mistakes students
make are the same. Learning to prevent the major
hiccups like getting excessively worried for tests and
learning to improve your initial studying routine are
worth the time it takes because these changes will
help improve your grades in absolutely every class
and test you take in the future. Never lose sight of
that. Studying for a test is good but studying for all
tests is dramatically more powerful.
Don’t Do Your Best For Class
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It’s a matter of pleasing yourself. It has nothing to do
with doing your best.
Doing your best is pushing yourself to your limits. It’s
stressful. It’s difficult. It’s the kind of thing that, if you
do every minute of every day, you’ll end up with a
worse and worse best as time goes on. The stress will
just build up and you’ll end up with mediocre being
the best you can do on a daily basis.
You don’t need to “do your best” to be successful in
school. If you do a sufficient job and are of average
intelligence then you’ll end up with an above average
grade.
Quite frankly, most of the people that say they’re
doing their best are just making excuses for
themselves.
“Well… I did my best,” they’ll tell you.
Then you might ask them, “so you studied a lot for the
test?”
“Well… Yea… the night before I pulled an all-nighter.”
Then, of course, you find out that the all-nighter was
the complete amount of time they spend studying.
They now feel comfortable saying that they “did their
best” while ignoring the weeks or months before that
they could have spent actually doing something that
would dramatically improved their grade.
Doing your best on the night before the test shouldn’t
excuse you from your failures. Heck, if you “do your
best” on your test but didn’t put 10 seconds into
preparing for the test then you shouldn’t go on
excusing your bad results. If you’re going to claim
you’re “doing you best” you should at least put a few
weeks of perspective on the situation.
Doing your best isn’t necessary if you’re doing it right.
For more information on this you might want to read
Why Bad Students (Sometimes) Make The Best
Students.
If you study a few minutes a night then you’ll usually
end up well ahead of the “do their best” last minute
crowd. You don’t even have to be consistently doing
your best. If you show up and are able to muster the
minimum amount of focus then you’ll still be crushing
them.
Don’t think that you need a massive effort to get
massive grades. More important, don’t use “doing
your best” to forgive yourself for being too short-
sighted to prepare.
Do you want to know how to study in less than 15
minutes a night? That’s what this blog is all about. Be
sure to check out the archives and follow along. Also,
be sure to read the books in the sidebar to learn more.
Why Bad Students (Sometimes) Make The Best
Students
Ready to get near the top of your class? Listen to this…
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Being a great student isn’t only about the grades
you’re getting.
It takes a special breed of person to thrive in public
schools (and most private schools) today.
The qualities that allow students to thrive in school
aren’t the qualities that make a great student.
Students that are traditionally “good students” tend
to be obedient, laid-back, and polite.
There is nothing wrong with those qualities.
They’re just more appropriate for schooling than
learning.
Certain qualities are signs of intelligence despite not
being appreciated in school:
Skepticism
Curiosity
Passion
Focus
Energy
Humans didn’t evolve for thousands of years to thrive
in a classroom environment.
They evolved to survive in the real world actually
solving day to day problems.
Memorizing long lists of random information is
useless for that. Remembering locations and
important skills is natural.
What schools consider a good student does not make
a strong student when it comes to the real world.
This Is What Students Are
Students learn. Just because you’re sitting in a
classroom it doesn’t mean you’re a student.
Most people think about students in a school context.
The average person spends over a decade in the
classroom. School isn’t the only means that can make
someone a student.
Students can be self-directed or even mentor directed
in a subject.
Heck, students can have no plan for learning and just
follow their whims in a particular subject.
When a student is the average good student in school,
it says nothing about their potential.
It doesn’t mean they’ll be a good student outside of
school.
The same goes for typical bad students.
The qualities that they need to be great students in
the real world can lead to struggling in a school
environment.
Intelligent students can end up getting shunned and
treated like bad students. Of course, that just leads to
the student becoming less and less motivated to try
and be a good student.
The problem just stacks on itself and some of the They’re human beings.
smartest students end up getting subpar grades.
Sure, teens are getting boosts of new hormones get
excessive with their skeptical rebellions but
What Does A Bad Student Look Like? skepticism is something that almost no students at an
older age have enough of.
Bad students tend to think differently and thinking
differently can be a really good thing. (And sometimes
a bad thing.) That’s expected in the environment though.
There are qualities that traditionally bad student have
that actually are signs of intelligence. Skepticism is often attacked by teacher equivalents of
“because I said so.”
Not having these qualities doesn’t mean a person is
wrong but having them isn’t wrong either. This is often because teachers take it as a sign of
disrespect.
These are qualities that are not treated kindly in the
average school environment. Traditional lesson plans don’t leave much room for
tangents of a single students whims.
Some are attacked.
In a classroom of 30 students, this is bound to be a
In those cases, these qualities may not be as visible in problem at times.
the student because the student is hiding it.
That’s why students are taught to just accept the
Some are qualities that are largely ignored by school. teacher’s statements as fact.
They end up being the qualities most bad students
curl up into. This skepticism can be catastrophic to a student.

Piercing Skepticism They need to manage it carefully.

After decades of education, if a student is still
skeptical of what their teachers say, he or she is an Good luck getting good grades when your teachers
unusual student. think you’re an ass. 😛

Teachers are not the know-all and be-all of their Laser Focus
subjects.
Focusing on what is important to you is essential to
good decision making.
I remember looking into my friend’s face in class. His
eyes were glazed over. His mouth was open a little.
He was staring off so far into space that he seemed
caught in another planet’s gravitational pull.
I waved my hand in front of him.
Nothing happened.
I waved my hand closer in front of him.
He closed his eyes and squeezed them together.
When he opened them he said he was just thinking
about something.
I didn’t know this guy well enough to know many
things about him but this guy could focus.
Focus is one of the most powerful skills that anyone
can have.
It’s not even for completely understandable reasons.
The simple ability to focus on a set of facts is ability
enough to solve a problem related to them.
For example, you may not know the correct
mathematical procedure to solve a math problem but
if you let your brain mull over the details long enough,
the secret sometimes just comes to you from plain old
logic.
For many different reasons, some students take their
focus away from school.
Perhaps they don’t enjoy school.
Maybe they got annoyed by a teacher.
Better yet, they might just have more important
things in their life.
When they took their focus away from school, they
moved their focus into some other area of their life.
Some bad or good students just let their brains fade
in and out of school work. That lets the students learn
a little bit from the teacher every now and then.
A student skilled at focusing can ignore the teacher
completely.
Their brain says they have better things to focus on.
The better the student is at focusing, the less random
teacher stimuli gets stuck in their head.
The less random stimuli they get, the worse their
grades end up being.
Naturally, some great focusers focus on school to
improve their grades dramatically.
Impeccable Priorities
If your goal is to become a rock star then it (kind of)
makes sense to skip paying attention in class.
Focus helps point out one of the most important
qualities many bad students thrive in.
Focusing on something other than school can be a
sign that the student has thought out priorities.
A student that loves music might want to become a
rock musician.
That guy knows that sitting in history class isn’t going
to do much good in that career.
This student shows up because they have to. Then he
focuses on music.
School doesn’t matter to them.
That’s an effective use of priorities. Whether it is
intelligent or not is up for debate.
By focusing on what you’re motivated to do you can
make significantly more progress in less time.
Many students never learn how to use priorities for
school.
School may be a top priority for the student.
It may just be because they’ve been doing what
they’ve been told.
The student has no evidence that it is important.
The student just does what they’re told in hopes to
survive another day.
This is a skill that, when a student is interested in
school, can lead to great grades without too much
effort.
World Class Motivation
The biggest problem that many bad students have
when it comes to school is motivation in school.
They can’t convince themselves to care enough to
actually put effort into their grades.
If you put these students in a situation that they’re
actually interested in learning in then their results
improve.
What is it that’s going to get you to do what you need
to do? If you don’t see the beauty in doing what you
need to do then you probably won’t do it.
Of course, if you are that bad student, then there are
things you can do to get yourself more motivated for
school.
One of them is to start ignoring most of the clichés the
schools throw at you.
If they were the ones to demotivate you, don’t expect
them to remotivate you. They failed.
This blog can get you that motivation.

You may need to find some completely different
reason.
That’s something that depends on you.
Sometimes effectiveness can massively improve your
motivation.
Learning is a long and complicated process but
memorizing information is quick and easy.
Learning to memorize better can increase your
motivation.
It’s a lot easier to get motivated to spend a few
minutes memorizing than a few hours studying.
If you are a good student, remember that the things
that make you skilled in school won’t make you skilled
in life.
Sure, you can keep up your polite acceptance to help
you get through school.
When you get out of that environment, everything is
going to change.
Be prepared.
The Magic Of Tangential Learning
Are you an A or B student that wants more time to
enjoy life while scoring top-of-the class high – even if
you’re a bad test taker?
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Most students learn because it’s what they’re
“supposed to do.” Supposed to isn’t a very powerful
motivation.
Here is one of the most important things you can
learn about learning: It’s much easier to learn about
something you care about.
The more you care about something, the faster you
will learn about it.
The holy grail of education is motivation. I’m going to
show you how to solve that problem by avoiding it
altogether.
Educators have been searching for it for decades but
it’s never been found.
Motivation is not something that everyone is good at
forcing.
Even if a person is good at forcing (or faking) it, it’s not
as effective as a genuine motivation.
If you want to learn any subject significantly faster
then you have to solve this motivation problem for
yourself.
Articles have gone over a number of different
methods of solving it throughout this blog (and the
previous blog) but I consider this method to be one of
the most powerful.
Tangential learning is about finding a single point of
motivation in any subject. Ignore the “important”
parts as deemed by your teacher. Find what interests
you.
If a particular subject was a planet then your space
shuttle of interest could just scrape the surface of its
orbit.
For example, you could learn math to better
understand baseball statistics. Baseball statistics are
based on math but it’s only a tiny fraction of the
required information for a math class.
Learning it still helps in a number of ways.
The first and most important way is tangential
motivation.
Motivation of Tangents
When you can find a practical use for something, you
can find a way to learn it.
A student that hates math often hates math because
they don’t have a practical use for it in their life.
Sure, not everyone that has a practical use for
something loves the subject but virtually everyone
that uses math daily doesn’t hate the math that they
use.
When a student learns baseball statistics because
they love baseball, they also get to learn a little bit of
math.
More importantly, they learn how a better
understanding of math could be helpful to them in the
long run.
This doesn’t completely change the average person’s
motivation instantly.
It’s just a small change in perspective that makes
future growth in math easier.
If a student can find one good use for math then
they’re much more likely to accept there is probably
another good use for it.
Learning a subject tangentially doesn’t necessarily
help in test scores immediately but this long term
change in perspective that’s possible can change
everything. If learning the subject tangentially adds
just a sliver of motivation then it can increase grades
year after year.
Textbook Tangents
One of the most useful ways a student can milk
tangential learning for everything it’s worth is to use
it in subjects you’re already motivated about.
Let’s face it.
Academic sources suck for motivational purposes.
Even the most ardent of history buffs get a little
irritated at the prospect of reading the average
history textbook.

When you’re required to learn a subject for class,
learning it from the textbook can be a painful process.
A list of facts is not good for memorization,
entertainment, or virtually anything.
It’s better to learn the subject tangentially through an
alternative source that you actually find entertaining.
If you’re supposed to read a textbook chapter on the
fall of the Roman empire then, instead of, or in
conjunction with, reading the textbook, you might
find a more entertaining book, podcast, or
documentary on the subject.
One of the most important things to take note of with
this strategy is that you’re not learning the basic stuff
through anything but the textbook.
You may miss out on important information that your
textbook mentions and your source doesn’t mention.
You may also learn a ton of information that your
textbook would never tell you.
This is a negative because the time you’re learning
stuff you don’t need appears to be a waste.
That being said, the motivation can provide a
surprising boost to your productive studying.
Reading boring textbooks may give you all the
required information but it will take a superhuman
feat of discipline to remember it all for the test.
When you’re working with a less academic source of
information, you may not get the exact information
but the information you hear is going to stick with you
much more effectively.
There is one more important means of using
tangentials to consider.
Guided Tangentials
Learning from other people can be one of the most
powerful ways because they’ve already figured out
the right way to think about it.
There is an old comedy movie that has a wonderful
example of effectively using guided tangentials.
One of the characters is headed back to his college to
take a major philosophy test. To prepare that
character for the test, another character tells the
history of philosophy as a metaphor using
professional wrestling. (This philosopher is this
wrestler… etc.)
This is a really awesome method for learning
something.
There are a few problems.
First of all, you need an awesome source of
information to provide it.

It’s hard to create these complex metaphors on the
fly.
Second, you need to know where the metaphor starts
and where it stops.
To pull this off, you may have to do the creation of the
metaphor yourself.
It can be a real challenge.
The reason I mention this is not to get you to try and
create your own metaphors but to introduce the
possibility in case you stumble on any.
If you’re reading a subject and think, “wow, this is just
like…” run with that thought pattern and see what
comes up.
That’s your brain doing what it does best.
It’s taking facts in your brain and linking them up to
make everything in your brain significantly more
accessible.
Sometimes you don’t need to focus on individuals
facts to learn most effectively.
Sometimes the tangents are where you can make the
most out of your education.
They allow your brain to use it’s most efficient
methods for learning the things you need to learn.
The 15 Minute Study Strategy
Are you an A or B student that wants more time to
enjoy life while scoring top-of-the class high – even if
you’re a bad test taker?
What if I told you that you could score in the top 10%
of your class while studying less than 15 minutes a
night?
You don’t need to study long hours to get good
grades. Some of the most successful student
transformations come from the students that cut
their study time the most. Your natural instincts are
right. You can score straight A’s with less studying
than you can imagine right now. You can impress your
teachers without spending hours a night working. You
can spend more of your time having fun while your
grades continue to soar.
I understand why you might not believe that yet. The
world spends more time discouraging your natural
ability to learn than it spends teaching you to utilize
it. Teachers, whatever their intentions might be,
regularly attack students for “not trying hard enough”
despite never teaching the strategies required to
study successfully.
There are very specific strategies for learning. It’s one
of the most heavily researched fields of study in the
world but have you ever taken a class on it in school?
It’s not your fault.
Students often come to this blog in desperate
situations. They’re close to failing. Some students are
fearing they’ll need to spend an extra year in high
school. Many students are in college doubting they’ll
make it through. It’s important you understand: your
long term success has nothing to do with where you
are now. The greatest successes often follow the
greatest setbacks.
Setbacks give you the opportunity to learn something.
They give you the push to try and avoid the setback
ever happening again. Maybe that potential setback
brought you to this blog to learn more about how to
study.
Your natural instincts are usually right about studying.
You probably procrastinate. That’s your body
rebelling against something that it knows isn’t
working. If you have an ineffective strategy then your
body is doing the right thing in putting off studying.
The more effective your study strategy is, the weaker
that resistance will become.
Not every teacher wants what’s best for you. I know
we’re not supposed to say that. We’re supposed to
talk about the virtue of every teacher ever (ignoring
whether or not they suck at their job.) Everyone
knows that it’s more complicated than that. I hope
you’ve had the pleasure of working with an amazing
teacher but I’m confident you’ve also worked with the
unfortunate exceptions.
An amazing teacher can change the world through
their students. They can create a passion for a subject
that lasts a lifetime. A bad teacher wastes that
opportunity (and, in my personal opinion, is an insult
to the profession.)
The things that you are capable of would amaze even
you. Most students don’t read blogs like this one.
They don’t care. You care. That is the reason I’m
confident you’re going to take the next steps required
to make yourself proud.
The 15 Minute Study Strategy has gathered a lot of
attention.
There is a lot of skepticism. It’s natural.
I come out and say “you can score in the top 10% of
your class while studying less than 15 minutes a
night.” I can’t blame anyone for being skeptical.
I may have heard some skepticism but some student’s
have followed by lead and given it a shot.
From the emails I’ve received, it looks like that
strategy has worked. I’ve spent nearly a decade now
working on particular aspects of the 15 MSS. It started
as a general study philosophy based on some obscure
scientific studies. I’ve added in a slew of personal
study experiments.
Students have taken these lessons and experiments
and turned their own grades around. Not only that,
but many have flipped their lives upside-down.
Instead of hating school they learn to love it. I am so
thankful for that.
I think it’s a good time to discuss the whole strategy
in a single place.
Naturally, I can’t address every question and concern
in a single article. If you want to understand
everything then you’ll have to dig through tons of old
articles and future ones. (I may write a book on this
subject at some point. I would be a good addition to
my other 3.)
If you want a simple overview of the whole plan with
enough details to get you started, this page is here to
help.
15MSS Cheatsheet
Get Your Head On Straight
There is no magic solution.
It requires effort.
It doesn’t include “work.” Only memorization and
learning.
It’s not about perfect grades.
The Basics
One (about) 15 minute session a day.
At the same time daily.
Absolutely NO DISTRACTIONS
Absolutely NO POTENTIAL DISTRACTIONS
I’m serious. Turn off your damn phone.
Prioritize study material ruthlessly
Use active recall as much as possible
What You Need To Know
What It’s Not
The 15 Minute Study Strategy is not designed to
provide an exact prescription. It’s better to think
about it like a general nutrition of studying. None of
the recommendations are exact. Each individual has
particular “metabolic” needs. The strategy requires
this general nutrition framework throughout all of its
recommendations.
For example, even the basic 15 minutes of studying a
night is just a general guideline. (In fact, it’s a rather
high general guideline.) Most high school students
don’t even need their study session to last a full 15
minutes every night. 15 minutes is usually excessive.
A particularly gifted student might be able to pull off
the same results in 5 minutes a night. The average
college student might need the full 15 minutes of
studying every night.
In some challenging degree programs and colleges,
the time might go as high as 25-30 minutes. (At that
point I have other recommendations.)
Most people reading this should be sticking to the 15
minutes a night. It’s essential not to overestimate the
challenge of your particular situation. Excessive study
time is part of the problem with most students study
routine.
Notice how this is not exact. It changes based on
individual factors.
This applies to every recommendation. It’s not an
exact science.
All study experiments suffer from flaws when it
comes to dealing with the individual. Their
measurements tend to be more wrong on average
than right. (This is particularly true for the type
student that researches study strategies. You’re not
average.)
This strategy is designed using those imperfect
experiments. That leaves this strategy imperfect.
Don’t expect precise guidelines. No one can give
those to you.
– –
The 15 Minute Study Strategy does not include
homework. Every teacher gives a different bulk of
homework. It would be insane to try and include such
a distinctive factor into this strategy.
This blog gives recommendations on dealing with that
homework efficiently. Don’t include that time in the
15 Minute Study Strategy.
– As a simple example: Let’s say you have a test with
The 15 Minute Study Strategy also does not include
study prep. Many students take 10-20 minutes to
move from planning to study into actually looking at
their textbook. It takes them a couple minutes to
stand up. It takes them a couple minutes to pick up
their backpack and bring it over. It takes them a
couple minutes to dig out their book… And on and on.
This wasted time is not included.
Ideally, study prep time should be under a minute if
you’re using this strategy right. Instead of studying
being a slow and painful process it’s a habitual and
quick process. Too many students get caught up in the
constant drag of pretending to be studying. They
waste an hour to “study” but only spending 30
minutes actually interacting with their study material.
The rest of the time they’re switching songs, grabbing
their stuff, and texting their friends. This is one of the
main problems this study strategy tries to combat.
The 15 Minute Study Strategy does not give you
perfect grades. It can provide grades around A for the
average student. A gifted student will score higher
and a struggling student might get a little lower.
Accepting imperfection is part of the power of this
strategy. Perfect grades aren’t efficient. Near perfect
grades can be efficient.
100 questions each worth 1 point. Assume a student
scored an 90 on that test. For that student to score a
91 instead of their 90, they would have had to know
1 out of 10 answers. Compare that to a student trying
to turn a 99 into a 100. That student would have to
know 1 out of 1 answer. Notice how the 90 student
has 10 chances to improve their grade while the 99
student has only 1. The 99 student will have to invest
way more time to know their last point than the 90
student to learn any of 10 points.
This may be a little hard to understand. Think about it
this way.
Moving from a 90 to a 95 might take another 30
minutes of studying. Moving that 95 into a 100 would
take dramatically longer than another 30 minutes. In
general, I would expect moving from a 95 to a 100 to
take at least 2 more hours of studying. That’s because
the last 5 are much more difficult than 50% of the last
10 questions.
– the actual learning of the subject.
The 15 Minute Study Strategy is more focused on
grades than on knowledge. Being smart is
fundamental in life but this strategy is not about that.
This strategy is about getting good grades. Gaining
more knowledge is a good thing but the vast majority
of grading has little to do with it.
I do not recommend letting your education end
where school let’s you end it. That being said, since
this strategy is about getting better grades, it doesn’t
matter.
You can get better grades by getting smarter but it’s
not a perfect correlation. More knowledge is not the
same as getting better grades. There are a ton of
other important factors defining grades.
Grades are affected by a student’s ability to take
tests. Grades are affected by semi-related
foundational skills like logic. Grades are affected by
motivation. Grades are affected by how much their
teacher likes them. Grades are affected by priorities.
There are countless factors that have nothing to do
with individual subject based knowledge.
Some of the most efficient means of improving grades
are completely unrelated to a student’s knowledge on
a subject. This strategy uses those strategies ahead of
Learning the subject better is not the only priority. It’s
just one of them.
Time Limit
One of the most important aspects of the 15 Minute
Study Strategy (15MSS) is the time limit. While the
time limit isn’t limited to only 15 minutes, it should
not exceed 30 minutes. This time limit is meant to
improve your study efficiency.
Once you set a specific time limit for your study
session, do not increase it without a plan. When the
time is up, you’re done studying. Studying longer
hurts this strategy’s effectiveness.
15 minutes should be an acceptable time limit for the
average student.
As mentioned earlier, it is not a one size fits all but if
there were a one size fits all number, 15 minutes
would be it. If you aren’t 100% sure you’re in a super
difficult set of courses, I recommend starting at 15
minutes.
After a few weeks of using this strategy, you may
notice you don’t even need 15 minutes a night to do
well.
If you’re struggling then you may need more time.
The 15 minutes of study time includes all your
courses. Yes… This is a point that tends to sound a
little crazy. I understand that but it will make sense.
There is a logic behind this limitation.
Each of the 15 minute sessions should only study for
1-3 courses. Even 3 is excessive in most cases. It takes
time to switch between information you’re studying.
That time definitely shouldn’t be included in your
study session.
If you plan on studying two subjects in one session,
have all the study material prepared before you start.
You can move onto your other brain intensive
activities quicker when you’re prepared.
The less time between subjects, in this rushed time
frame, the better. Generally, try to only study 1
subject every night. That simplifies everything in this
process. (It may also reduces the efficiency depending
on the student’s ability to focus. It’s usually worth it.)
Assigning Study Sessions
To start, most schools are not particularly intensive
when it comes to studying. While the average student
may have 5-7 classes, a percentage of those classes
don’t need studying.
In general, only a few of these courses will need
intensive studying and memorization. Those are the
classes that these sessions should revolve around.
That will leave at least one 15 minute study session
for each relevant course every week. Assuming you
include the weekend for studying, this can be 2
weekly sessions for each course.
The more difficult the course, the more study sessions
you should invest in it. I’ve had plenty of courses
where I assigned study sessions early in the semester
only to reassign them to a different course after
realizing studying wasn’t required when I focused in
class.
In a particularly difficult course load, you might
consider increasing your study time. This is the area
that you should focus first. Don’t increase your 15
minute study session into a 30 minute study session.
Assign two 15 minute study sessions per day instead.
Spread those study sessions out by as long a period of
time as you can muster.
That being said, most people should not have to
increase their number of study sessions or time to get
good grades.
Distraction Free

The 15 minute study session requires those study
sessions to be distraction free. One of the reasons a
student can get away with only 15 minutes of
studying is the increased level of focus it allows.
The human brain isn’t a machine that can study for
hours straight without a break. In fact, if you’re
studying right, you may just feel mentally exhausted
after that 15 minutes. It can feel as if your brain got a
good workout. This increased level of focus can get
killed by distractions.
One of the most common distractions is a person’s
phone. Even the faint hum of a text message in the
background will interrupt a person’s ability to focus.
If you’re studying and your phone alerts you of a text
message and you hear it, you’re distracted. Instantly
your brain is off the study material and on the phone.
In most cases you’ll end up wondering who it was for
20 seconds before shaking it off and trying to get back
into focus. To get back into the level of focus you were
before can take more time.
Suddenly your 15 minutes of studying is down closer
to 12 with good focus. If you answer the text or get
another one your time is cut down again. The phone
should be off or far away.
There are similar concerns for every distraction you
have.
If you have the slightest bit of concern that something
might be a distraction then prevent it. Turn off your
computer if you have to. Leave the television off.
Don’t listen to music.
(I’ve written a lot on this but to rush the point: if music
means you enjoy your studying more then it means
it’s a distraction.)
When you only have 15 minutes for studying (or less)
you need to focus intensely on the material. You can’t
afford to let minutes get wasted doing other things.
You also can’t afford to fall out of focus when you’re
in the middle of learning something. The more you
practice this distraction free focus, the better you get
at it.
After that focus is in gear, you might even start feeling
like 15 minutes is more than enough time.
Habitual Studying
The 15 Minute Study Strategy (15MSS) should be as
habitual as possible. The study session should be at
the same time, every single day, including weekends.
This habitual nature is a significant aspect of the
strategy for many reasons.
1. Habits are easier than discipline.
2. Hormonal adaptation
3. Consistent results
To expand on these factors:
First of all, habits are easier than discipline. It’s hard
to stop doing what you’re doing and convince yourself
it’s a good time to study. You need to fight off
procrastination and start from scratch every single
time. While habits take time to develop, once you
have them, they don’t need any discipline to
continue.
I’ve found breaking some of my study habits more
difficult than actually starting to study.
Once you have a study habit, your brain can adapt to
that habit. The brain does an amazing job of prepping
your body for whatever you’re going to do.
Hormonally, your brain can prepare you.
For example, if you eat at the same time everyday,
you’re much more likely to get hungry right before
that time. If you study at the same time everyday,
you’re more likely to be prepared for your study
sessions.
Consistency is another huge advantage of this
strategy. Most study strategies fail to produce results
because, let’s face it, studying sucks.
Given the choice between studying and doing
nothing, most students would pick doing nothing.
In theory, you could get great grades studying an hour
every single night but that hour every single night will
turn into once or twice a week when you can muster
up the discipline.
This strategy requires this consistency.
Attempting to use this study strategy inconsistently is
risky. When you’re only sitting and studying for 15
minutes a night, you have to show up or you will see
your grades drop. That knowledge makes consistency
a whole lot easier. (That’s why it’s important you
don’t let yourself study beyond your allotted time.)
Given you only have to study for 15 minutes, this is a
much more achievable goal than most strategies.
Start to study consistently and you’ll be using the
brains natural mechanisms for learning. It allows a
consistent intense focus during the study period. That
also mean you can have long rest periods in-between
sessions.
Focus
Focus is a fundamental but difficult to measure factor.
It’s difficult to know if you’re focusing well until you
see the results of your study sessions.
Most students get lost in everything around them
while studying. That’s why the study session needs to
be as distraction free as possible. External distractions
aren’t the only problem though. Internal distractions
can be an even bigger problem.
You are not studying if your brain is not going over the
study material. Do not sit next to your textbook
daydreaming for 15 minutes and wonder why you’re
not learning anything.
If you have serious personal problems and your brain
can’t stop thinking about those problems then you
should not consider it studying.
Once you start paying attention to these internal
distractions you’ll realize how common they actually
are. They can make studying seem almost impossible
at times. (At times, I’d argue it is impossible.)
This is a dense subject to dig into. This study routine
is kind of like jumping off a cliff with a hang glider.
Once you jump off that cliff confidently you’ll
probably be alright but if you’re not careful you might
screw up and end up paying the price. It can be
terrifying but that terror is a great motivator when it
comes to focus.
Think about it this way: when you’re running to the
end of the cliff with your hang glider, you’re not going
to be thinking about the tone your teacher used with
you. You’re going to be too worried about falling to
your death.
When you only have 15 minutes a night to study, you
don’t have time to worry about anything but lodging
the information in your brain.
Testing Style
Most of the 15MSS should rely on a testing style study
session. When you’re studying, it needs to feel like a
test for yourself.
At the end of 15 minutes, more often than not you’ll
either feel invigorated or exhausted. If this doesn’t
happen then something isn’t going right.
The most common study strategy students use today
is a read to learn style. Students try reading their
textbook (or notes.) Then they expect their memory
to keep the information.
Sure, most people know this is a bad strategy but they
think that it can work. Well… as long as their eyes
happen to glaze over the required facts a certain
number of times, right?
In reality, this is a miserable strategy. Given the choice
between reading to remember or nothing I’d pick
nothing. At least then you’d know where you stand.
The only way to know if your study strategy is working
is by testing yourself.
The most common example I use of this is flashcards
(but don’t get the impression this is the only method.)
Flash cards have two sides. When you read one side
of the card, you either know what’s on the other side
of the card or you don’t. In that instant, you know if
the information is sticking. If you think you remember
it, you might have to dig in the back of your brain to
find it.
When you dig into the back of your brain to find the
answer, you’re building a strong memory. This is a
testing style strategy.
Another example might be reading the typical
textbook but instead of just reading it, pausing,
closing your eyes and reciting important facts from
each page. You can judge your progress by how many
important facts you can get. As long as you’re not
cheating, this is a testing methodology.
A good testing methodology requires a testing aspect
to it but this testing aspect exists in different degrees.
You cannot instantly pick up a set of flashcards and
know how to get through them.
At first, you need to do the traditional reading and
trying to remember the information.
The goal is to maximize the testing time and minimize
the reading time.
Sure, reading information can help you remember it.
Writing information can also help you remember it.
Listening to information can help you remember it.
Just because a strategy can help you remember the
information, it doesn’t mean it’s worth the
investment of time.
Of all memory strategies, testing is the most efficient.
The more testing you can fit in your study strategy,
the less you’re going to need to study.
In theory, flashcards would be the ideal tool for a
testing style strategy. They come with a huge
drawback though. Creating flash cards can be a
serious time investment for class. To make up for this
it may help to test yourself on your flashcards as
you’re creating them.
That being said, flashcards may be one of the most
simple testing strategies to get started on. They’re
definitely not the only option though.
Information Prioritization
The majority of the information a student spends
their time studying is a complete waste of time.
Considering how much information is presented to
the average student, and how little of that
information is actually tested, that should come as no
surprise. This is particularly true in classes that
emphasize studying from a textbook.
When a teacher assigns reading certain pages of a
textbook for homework, while still offering work
outside the textbook, the teacher is setting the
student up to studying vastly more information than
the test.
If you read the average textbook on any subject you’ll
find thousands of facts to study in each chapter. The
average test doesn’t have thousands of questions.
The vast majority of the information in the textbook
is pointless to learn for grades.

Most teachers don’t teach to the textbook. The
textbooks are more like accessories to the class than
important tools for the class.
In fact, most teachers don’t even test to the textbook.
By that, I mean the questions on the test usually are
only tangentially related to the points in the book.
Tangentially related is alright but considering how
miserable most textbooks are at presenting
information in a readable and interesting way, it’s
usually unproductive.
This goes beyond textbooks though. Textbooks are
just an obvious example of this phenomenon.
Most study time is invested studying information that
will never be tested.
One of the most important skills a student needs to
develop is the ability to prioritize information for a
test. The better a student develops this skill, the less
time they end up wasting while studying pointless
information.
This is a skill that isn’t easy to limit to a short
discussion because it encompasses a huge variety of
options. The 15 Minute Study Strategy relies on
developing this skill.
When you limit the amount of time you have to study,
you can’t just waste your time. More study material
isn’t better. You need to develop an eye for good
information versus pointless information.
One of the first areas to look in developing this skill is
the resources a teacher writes themselves. Teachers
are encouraged to teach for the tests they write.
Teachers are judged by the success or failure of their
students. If their students fail then they get “in
trouble” for it (in many direct and indirect ways.)
When a teacher is writing their own resources, they
almost inevitably “cheat.”
By cheat, I mean they emphasize the important
information for the test. They may not directly say,
“this is what you need to know for the test” but they’ll
almost always hint at it.
Teachers can’t directly tell you the answers but they
can virtually hand you the test indirectly before the
test. They just do it in a creative way that needs
interpretation on your part.
A textbook is written by a random teacher that
doesn’t care if you pass or fail. Individual handouts
created by your teacher give you what you need to
know for the test. It include class specific details.
Notice how this is far from an exact science. That’s
one of the challenging aspects of investing in this
strategy. It’s not as simple as a one line success
strategy. It requires you pay a whole lot of attention
and learn to read the teachers work more precisely.
Once you start getting deeper into the course you can
find even more interesting strategies.
Getting used to the teachers preferred question style
is one example. After a test or two you can discern
whether a teacher is likely to ask some particular
questions. Sure, you’ll get bitten occasionally by
missing something important but it’s a lot less
negative than the results of wasting hours of studying
pointless information.
Additional Strategies
The basic plan for the 15 Minute Study Strategy
(15MSS) is laid out through this post.
Studying isn’t the only way to maximize your scores
while minimizing your effort. Many of the following
strategies have nothing to do with studying but are
super helpful.
Studying better is only a small factor in your final
grade.
Many classes need significant investments of time in
homework, projects, and even attendance. If you get
caught up putting too much energy into studying you
may see your test grades go up a little while seeing
your final score in the class barely budging.
At a certain point, studying better becomes a much
worse use of time than addressing the following
issues.
It’s important to consider these issues while
implementing the 15 Minute Study Strategy.
General Class Prioritization
There are some classes that aren’t even worth
studying in.
They may have tests but often those tests aren’t
valuable. Getting a zero on them might not even
knock you back a letter grade. Tests can be much less
valuable than essays or projects. If you don’t account
for that then you could invest time studying when it
would be better to focus elsewhere.
Prioritization works in many areas.
Use the typical syllabus to get started. Teachers often
explicitly state the calculations used to determine a
student’s final grade. For example, they might say
10% of the grade comes from homework, 20% comes
from tests, and 70% comes from projects. Those
percentages are essential to prioritizing.
With those percentages you also need to consider the
volume of the work involved in each category. For
example, if homework was only 10% of the final grade
and there were hour long assignments every night,
you might want to consider skipping a huge
percentage of your homework because 1 hour a night
for 10% is hardly worth it. (Unless you’re competing
for an exclusive position, in that case you should
probably pick your classes better next time.)
The 15 Minute Study Strategy assumes that you’re
avoiding unnecessary work. Sure, you can get away
doing it but efficiency increases when a student isn’t
stressed from other stupid work.
It also assumes you’re not going to invest a ton of time
studying when the test scores don’t matter. Stress is
a huge killer for most students. Setting silly priorities
creates stress. If you fail to account for that, you may
need to increase your time investment to make up for
it.
Non-School Year Habituation
This strategy is not required to successfully
implement the 15 Minute Study Strategy. It can
increase the results notably. It’s a strategy that most
students won’t use. The students that do will gain a
dramatic advantage because of that fact.
When a student uses a non-intense study strategy like
this one, there is no good reason not to continue the
study routine all year long.
The typical cram sessions most students put
themselves through can be stressful. The intense long
hours of studying some students put themselves
through is also tough. Having time off these study
routines is important for sanity’s sake. When you put
so much energy and stress into studying, breaks
improve consistency.
The typical results high stress studying students get
may be good but it comes with ruts. Low grades show
up when the student just gives up caring.
High scoring students falling in a rut have it rough.
Teachers tend not to offer too many favors for half
assed efforts from them.
A few weeks of overwhelm can cause a massive
impact on that overworking student’s grades.
Summer break ends up becoming a necessity.
Summer break is not required for a low stress routine
like this one and consider this:
Summer breaks are deadly for the average student’s
knowledge.
The average student loses around 30% of what they
learned the year before during summer break. The
first few months of class are often just reviewing stuff
from last year.
When you correct this 30% reduction in knowledge,
you end up getting a 30% advantage. Teachers design
classes for students that forget 30%. That makes it a
boost to your final grade.
The 15 Minute Study Strategy (15MSS) takes
advantage of this discrepancy. (If you want to know
how some students can score 95+ on almost
everything while studying with this strategy, this is
one of those tricks.)
It’s low stress and unobtrusive to a person’s day
(everyone has 15 minutes to spend. Heck, you can just
go to bed 15 minutes late.)

Many of the advantages of this strategy take weeks of
habitual studying to appreciate. The more consistent
you are with studying, the more distinct these
advantages become.
Your brain can adapt itself to a specifically timed
study routine. Keeping that adaptation continuing
through summer helps.
Naturally, most students won’t use this strategy.
I mention it for one reason. There are tons of students
that feel a guilt when they use such a short study
routine like this one.
They assume that implementing a short study
strategy is a sign of laziness. The studies suggest it can
provide huge increase in a learner’s recall but your gut
may not “get it.”
The 15 Minute Study Strategy can be used in a lazy
way or a hardworking and disciplined way.
It’s all about how much you want to invest in it and
what you’re looking for. It can give you good grades
with virtually no stress at all. It can give you top notch
grades while investing dramatically less time than
other students.
I’ve implemented both during different periods in my
life.
Studying through summer can help you become a top
notch scoring student if you want to invest in that.
This strategy is about efficiency. How much you want
to invest in that efficiency is up to you.
So… there you have it. This is the basic idea behind
the 15 Minute Study Strategy.
You can find all kind of information on this strategy
and more throughout this blog. If you’re new then I
suggest you visit the “Start Here” section.
If you like what you’re reading and want to get access
to the free exclusive members area then you can
access it by signing up below.
Do you want to learn more about how to score higher
grades than your classmates while working less?
That’s what this blog is all about. Be sure to follow and
check out the archives for all the details. Also, if
you’re looking to learn more tricks even faster, check
out the ebooks in the sidebar.
*Note: Consider this article a permanent work in
progress. I spent hours and hours trying to perfect this
article when I finally decided that some subjects
require an acceptance of imperfection. I will never be
satisfied with this article because there are always
more objections to handle. I can only do my best to
deal with the important ones.
This is a huge subject that likely needs a book to dig
deep into. If you’re really interested in learning more
then this site (and the old blog) is loaded with
hundreds of thousands of words with more
clarification. Dig in!
How To Become Unshakable On Tests
Ready to get near the top of your class? Click Here
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There is a strange irony that most of the best
prepared students in class end up the weakest test
takers. It actually makes sense when you start digging
into the details though. The skills that make a student
“a good student” in the traditional sense, are the
same things that drag them back when it comes test
time. Part of becoming a skilled test taker is related to
completely ignoring the “good student” urges (or
compartmentalizing them) and starting to focus on a
less traditional style of test taking.
“Good students” I use in quotes to emphasize that I’m
referring to the traditional idea of good students and
not just any student that gets good grades. In this
context, a good student gets good grades but a “good
student” gets good grades by studying hard and
making a large effort to making those grades.
One way to virtually guarantee your success (or at
least survival) in any class is to just keep working on a
subject until you get it. That usually means sitting
down with the textbook and looking down on it until
something finally sticks. Some students spend hours
and hours on this process just to become sufficient.
This is where one of the first things you should learn
to become unshakable come test time comes into
play.
1. Control Your Obsessiveness
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If you sit with a textbook for hours trying to
understand a subject then you’re going to be giving
every aspect of your anatomy signals that what you’re
studying is unbelievably important. It’s going to make
it inevitable that you’ll stress when the subject comes
up. The bigger you make the assignment seem, the
more difficult you’re going to make taking the test.
When you step into the test, you’re going to feel
those hours of stressing over the subject.
Does that mean you should just walk in and fail
without ever learning the subject?
Of course not. While using the 15MSS (15 Minute
Study Strategy) that is taught on this blog, this
shouldn’t be a scenario you run into very often. By
using the right study strategy well in advance of the
test, you can prevent this problem from coming up
during the test. When it does come up, you’ll have the
tools to handle it without turning it into an overly
stressful experience.
Even if you don’t go for the full 15MSS, there are
better approaches to solving this test preparation
problem.
If you’re looking to prepare for a difficult test, instead
of stressing obsessively for hours on it, study in
regular short sessions. So, instead of sitting for 5
hours trying to learn it. Sit down for 25 minutes trying
to learn it. Then an hour later you can do it again.
Then repeat that as long as you find necessary. This is
dramatically more likely to teach your brain the
subject is important but it won’t be giving the same
obsessive signals to your body as studying it straight
through. You’ll get plenty of breaks and enjoy the
process a whole lot more.
2. Focus On Memorization
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Once you have the basics of what you’re learning
understood, it’s time to forget about trying to develop
a deeper understanding on the subject. In an ideal
scenario, you should have a basic understanding of
the information by the end of class time. By the time
you’re sitting down with your study material, you
should be able to focus most of your energy on
straight up memorization.
If you don’t understand the material by the end of the
class then check out our future article (How To
Survive A Boring Lecture.)
Memorization is a strategy that helps you control
your stress levels. While trying to understand a
subject deeper and deeper is a challenge that is
constantly increasing in difficulty, trying to memorize
a list of facts is a relatively steady challenge. Science
has done enough studies on how to memorize
information. If you’re looking to stimulate memory,
there is a standard set of procedures you need to go
through. If you go through them, you’ll memorize it
(in the short term at least.)
For more info on that you should read 6 Memory
Strategies You Need In Your Study Toolbox.
Understanding isn’t as well understood. It’s not easy
to know how well you can creatively think about a
subject. What seems like progress may not be
progress. What seems like no progress can be tons of
progress. This is inevitably stressful and confusing. At
a certain point, it’s much easier just to settle in for the
sure thing of memorization.
When you step into the test, you won’t have to worry
about forgetting the information you should know.
(I’ve had so many aha moments on tests that it drives
me nuts. After hours of uncertainty about my
understanding, when the test comes and I know what
I need to know, the pieces seem to fall right into
place.) This isn’t a sure thing but once you have the
basics of understanding, memorization is the safest
place to focus on.
3. No Improvement Mentality
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Test time is not the time to be worried about
improving your grade.
It’s not an athletic event where stress will help you
improve. It’s the opposite.
Worrying about improving your grade during test
time is a sure method to stressing yourself out about
it. You have limited time. You have limited access to
resources. You have plenty of points at stake. You do
not need the extra concern of improving your grade.

When you step into a test, only look to hold your
ground. If you’re expecting a B on the test then fight
for a B. That means, it’s not time to stress about every
stupid little question that you can’t answer. When
your grade doesn’t require perfection, you shouldn’t
be stressing about imperfection.
When you sit down for the test, you know what you
know and nothing more. It’s not the time to stress
excessively to try and dig up hard to find information
you haven’t thought of in years. It’s the time to do
what you know you know. Anything extra you can do
is just that: extra.
This blog often recommends going into a test with the
mentality that your grade is already decided. This is
usually a state best achieved by not doing crazy things
like trying to cram months worth of studying into a
night.
There is nothing (virtually nothing) you can do at that
point to improve your grade. If the teacher throws
you a question you’re completely unprepared for
then you will be screwed. Accept that. That’s okay.
You can learn from it. Sitting and worrying about it
will not improve your grade. You can’t magically go
back in time to study something else. You only know
what you know and nothing more.
Accepting this is one of the most powerful ways you
can reduce the stress you feel during tests. (It’s not
completely true. It might as well be though. Naturally,
skilled test takers may be able to improve their grade
through a strange mind-over-matter confidence but
the average person would get a lot farther just
settling in and trying not to screw up the grade they
already have in the bag.)
Using these strategies you can make tests your easy
class day. On your average class day you’ll be forced
to focus on hard learning what your teacher is
lecturing. On test day you’ll get the relatively relaxing
chance to just review the stuff you already know.
That’s an amazing experience that absolutely
everyone should be looking for.
Do you want to know how to study in less than 15
minutes a night? That’s what this blog is all about. Be
sure to check out the archives, follow along, and read
the ebooks in the sidebar for all the dirty secrets your
teachers don’t want you to know about.
The Unfortunate Truth About Study Time
You can also get near the top of your class. Read this…
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Cramming is worse than a waste of time when you
know how to study right.
There was a time when I really embraced binge
studying.
Yes, people typically describe that kind of studying as
a “cram session.”
I feel like that’s the wrong metaphor to be using for
the situation.
Sure, cramming has a bit of a negative connotation
but the practice of studying for hours and hours the
single night before the test should have a much more
negative connotation than that.
That’s why I refer to that study strategy as a binge.
A binge study session does absolutely nothing
positive for you except help you hide your emotions.
People cram because they feel guilty for having
horrible study habits (or they have another emotional
problem like no self-confidence.)
People get emotional and they try to solve those
emotions by throwing a ton of studying into the mix.
(It’s the same reason many people drink in excess, to
avoid certain emotions.) That’s why I call it a binge.
Well, most of the reason…
After a long night of binge studying, how crappy do
you feel?
If you’re like most people staying up all night is kind
of like a hangover with less throwing up.
You become lethargic and virtually useless for
anything productive the next day.
As much as I embraced this form of studying in the
past, I eventually had to learn my lesson to improve
my grades.
Binge Studying Doesn’t Work
Studying is not something that should be rushed.
Many studies have shown that after 45 minutes of
studying, most students study efficiency drops to just
about nothing.
Sure, you may be reading the words off of a textbook
page but they won’t stick easily.
To learn anything during a binge study session
requires you to spend at least 3 times the energy
when compared to a regular short study session.
So, you may be studying 10 hours straight but in
reality you’re getting the value of studying under 4
hours.
More importantly, after that study session, you need
to find a way to not feel completely miserable during
the test.
If you pulled an all-nighter then you’re virtually
screwed.
Sure, coffee or energy drinks may help you a little but
they’re not magic.
If you’ve reduced your sleep at all, you’re still at risk
of not being in your peak state of mind to try and
remember what you just studied.
The worst part about binge studying is that it limits
your ability to learn from your mistakes.
If you fail to study for a test, you may end up failing
that test but at least, next time, you have an incentive
to learn to actually study for your tests.
When you binge study, if you’re the average student,
you can usually pull a subpar grade out of it.
Sure, you won’t feel wonderful about your grade but
you’re going to have a much harder time getting
yourself into good study habits than if you just
accepted your screwup.
Next time, you’re again, going to be debating, should
I study, or put it off?
That subpar grade is going to encourage you to put it
off.
Study Digestion
Studying at the dinner table… Yes… If you pay
attention you’ll get it.
There is some scientific backing for what I’m going to
be going over but part of the way I’m going to explain
it is speculation.
While most of what I try to focus on his hard factual
study advice, this is mostly from experience.
Study like you need time for study digestion.
Treat your brain like you’d treat your stomach.
You want to study enough information to keep you
surviving in your classes (probably a little more.)
After studying enough, stop studying and let your
body digest the information.
What do I mean by digest?
Whether you realize it or not, your brain processes
the information you study multiple times.
Sometimes, you’ll consciously think, “wow… that
reminds of this thing I studied.”
Other times, (this is the speculation with only
fragments of evidence backing it up,) your brain is
going to randomly process the information you
studied.
While you’re sleeping at night, (this is out of
speculation and backed up again,) your brain
processes the information you studied again.
Studies have consistently shown people remember
things better after a good night sleep.
So, information may not have an actual digestion
process but the metaphor can help you get the most
out of your brain.
Your brain is limited similar to your stomach. (I’d
argue many of those limitations are more emotional
than physical but that’s a point for a different day.)
Your brain isn’t designed to learn like a computer.
Its ability to learn is highly dependent on survival
requirements.
(That’s why people use strategies like mind maps to
link information to landmarks in space.)
Throughout history, human’s survival has never
depended on a person’s ability to remember the
names of presidents or random bits of information.
That means you need to invest emotional capital into
forcing that information to feel important.
(Instead of, remember this or die, you’re stuck with, I
need to remember this or I may abstractly suffer in
the future.)
The Truth About Study Time
Humans have limits. Don’t expect binge studying to
stick.
There is no way to make a binge study session work
great.
Sure, I’ve gone over some ways to improve the
efficiency a bit but that will never be as good as a
consistent study routine designed right.
What is the right way to design a study routine?
Your brain is capable of studying in short bursts at
high levels of efficiency.
In general, around 30 minutes into a study session,
you might as well quit studying.
At the very least, that far into a study session you
should take a break.
(Taking breaks can return you to similar levels of
efficiency as starting from scratch.)
More importantly, in my opinion, you need to make
your study session consistent.
A consistent study routine helps in more ways than
most people understand.
First of all, it simplifies studying. Sure, it may suck for
a week or two but after a study session becomes a
daily habit, you’re giving your brain significantly more
emphasis on the importance of studying.
You will be remembering information better.
You’ll also maximize your study digestion because
every night when you’re going to bed you’ll
remember more of the information.
By using consistent short study sessions you make
sure you’re studying efficiently.
By studying efficiently, you can ensure that you spend
less time studying and more time doing the things you
really care about.
You may not believe you could spend less time
studying this way at first glance but think about this.
I currently recommend 15 minutes of studying
everyday (excluding school work.)
Most students that aren’t already behind can keep up
their grades with this amount of studying (after
getting used to the routine.)
That is less than 2 hours of studying a week.
One cram session can add up to 10-12 hours of
studying in a day (or two if it’s an all-nighter.)
If someone crams more than once a month then
they’re studying more than someone with a short
consistent study routine.
(And they’re learning less if you remember the
information from earlier in this post.)
You can read more about this in our exclusive
member’s area right here.
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Study better immediately and not 6 months from now
when the stars are all aligning
T had her head down staring at her grade. She’d kind
of curled up the edges of the paper a little to casually
hide the teacher’s red pen from the people in the
chairs next to her. It was another disappointing grade
and she just ran out of ideas.
So that afternoon, after class, she went up to the
teacher and asked for some advice.
She got an answer – work hard. Study more. She
politely responded but felt a little disappointed
because she was sure that was what she was already
doing.
But… she tried harder.
And a month later, she was staring back down at the
same disappointing grade on her paper…
She thought she’d talk to the teacher and clarify how
hard she was working. Then ask for advice.
The teacher responded that ‘you shouldn’t expect
results so fast. It takes time.’
Look…
I agree with that teacher in some sense.
But in another sense, I want to throw him off a bridge.
(Not a mortal fall. Just a scary, think-twice before
saying that stupid thing again fall.)
Good studying shows instant results. NOW! Not 6
months from now. – for most classes… math has some
complications but more than a month is too long to
wait.
Maybe not in your final grade. But on the single
assignment and test grades – results should be
showing up.
If not, change something. (Even if it’s something
small.)
To take it farther –
For some students, the second they stop studying
using a Smart Student Secrets/Active Recall strategy,
they can instantly feel the difference in knowledge.
Instead of ending their study session worried, they
end the session with confidence.
Results aren’t something that you should wait 6
months for.
You shouldn’t have to wait until everything goes
perfect.
Be impatient.
Get results.
Are you ready for results?
That’s what I teach.
I’ll also send you some awesome freebies.
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you want emails. Confirm your email. And see for
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6 Memory Strategies You Need In Your Study Toolbox
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Learning is complicated. Memorization is easy.
There is a quiet secret about studying that most
teachers will never tell you. Most subjects become
easy when you’re using effective memorization
strategies.
It can feel like you’re learning the information so
easily that you’re almost cheating.
Sure, you’re not literally cheating but it can require a
tenth of the time investment compared to the usual
strategies to memorize the same information.
I consider memory strategies “dirty” tricks. They’re
wonderful in the sense that they’re super effective.
They’re dirty tricks because they often do end up
leaving the “spirit of the information” behind. By the
spirit of the information, I mean the deeper concepts
that come from really beating down on a subject.
Using memory strategies lets you spend so little time
on information that you may end up missing deeper
uses of the information. That being said, schools don’t
often test you on deeper understandings of the
concepts you study.
So, if you’re looking for some memory strategies to
decrease your memorization time then here are some
of the best:
1. Mnemonics
Anyone remember ROY G. BIV to describe the color
spectrum. The R represents Red. The O represents
Orange. And so on…
If you’re not familiar with mnemonics in some context
then I imagine you must have had a nice snug rock to
live under for most of your life. It’s one of the most
commonly described memory tricks.
It’s described so often because it is ridiculously
effective. By taking bits of the information you need
to remember and combining them into a single, easy
to remember form, you can dramatically increase
your recall.
Despite the wide understanding of mnemonics, many
people still don’t use it for a number of reasons. One
of the most common reasons is the time investment
required. To create a good mnemonic takes time.
That’s time most students would just rather be
studying. When you don’t have much experience with
mnemonics, it can seem like a bad time waster. It’s
not. Get experience with it. With a little practice,
you’ll create effective mnemonics within minutes and
remember information for years.
Another reason some people don’t use mnemonics is
the complexity of the information. Some information
doesn’t transfer well to mnemonics. That’s
completely true but most information can transfer to
mnemonics if you get creative. I can’t list the ways in
this article (there are too many types of information
and too many creative tricks.) Before assuming
mnemonics are impossible for your information,
spend a few minutes trying to prove yourself wrong.
Learning to use mnemonics effectively is one of the
easiest ways to improve your memory.
2. Loci Method
Imagine how much more effective your memory
palace would be if you lived in this building. Yikes…
The Loci Method is a strategy often used by the best
“memoried” people in the world. It’s the process of
connecting the information you know to locational
information that you’re familiar with. For example,
you may imagine walking in your front door and
seeing some ridiculous illustration of the information
you need to remember first. Then you go into the next
room in the house and see the next ridiculous
illustration of the next thing you need to remember.
These ridiculous illustrations can be as simple as
imagining the words spinning around the room but
there are more effective illustrations. For a more
powerful illustration you might walk into the first
room and see Abraham Lincoln kicking a goal 4 times
and hear a Spanish announcer screaming
“GOOOOAL!” That can give you all you need to
remember “Four score,” Maybe you’ll walking into
the next room and see a younger Abe Lincoln looking
scrawny kicking a ball around saying, “In 7 years I’m
gonna be good.” That will help you remember, “Four
score and seven years ago…”
There are better illustrations that can be done too.
Those are just some quick examples.
The theory backing this strategy up is solid. Humans
aren’t designed to remember random information
but they are amazingly gifted at remembering
landmarks. By connecting what you need to
remember to a common landmark, you make it
significantly easier to remember.
This is a very powerful memory strategy but just
because memory pros use it, it doesn’t mean it should
be your first choice. There are many memory
strategies that are significantly more efficient for the
average student. The loci method is highly effective
but it requires a significant amount of time to get
really good at using it. Make sure you’re prepared for
that if you decide to use it.
3. Internal Connections
Linking Memory Strategies
Oh… Yea… This band rocks!
The following has no proof of being true but it helps
describe one of the more powerful memory tricks.
Everything you see, read, hear, and experience is in
your brain somewhere. Remembering something is
just the process of trying to locate that memory in
your brain. Considering how much random crap you
have in there, random information can be difficult to
find.
Imagine it’s kind of like Wikipedia. If you click on
World War 1 you’ll be offered a hundred more links
to Trench Warfare, Franz Ferdinand, and so on. If you
click on one of those links you’ll end up on those
pages tons more links to different pages. Your brain
works like that.
How can you make any page easier to find? Just add
more links directing to it.
Perhaps you’re trying to think of that Archduke From
Austria that was a big deal in WW1. Then you might
think, “wasn’t he that guy named after (yeah… that’s
a joke) that 2000’s band… Yea… Franz Ferdinand.”
That link from that band led you straight to the
Archduke.
That was a rather simple link but by consciously
connecting everything you’re learning to something
you already know, you can have more ways to find the
information that you need. Memory strategies should
almost always focus on finding good ways to do this.
4. Do It
Image Source
Riding a bike is hard to forget. Your body remembers
better than your brain does.
This is a difficult strategy to use in most of school.
Most of school isn’t physical but when you need to
remember something physical, your memory is tons
more powerful. Remember the old phrase, it’s just
like riding a bike? That describes physical memory
well. To learn to ride a bike takes time but once you
learn it, you can climb on a bike 2 decades later and
be perfectly comfortable in no time at all. That’s
because your physical memory is so powerful. (It
makes evolutionary sense.)
Given the choice about reading something or doing it.
Almost always pick doing it. By participating in a
physical activity you’re connecting your brain and
your body into the memorization process. Of all
memory strategies, this is one of the most useful in
life but one of the least useful memorization
strategies for school.
Sure, most things for school can’t be done this way.
(Perhaps with sign language but that’s kind of pushing
it.) That’s why you need to appreciate the
opportunities when you find them.
5. Repetition And Rhythm
Image Source
Music is one of the most powerful tools for storing
information in your memory.
I heard it on TV all the time growing up. If you need to
remember something then sing a song about it. It’s
significantly easier to remember songs than random
information. That’s true. I did personal experiments
with memory strategies including this one that
proved it but it wasn’t all that effective until I added a
good amount of repetition into the process.
By making a song and singing it until your ears bleed,
you can remember just about anything. (Personally, I
like to add crude lines to improve the stickiness of the
information.)
Repetition of information helps. If you just keep
repeating something in your head (or better yet, out
loud,) then your brain willingly or unwillingly locks
that information into your memory.
6. Sensory Overload Memory Strategies
Image Source
Apple pie… mmmm… When I’m trying to avoid
remembering it, the smell gets even more vivid.
Whenever you’re trying to memorize something, try
to use every sense that you have. This strategy can be
used alone or with any of the other information. By
introducing the information through different senses
of your body, you have more than one way to
remember the information.
So when you’re memorizing something, say it out
loud, sign it if you know how, write the information
on paper, add smell into the process if you’re really
creative and crazy. The more senses you’re able to
include in your memory strategies, the more likely
you’ll remember the information you need to
remember.
Using simple memory strategies like these you can
remember the information you need to remember
faster. The faster you remember the information you
need to remember, the more time you have to learn
the information that is actually important to
understand. (Or the more time you have to slack off
and do nothing.) That’s the double-edged sword of
these memory strategies. They’re powerful but can
be used to your long term benefit or your long term
detriment.
How To Remember Anything – The Ultimate Guide
To Memorization Strategies
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Image Source
Human memory is a complicated tool but it can be a
powerful one. Image Source
Has anyone ever given you a manual for using your
memory?
Unless they linked you to this post, I suspect that they
haven’t.
Memory can be an amazing tool in life. It can improve
your grades. It can improve your confidence. It can
gain you respect. Overall, memory is just plain old
awesome. It even does all this for you without a user’s
manual.
Most of memory is automatic. You may read
something and remember it. You may just repeat
something a couple times to get it to stick. Despite
that, sometimes it doesn’t seem to be so automatic.
Half way through your tests you may run into this
realization the hard way.
Sometimes your memory can use a little help. This
article is the ultimate guide to using your memory. It
goes over all the strategies you should have been
taught in school. It’s massive but it can change the
way you think and study for the rest of your life.
It can make remembering stuff:
Easy
Fun
Less stressful
And a whole lot faster!
Are you interested in getting all the strategies? Well…
buckle in because this is going to be a fun ride.
By the way, if you want to fully appreciate this article
then you should probably also read Memory
Investment Mastery. It’s an advanced concepts article
that you can access in our members only area. So… do
you want to improve your grades? Then take the next
step and join the community.
The Picture Superiority Effect And How To Memorize
Anything
Image Source
This apple is way more memorable than reading the
word apple. And… it might be because it makes my
mouth water. Image Source
People remember images better than words. This is
hardly up for debate as of this point. There have been
studies on this subject for over 50 years that point in
this direction.
I should add that this doesn’t even come down to
learning styles. Learning styles is a rather dubious
science in itself (you know, kinesthetic, visual, and
auditory stimuli, supposedly, get remembered
differently for different people). While there may be
some lessons to be learned from it, this is a concept
that’s only somewhat related and more credible
based on decades of results.
If you see an apple, you’re more likely to remember
the apple than if you were to hear about it, or read it,
or feel it.
The studies consistently show that images absolutely
crush every other aspect of a person’s memory. Think
about it from this perspective:
An Evolutionary Look
I know… I’m not a big fan of looking at evolutionary
perspectives as a super scientific proof of a point
because, quite frankly, a smooth sophist can make
just about anything sound good with these
arguments. Don’t take this as proof because it’s not.
It’s just to help illustrate the idea better.
Imagine a cavewoman (because… why not) trying to
remember something. She wouldn’t have words to
hold onto her memories. She wouldn’t even
understand the idea of words. For thousands of years,
humans lived in this state of not understanding
words. The brain became well-adapted to survival
using images alone.
Image Source
I saw a face like this at the zoo and I still ran in the
opposite direction. Image Source
People could imagine images. People could interpret
visual stimuli (like that tiger chasing them.) They could
catch onto visual patterns. They just couldn’t encode
it into the same kind of standardized words as we
could today.
If our cavewoman saw a berry on a tree, she would be
forced to search through her visual memory for
previous occasions when she chowed down on them.
Did they make her sick? Did they taste nasty? Did they
kill someone she gave them too? The brain had to be
good at understanding information in this way.
Have you ever had a dream where you were trying to
read something? Everything in your dream may
visually fool you. It can all make some sense to you.
Sure, you might be flying but it looks almost exactly
how you’d expect it to look if you were flying. When
you, on the other hand, do something as mundane as
reading, you might be surprised.
When most people end up reading in a dream they
end up with letters changing erratically. Maybe words
you saw before will disappear in a way that you can’t
quite put your finger on. In fact, this is one of the ways
lucid dreamers (people that are able to realize they’re
dreaming in their dream) are taught to distinguish a
dream from reality. This may have something to do
with the brain’s limited adaptation to reading in
relation to most visual stimuli.
Of course, thinking about how a cavewoman lived
may help make the point but, let’s face it, 95% of the
average person’s day still has nothing to do with
reading. The brain has no good reason to adapt to
reading as well as it needs to see.
Then Why Don’t I Remember….
Image Source
If visual stimuli is so memorable, why aren’t you
already remembering it better? You are. You’re just
not using it on what you should. Image Source
At this point in the conversation, it would make sense
for you to be wondering why your visual memory has
seemed to have been on the fritz for all these years.
If visual memory is so great, how come you can’t
remember all these random images that you see
through the day. Maybe you leave your textbook
somewhere that you can’t find it. Why don’t you just
see the image of you dropping off your textbook to
instantly know where it is?
Sometimes you may be able to do this but sometimes
it just doesn’t seem to work.
When your visual memory isn’t working, it’s probably
because it was never turned on in the first place.
When you’re going through your daily life, your
memory is normally not of any importance. You don’t
need to remember what you had for breakfast 3
weeks ago anymore. There is no reason to waste any
brainspace trying to store the memory.
The average person doesn’t remember because they
don’t stop to actually try and get themselves to
remember. They just go about their day through their
usual routines and hope that where they leave their
textbook (or their phone or their wallet) will just
happen to be the right place. When it’s not, they end
up struggling to remember. They never stop to look
and realize the importance of these things.
If, every time you put something down in an unusual
place you spent a fraction of a second looking at
where you were putting it down, you would
remember it without a hitch. If you found some way
to convince their brain that the place you were
dropping your stuff was novel or vital for survival,
your brain would remember it.
Why This Matters To You
Image Source
Words can always be turned into an image if you get
creative enough. Image Source
If you know that you can more easily remember
images then you can improve your memory by
turning word stimuli into images.
If you’re required to remember an apple, you don’t
want to just remember the word apple. You don’t
want to just think of that word and end it there.
Instead, you want to see an apple. If you can’t literally
look at the apple then you want to get your mind to
imagine that apple as vividly as possible.
Studies suggest that the human brain can’t even
distinguish the difference between something that is
vividly imagined and something that is seen. If you
can imagine something vividly enough, your brain will
give that image the same priority as it gives every
other image in your life. You will probably remember
it. No… not after the 30th time you’ve heard it.
Usually, after the first couple times you vividly see it.
In fact, you could probably remember it days later
with no review.
To help sink in that point: when someone first taught
me this strategy (and one more in particularly) I
memorized a list of 10 items in about 5 minutes. To
this day, I still remember that initial list of ten items.
I’ll be teaching that strategy in the next part of this
article.
Learning to habitually create images with the words
you read is one of the most powerful ways to improve
(or better yet, utilize) your memory.
It’s not only about memorizing everything though.
Make sure you read our free advanced article over
here.
How To Remember Words Better Than Pictures
Image Source
Memory is an awesome tool in many areas of your
life. Image Source
In a previous section, I discussed one of the most
important observations when it comes to your
memory and how to study.
The average person is dramatically better at
remembering images than they are at remembering
words. This doesn’t depend on learning styles or
anything like that. It’s one of the more consistent
observations scientists have made.
There may be cases for learning through other
methods and there is value to learning through
multiple stimuli but images are easier to remember.
In the late 1800’s an extraordinary chess player
named “Harry Pillsbury” was given a challenge that
95% of the population couldn’t complete in its least
challenging form. He completed it in one of the most
extraordinary ways possible. He was well known for
his memory and had a reputation for showing it off.
In his chess career he was known to play from
memory alone. He could track each and every piece
on the chessboard in his mind while still playing a top
notch game of chess.
This challenge that Harry Pillsbury completed was
related to his memory. He was challenged to
remember a list of 30 different words after being told
the words only a single time. Not only did he do that
but he was able to repeat that list backwards and
forwards. He even remembered the list the following
day.
Now, imagine I asked you to remember a list of words
after being told them only a single time.
If I said to remember, cucumber, bicycle, dog,
rainbow, training, pool, foolish, whips, rags, flag and
that’s only 10 words. Having read those words a single
time, could you look away and recite all of them?
Almost anyone that’s practiced improving their
memory to any extent would look at that like a good
challenge. That isn’t the kind of list that Harry
Pillsbury remembered, though.
He was challenged to remember a list of words like
plasmodium, freiheit, oomisillecootsi, and
Manyinzama. Yes… those were all directly off the list
of words he was asked to remember after hearing
them only a single time.
If you’re not used to practicing with your memory
then you might as well consider this an impossible
feat. Statistically speaking, it might as well be. It’s an
insanely difficult challenge. Once you know a little
about how to use images in your memory and learn
how to remember those words better than traditional
images, you might start to see how it’s possible. (It’s
still quite insane but it starts to make a little more
sense when you dig in.)
The First List
Image Source
Don’t just read these exercises. Think about them.
Image Source
Before delving into how to turn that second
impossible list into a memorable list of words, let’s
start with a slightly easier task. I’m going to go over
how to remember those first 5 words I used as an
example (in the list of 10.) This is going to utilize
another important method I’ll go over in more detail
through a later article. For now, focus on creating
strong images in your mind.
You’re going to want to imagine the images I describe
in as much detail as you can for a few seconds. In the
future, you’ll be able to remember these images in
virtually an instant of focus but for now, focus on
creating a good image in your brain. (I used to struggle
with visualizing good images in my head. I found
focusing on colors and practicing helped immensely.)
Feel free to read this multiple times if you think it will
help but if you’re curious, try only reading through it
a single time to see if you got the information to stick
quickly. (I’m going to work under the assumption you
already forgot the first 5 words I mentioned earlier
because, odds are, you did.)
Image Source
Dogs and bikes both make me happy. The picture is a
double header. Image Source
Imagine a massive cucumber with a face sitting right
next to you right now. But don’t worry because you
can see a big cucumber smile on its face.
Make sure you’re really forcing yourself to picture it.
If you truly focus on the image then you’ll probably
remember it.
Here’s the list for reference: cucumber, bicycle, dog,
rainbow, training.
But notice… that the cucumber isn’t sitting on a chair,
it’s sitting on a big bicycle. You might naturally be
wondering how a cucumber ever learned to ride a
bike. A cucumber doesn’t even have legs to reach the
pedals.
Then you notice the cucumber starts to grow a couple
hairy dog legs. Slowly the cucumber completely turns
into a dog. Now the dog is pointing out the window
barking at you to look out it.

That’s when you look out the window and see an
upside down rainbow (like a U.) How does a rainbow
get upside down? It doesn’t make sense to you until
you see the ends of the rainbow going slowly towards
the ground.
In each of the rainbows ends it’s holding a massive bar
and on the sides you see huge weights. Of course…
the rainbow is training to get stronger. Being a
rainbow isn’t easy when you’re always in the pushup
position. You need strong arms.
Notice how that last one is a particularly tricky one.
It’s easy to picture a noun like dog. It’s not quite as
easy to picture training.
Do you remember the list? If you really focused on
seeing the images as you read through the list, odds
are, you do. This is a relatively short example but
continue this story and see if you can remember the
whole list (cucumber, bicycle, dog, rainbow, training,
pool, foolish, whips, rags, flag.)
By creating silly and memorable images you make it
easier to remember than if you’d actually seen the
images. You may have seen hundreds of dogs in your
life but you probably haven’t seen too many dogs
evolving from massive cucumbers or riding a bicycle.
That makes them notable references.
It’s Not Always That Easy
Image Source
Finding the right way to think about something gets
you half way to remembering it. (And by half way, I
mean almost all.)Image Source
Now imagine I asked you to remember the word
“Manyinzama.”
Now try picturing one of whatever the heck that
might be… having any luck. If so then consider
yourself among the lucky few.
When you don’t know what something you need to
remember looks like, you need to get creative and
turn the word into something that you can
remember. This can turn hard to imagine concepts
into relatively easy ideas to remember. For the word
“manyinzama,” you might imagine “many” with
“insomnia.” Perhaps you could think “many” “in(z)”
spanish word for “he/she loves” (ama.)
These ideas look like stretches but the funny thing is,
even with that, they’re still super effective at
remembering what you need to remember. Most of
what people need in finding memories isn’t a full
memory. Memory naturally does that pretty darn
well. What most people need is a trigger for
remembering it. Once the trigger is pulled, you don’t
need to know the exact mechanism that’s happening,
it just sort of happens.
The Advantage
Since this is such as strange and silly process it actually
becomes more memorable. If you were to just
imagine a dog and a bicycle riding by the dog, you
couldn’t remember it as easily as a dog riding the
bicycle. If you were to imagine many people with
insomnia while you were trying to remember
“insomnia epidemic” or something, it would be less
effective. The distance from the final goal only helps
you find it when you need it.
Your logic can actually get in the way when you’re
trying to make stronger memories. I’m going to
explain that more in the next section.
Why Your Logic Gets In The Way
Image Source
Silly is memorable. Boring is not. Image Source
In the previous two parts of this article, I went over
two important things to understand before this point.
First of all, people remember images dramatically
better than they remember words. This doesn’t have
to do with learning styles and has been shown
consistently in the experiments.
There is one thing that you hopefully noticed in the
example I gave. I discussed it briefly but it’s one of the
most powerful strategies you have to make your
images almost completely unforgettable. The images
used in the example were downright silly. They
weren’t realistic. In fact, they were hardly at all
related to the subject matter being discussed.
(Cucumbers aren’t massive and can’t ride bicycles.)
This is important.
When you’re trying to remember something, it’s
usually best to put the logic of the situation to the
side. Remembering the logical procedure of what
happens is good but it’s dramatically easier to
remember a completely ridiculous story describing
that same information.
Too Many References
Image Source
Common is not memorable. Image Source
Cucumbers are not memorable.
Dogs are not memorable.
They’re not memorable because they’re so damn
common.
If you’re anything like me you’ve probably seen
thousands of dogs in your life. You’ve probably eaten
a few cucumbers in your time too. If I asked you to
remember a cucumber then you’d be hard pressed to
remember the distinct qualities of any particular
cucumber. You’d probably only end up remember
some strange average of cucumbers you’ve eaten
over your entire life. You have too many cucumber
references to remember any single distinctive
cucumber (unless, of course, you happened to eat a
really bad cucumber. Then you’d be able to describe
it in sickening detail.)
When you’re trying to remember something
common, you need to find a way to distinguish that
common and boring thing into something that’s
actually unique and worth remembering. This isn’t a
problem when you’re actually trying to remember
something unique. You won’t accidentally mix up an
Ichthyosaur with something else. You probably have
too few reference points to make that mistake.
When you’re turning complex things into more simple
concepts this problem becomes a big one. If you were
looking to remember the dogmatic nature of Hitler’s
regime you could imagine Hitler petting a dog. That
would hint your brain towards dogmatic and Hitler’s
regime. It would probably work. But it wouldn’t be
nearly as memorable as you imagining a dog on a
podium with a hitler-stache giving a speech.
Given the choice between remembering something
logical or illogical and kind of quacky, you want to go
for the illogical and quacky one.
Logic has references. Illogical has significantly fewer.
Is Your Logic Getting In The Way?
Image Source
Relax on the logic and you get to use the more natural
parts of your memory. Image Source
One of the most common problems people suffer
from while trying to implement an image based
memory strategy is the natural tendency to turn
everything into something logical.
When you’re trying to quickly create landmark images
for your memory, your brain is going to automatically
push towards the logical. Your brain is going to want
the story to make sense. It’s going to push for logical
because logical is easier. The easier it is for you to
imagine your image, the less likely you’re going to be
able to remember that image when you need to find
it in the future.
I know it’s tempting to rush through the image
creation process. This is particularly true at first. It’s
not easy to consistently come up with original crazy
images to help you remember something. When you
only have so long to study, this becomes an even
more difficult challenge. Since you’re looking to move
fast, you’re going to always have to be fighting to
make less sense to yourself.
Remembering a cucumber getting eaten by a dog
while a bicycle rides by underneath a rainbow with a
guy training underneath it is a logical scenario. Sure…
it may be coincidental and that would help but it’s
relatively possible. Your brain is going to want to tell
that kind of a story. Seeing massive cucumbers
transform into bike riding dogs is impossible. Odds
are, you have very few references of this happening.
This is the kind of story that requires actual focus to
produce.
Do not let your logic become an excuse for you to
become lazy.
Think about it this way. Logic isn’t what you
understand. It’s what you derive.
People Are Not Logical
Image Source
I know we like to think we’re naturally logical. We’re
not. Some of our heuristics are logical. Some are
downright dumb. Image Source
People are really bad at being logical. Sure… your
brain makes an effort at it but it’s sometimes not very
good at it. There are plenty of very controversial
conclusions reached by science. I suspect this is one
of the least controversial.
If people hear a loud noise, they jump. If people see
something different they become cautious. If people
have had bad experiences with something, they get
particularly hesitant around similar experiences.
People like not losing more than they like gaining.
There are all kinds of these heuristics that the human
brain uses to solve problems. Illogical is natural. Logic
is the unnatural way of looking at things.
Don’t worry so much about logic while you’re storing
more information. It helps to be illogical when you’re
trying to store the information. Once you have that
information stored you can start to worry about
deriving the logic out of it. It’s dramatically easier to
understand once you’ve been exposed to all the facts
anyway.
Don’t fight this nature. Learn to embrace it where it
can help you. By thinking absurd things you can make
your brain remember better. By thinking typically
you’ll end up just remembering typically.
This can be a challenge. That’s part of the benefit of
this process. The more you practice these processes,
the more natural they become. As you get better and
better at it, you’ll notice your brain automatically
pushing towards creative thinking on subjects you
don’t quite understand yet. This leads to more
questions and a deeper understanding faster.
There is one more part of this that’s worth
considering. The final part of this article is all about
how to lock information in your memory for the long
term.
How To Lock Information In Your Memory
Image Source
Memory can be as simple as chaining information
together. Image Source
So you want to know how to lock information in your
memory?
Well… it’s actually pretty simple. Just chain it up!
Okay… I know that sounds silly but it actually makes a
lot of sense.
The basic strategy behind this concept has been
around for decades. It’s a way to take information
that you’re trying to remember and make it nearly
impossible to forget. This strategy is designed to make
it so absolutely every memory that you’re trying to
keep gets intricately linked to other information
you’re trying to remember. This strategy makes it so,
if you can remember only a single piece of
information, it becomes almost impossible to forget
the later things you’re trying to remember.
This is the kind of strategy that can turn a student with
a mediocre memory into a student that virtually never
misses an answer that they should have got. Haven’t
you ever known that you knew something but just
couldn’t find it during the test? That’s what this
strategy is so good at preventing.
Memory experts have been discussing this memory
linking method for decades now. It’s been something
done in some way or another for thousands of years.
It’s a strategy that’s not too hard to learn but it can
dramatically change the way you study. Tired of the
suspense?
The Linking Method
Image Source
Every link matters because it helps you connect
further information. Image Source
Using the linking method is like chaining all of the
information you’re studying together.
The hard part of studying for most students isn’t
getting some of the information to stick in their
memory. The hard part is trying to find the memories
after you’re all finished with your studying. If you link
the information you’re studying together then you
don’t need to remember separate pieces of
information. All you need to remember is the first
piece. Then you can follow the chain right along to the
next thing you’re trying to remember.
The first thing you remember makes you remember
the second thing you want to remember. The second
thing makes you remember the third. It can go on and
on until it becomes nearly impossible to forget any
particular link.
So… how do you use the linking method?
Happen to remember the list from a few minutes
ago? If you don’t then you probably never imagined it
too clearly because after the linking method I used on
it, it would be difficult to forget. If you still can’t quite
remember it start with the first word and see if you
can remember the rest.
Cucumber
Don’t read below this until you try and remember:
Image Source
Don’t cheat. You’re being watched! Image Source
Bicycle
Dog
Rainbow
Training
I didn’t look back to review those words. Having gone
through the memory exercise, they’ve just happened
to stick with me. Part of the reason they stuck with
me so well is because I used this linking strategy in my
example.
I linked cucumber to the bicycle by imagining a giant
cucumber riding a bicycle. (You probably will regret if
you don’t go back and read that section now!) I linked
the bicycle to the dog by having the cucumber turn
into a dog. (Notice that I also linked the dog to the
cucumber with that step.) By remembering cucumber
I could almost instantly recall the bike and the dog.
Do you remember how the next links came out?

This is how you use the linking method.
You find different ways to create images including link
after link of what you’re trying to remember. If you’re
remembering words then you just create images that
can remind you of those words. You can use this to
connect abstract concepts that aren’t easy to
imagine.
If you’re trying to link Newton to Gravity in your mind,
you mind think of a giant Godzilla sized “newt on” the
city streets. The newt might notice a t shirt for sale
and pick it up with it’s massive fingers. You know, it
just “grabs a tee.” Is this absolutely ridiculous? That’s
exactly why you’ll have trouble forgetting it.
Image Source
Flowers aren’t memorable. Big ol’ gang leada’s are.
Image Source
You can even use this with more obscure concepts
that you don’t understand.
Imagine you need to remember “Deep Limbic
System” and “Basal Ganglia.” You don’t even have to
know what these are to remember them. You could
imagine your “limb” reaching “deep” into the “stem”
of a flower (trying not to break it, of course.) Maybe
then you’re able to carefully pluck the flower from the
ground with your arm still in the stem and the stem
unbroken. You look up and see the gang of men with
flower tattoos hollering all excitedly because you’re
their new “big ol’ gang leada’.”
Does that sound ridiculous again? That’s the point. As
long as the images are personally memorable for you,
they will help you remember the words. The links
between those images and the words make are just
adding more and more connections between what
you know and what you want to remember. That
makes them nearly impossible to forget.
This strategy can be taken a step farther when you
start to get good at it.
This strategy alone can get you most of the way. Now
might be a good time to pop into the members only
area to verify you understand everything you need to
know. You can read Memory Investment Mastery to
optimize your results.
Webbing Information
Image Source
Webbing information is just another more complex
form of linking. Image Source
As you’re trying to get all your information linked to
previous and future information, you can keep the
story consistent and add multiple links to every single
piece of information you use to remember. If you’re
able to link a single piece of information to multiple
other pieces of information, you add more links to
that first piece of information. This turns this linking
strategy into more of a web.
A web is how most information is naturally
remembered.
By exposing yourself to the hundreds of different links
a piece of information has to the real world, your
brain naturally starts to remember it. Using this
webbing strategy is kind of like creating an artificial
version of a typical memory.
When you remember the bicycle in your list you’ll
instantly be able to remember the dog and the
cucumber. That’s the two natural links you’d expect
with any chain of information you create. If you then
took that dog riding a bicycle and had him ride in the
upside down rainbow like a half pipe (and, of course,
creating a vivid image of this in your mind,) you’d end
up webbing a huge chunk of the information
together.
If you can remember the halfpipe rainbow you’d
remember it’s two natural links from the example
used in the previous section. Those links are the
squeezing of the upside down rainbows arms down as
they lowered a weight like a bench press, and you’d
remember the dog pointing the rainbow out to you.
Then, with the dog going outside and riding the bike
up and down the halfpipe rainbow you’d be linking
the bike to the rainbow and the training and
reinforcing the link between the dog and the rainbow.
In short, it tangles all of those linking memories into
more of a web. Imagine the dog turning into a
cucumber on the halfpipe and you’ll virtually never
forget that image.
The Ultimate Guide To Memorization - Here’s a
Pinterest-worthy image for sharing ?
The Ultimate Guide To Memorization – Here’s a
Pinterest-worthy image for sharing ?
The consequences of learning this can make virtually
anything you want to remember nearly completely
impossible to forget.
Using this you can get A’s in a huge percentage of your
classes with relatively little effort. If you choose to
invest your time in this, memory is never going to be
your weak link while studying (even in the most
memory focused classes.)
Do you have any strategies for improving your
memory? Be sure to share your ideas in the
comments below.
Oh… and don’t tell me you didn’t read Memory
Investment Mastery yet? Really… You care about
optimizing your grades, right? Well… get over there!
Please share this post because it can help you and
others get better grades. Those better grades can
help you live better.
How would you feel if you could study in less than 15
minutes a night while still scoring A’s?
You can discover the newest secrets of the science of
studying by joining us today.
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Unlock Your True Potential
Have you ever felt like you could be more?
I’m going to go out on a limb and say “You’re right.”
I know this because you’re here. Because you’re
reading this. (I’ve seen the analytics. Most people that
show up on this site don’t have it in them to read this.
Honestly, this stuff isn’t always easy to understand.
They’d much rather get back to their memes that
require zero IQ.)
You’re capable of great things.
Hi. I’m Aaron. I graduated college early taking a
double course load while working 30 hour weeks. –
And I didn’t do it because I’m particularly smart. – I
barely survived some years in high school.
I learned strategies that took my academic game up
to the next level.
And those are the strategies I’d like to teach you…
Since writing this article we’ve written a more
advanced version. You want to read How To
Remember Anything
How answer any MCQ
Career AdviceCareer DevelopmentEducation and
Beyond
How to Answer Multiple Choice Questions?
By Chitra Reddy25918 0
It is habitual that test-takers have a tough time
answering multiple choice questions, this is because
they consider multiple-choice questions as a stress-
free set of a question when equated to another type
of questions and so forget to pay attention to it.
Irrespective of the format of the question, test takers
should concentrate on multiple choice questions a
lot.
Many people take a guess to answer multiple-choice
questions, but these type of questions require good
skill and logic to answer them. Here are a few tips on
how to solve multiple-choice questions.
How to Answer Multiple Choice Questions
Types of Multiple Choice Test Questions:
As time passed by, the complexity of the competition
questions has also increased. Earlier there were only
text type questions, but now people have started
using graphs, pictures, scrambled images, etc in
multiple-choice questions.
Basically, there are two types of multiple-choice
questions, they are:
Single answer questions
Multiple answer questions
1. Single answer questions:
These are the type of questions where we will have
the option of choosing only one answer. Here the
choices will be provided in radio buttons.
2. Multiple answer question:
In this type of questions, we will be having the option
of selecting multiple answers. Here the choices will be
provided in checkboxes.
How to Answer Multiple Choice Questions like a pro?
Multiple choice questions are mostly tricky ones. But
with a little smartness, we can crack them very easily.
With a little knowledge on the subject and a good
strategy, you can easily answer any multiple-choice
questions.
Here are 6 tips for answering multiple-choice
questions
Understand the question properly
Equate every answer to the question asked
Chop out the wrong answer
If every step fails, be confident and do the guesswork.
Longest answers are often correct
Grammatical aid can sometimes help
Secrets for Taking Multiple Choice Tests:
Not everyone is so comfortable answering multiple-
choice questions. Now if you are also in the same line,
then here are few tips which will be revealing for
taking up multiple choice questions.
Take up 1 question at a time
Do not waste time if you are not getting the answer
for any question
You can always come back at the end
Cover all the possible answers as fast as you can
Take up mini-breaks
Execute a rescue round
If no idea, then make logical guesses
Tips to Answer Multiple Choice Questions with
Negative Marking:
In most of the competitive cases, multiple-choice
questions are used as a preliminary exam. In such
type of exams, for every wrong answer, negative
points are given. So you need to answer each and
every question very carefully.
Here are the best ways to solve these multiple-choice
questions
Always try to attempt the maximum number of
questions
If you think the first option is correct, make sure that
last option is not “all of the above“
Follow the same rule for the option “none of the
above“
Check all the options even if you are sure about the
answer
If confused, then skip it and move forward
If you have a little idea about the topic, then try to
attempt
Imagine the topic to think logically without looking at
the options.
If you have one gut answer and other knowledge
answers, always go with knowledge answer
Try to use a true or false method in case of negatively
worded question
Analyze well, and convince yourself before marking
the answer
Last but not least, as per research, your first guess will
always be right.
What is the Most Common Answer on Multiple
Choice Tests:
Usually, option C is implicated as the right answer in
multiple-choice questions.
Multiple choice questions are not randomized when
asked.
The best answer to guess in such question is C. It is
better than leaving the answer spot blank. Like the
saying goes something is better than nothing.
As the probability of being the right answer is not nil,
it is better to choose the questions as C (which is like
a standard answer among people). This does not work
in tests where there will be negative marking for
wrong answers.
How to Answer Multiple Choice Questions Correctly:
25 Smart Tips
The following mentioned are few multiple-choice test
tricks and strategies on how to pass a multiple-choice
test without studying.
1. Deterring conventional wisdom:
Many individuals who take up objective type
questions have the habit of guessing the middle
option as the answer if they do not know. They also
avoid answers which show none, all, always and
never.
William Poundstone who is an author opens up that
this conventional wisdom will never help throughout
the exam and so ignoring conventional wisdom is vital
for answering a multiple choice answer.
2. Abolishing incorrect ones:
For answering a multiple-choice question, it is a fact
that the multiple options are formatted in a tough
manner.
All the options seem to be right in some aspect and so
the test taker can pick out the wrong answers first and
then choose the right answer.
3. True or false test:
Read the question carefully and if you’re muddled by
looking at the options, give each option a true or false
test. Cross out the false answers and by this way, the
most appropriate answer can be found out.
4. Handling all of the above:
In a multiple-choice question when there is an option
as “all of the above” be careful in answering such type
of question. Check to see if more than two options are
right if so the choice can be opted.
5. Check the sentence:
When your question ends with ‘a’, ‘an’ or ’the’, then
the answer should start appropriate to the article and
hence correct answer can be chosen appropriately.
Though this does not stand true for all questions, but
can help for few which has articles in it. A few
questions in English can be handled this way for
picking the right option.
6. Longest options:
In the midst of many questions when you find options
with variable size of answers, pick the longest answer.
It is a fact that the question designers cannot format
very short answers.
7. Patterns and similarities:
When there are options with many variables and so,
look out for the options and its patterns and
similarities. Pick choices that have the same patterns
and leave out the outliners so that the nearest or right
answer is picked.
8. Middle-order:
The middle-order option is something which should
be chosen, for example, if the options are 100,150,
200, and 250 then choosing 150 or 200 can be the
right choice.
In such cases mostly, the right answers are lesser than
the maximum and higher than the lowest.
9. First impression:
Always remember that the first impression is the best
one. Once you have read the question, pick the right
answer immediately. As you keep on reading the
options there is a chance to choose the wrong option.
10. Chary reading and understanding:
Test takers should make sure to read the question
carefully though it is a timed test. Many individuals
waste time without reading the question, hence it is
important to read the question carefully and
understand what is required.
11. Practicing:
Practicing well for the exam is one way to score
maximum. Past test papers, practice exams or study
guides can give you an idea on how to answer MCQ
questions.
12. Planning time:
In order to use time appropriately, answer the
questions for which you know the answers.
For ones which you have a doubt, leave the doubtful
question and skip over, at the end again read out the
questions which you have not answered and
complete the question paper.
By this way, your confidence is elevated and you also
find more time for hard questions.
13. Focusing on keywords:
The keywords in the question are to be identified and
underlined which helps to narrow down the meaning.
By this way, the right option will match each and
every part of the stem of the question. For the same
paying attention to qualifiers, superlatives, negatives
are important.
14. Pick the answer first:
Once the question is read, formulate the answer in
your mind rather than looking into the options.
Once you have formulated the answers, look into the
options and you can find the answer you formed.
15. Trust instincts:
You may have opted for the first option based on your
first impression, you can also change the answer if
you think another response is right.
Concrete reasoning is mandatory to make any
changes and not just feeling.
16. Number games never work all the time:
Playing the odd doesn’t work out all the time and so
playing with such type of methods can be avoided.
Guesswork and gameplay with multiple type
questions can be avoided as they do not work well all
the time.
17. Learn from mistakes:
It is always a good idea to learn from your mistakes.
Once the paper is returned back to you, review the
answers and find out the reason for the mistakes
taken place.
Reason out if it is the question pattern or study
material which has made you to pick an incorrect
answer. In this way mistakes in the future can be
avoided.
18. Answers hid in questions:
A complete reading of the question paper is one way
to find out a few answers, this is because for some
questions answers are found in the question itself.
The questions may have a link and answers within it
too.
19. Eliminate grammatically wrong answers:
It is a good way to eliminate grammatically wrong
answers in a multiple-choice question. The answers
would never make sense and hence grammatically
wrong answers can be avoided.
20. Opposites can be the right answer:
In a multiple-choice paper, if two options are
complete opposites then there is a chance that one of
them might be the answer.
It is actually a trick used by the professors to check the
knowledge of the students in the subject.
21. Single-word in many options:
There are many questions where one word appears in
more than one options. The answer must be one of
those choices which have the same word.
In this context eliminate the odd one and choose from
similar options.
22. Unrelated answers:
Once the question is read the options would have
answers related to the question, if there are answers
which are unrelated to the question then they can be
eliminated as the wrong answer.
23. Proper preparation:
It is true that multiple-choice questions concentrate
on minute details in the subject which cannot be
retained in mind effectively. Preparing at an early
stage is what a multiple-choice exam requires.
Frequent reviews and early preparations are ways to
hack the multiple-choice exercises instead of tricks
and guesswork.
24. Scheduling:
It is mandatory for intense preparation for any
multiple-choice paper, it would be advisable to pay
attention to terms and concepts, observations, ideas
and a lot more. These tips are important as this would
be the ones which most commonly appear in the
exams.

You can also make lists and tables of important ideas
or events which makes learning easier.
25. Do not guess all the time:
Almost all students guess most of the time for
multiple choice answers but guessing would not be
apt for negative marking questions. Avoid guesswork
for negative marking questions as they may lower
your final total.
Conclusion:
These are a few hints which can be followed for
answering the multiple-choice questionnaire, but
these tips are not complete 100% true to yield
successful results. These are a few tricks to handle the
questions. They work for some situations but not
completely for all exams, all time and all scenarios.
Prior preparations and training are mandatory
aspects for any multiple-choice exams.
The skill to tackle a multiple choice test paper is
mandatory and hence good preparation on the
subject along with these techniques is required to win
over such exams. Test takers and students can run
through these tips with proper preparation and hack
their multiple-choice exams in the right manner
rather than believing in guesswork.
Amir is about to take a few exams. One amongst them
is a multiple choice question. It will help him get
relaxation in few classes in his college. He has studied
a lot for the exam and is well prepared but still
nervous. The reason is not because he doesn’t know
the text; it is because he is afraid he is a bad test taker.
Knowing the material is a different thing and
answering it correctly in the exam is a different task.
If the test is a multiple choice one, he feels all the
more anxious and cannot get over his fear of multiple
choices.
However not many know that there a few strategies
that can be employed when taking such multiple
choice question tests or MCQ tests.
Multiple Choice Questions StrategiesIf we use such
tactics, we can do greatly in such exams, even if we
don’t know the answers to few such questions, we
can answer them by guessing to the nearest possible
answer.
Of course the most important thing is to know the
material being covered in the exam, however, beyond
that also there are a certain things that can be done
to improve the chances of clearing such tests.
So, for taking the Multiple Choice Test what strategy
can be followed to make sure you get the answer
right? Let us have a look at few steps that can be used
in answering multiple choice questions:
How to Solve Multiple Choice Questions:
1. Understand the parts:
Multiple choice tests are made up of three key
components. First is the stem- it states the question
that is to be answered. Second part is the correct
answer which is the best of the possible answers to
the question. Third part is the distractions – It
contains the remaining three options which are the
incorrect options. They might look conceivable but
are in not the correct ones. There is only one best
possible answer.
2. Read carefully:
Read through the question carefully and avoid
jumping to any conclusion that you think the question
refers to. Complete the questions which you are sure
about, first. For the questions which you have a
difficulty in solving, narrow down the options before
proceeding. Multiple choice questions not only test
your recalling and reasoning ability but they test your
ability to understand properly and thoughtfully, as
well.
Words such as often, generally, may, seem, seldom
are often more accurate and can indicate a statement
which is true. After all kinds of such readings, if you
do not know the answer, what to do? Guess! Make an
educated guess and when there is no negative
marking; do not leave any question unanswered.
3. In case of standardized tests:
When you have read the question carefully,
understand what is required for you. Are you
supposed to identify the best answer or an alternative
that is false? Verify whether or not there is an option
stating “all of the above” or “none of the above”
before you mark your answer. Use the false/ true
technique which will help you in selecting between
two similar answers. To do this, decode the question
into a statement with each of the probable answers
and then you should select the one which is true.
4. Evaluate each response to the multiple choice
question:
After you have successfully identified the right type of
question, you should do a quick evaluation of all the
given probable answers. More often than not, the
type of answers given will suggest you what type of
answers are right. For example, if you are surprised by
the options given, it means that you have not
understood the question carefully and you need to
read it again. And in the end, you need to match the
answer with the question that has been asked.
5. Do not get confused:
Some questions are meant to confuse the answerer.
They contain abundant information and often, more
than half of it is redundant. You need to read the
question carefully and then analyze which
information is required to answer and which is not.
Filter the important points from the question.
For example, a question states that A has three
apples, two oranges, five peaches. B has five grapes,
four peaches and two oranges. How many apples
does B have? At first, it might look like that we need
to calculate the number of fruits they have but in fact
the question is asking only for the number of apples
which B has. So, it is very important to keep calm and
read what information is relevant and what is not.
6. Anticipate the answers as you read the questions:
When you read the question, try and answer the
question before you see the options that are given. If
a person is better in answering essays and short
answer questions, this strategy will be of greater help
to him/her. In fact, research shows that around one
third of test takers fare better by using this strategy
alone.

7. Eliminate each clearly incorrect answer:
There are some options which are a complete misfit
and should be eliminated as you read through them.
For example a question asks about which American
President gave a famous statement about democracy
and the options list:-
Obama, Lincoln, George Bush and Rajat Singh. Very
clearly, Rajat Singh can be eliminated as he wasn’t
American President. So, there are always few such
answers and after eliminating them, you are left with
fewer choices to choose from. So, you should always
narrow down your choices when you cannot get the
answer in the first shot.
8. Underline the key part of the question which
contains the key to the answer:
The question might be lengthy and complex to
understand and all the information might be relevant
and hence we cannot filter it out. So what to do in
such case? You should underline the key part of the
question, the most relevant details. Some might not
allow using highlighter and in such case you can use a
pen or pencil.
For example, the question states: – As per brain
imaging studies, which part of the brain is responsible
for primal emotions like hostility and fear? Now the
key words are part of brain and primal emotions.
When you underline and focus on these words, you
can recall the answer quickly as compared to reading
the whole question again and again.
9. Ignore the conventional wisdom:
When taking a question you don’t know the answer
to, ignore the conventional words like go for the
middle answer or avoid any answer that uses the
word never, always, all or none. As per a famous
researching author on this subject, this conventional
method doesn’t hold true against the statistics he has
collected through his research. He says that around
53% of the times, options like all of above or one of
above were correct. So, we can say that choosing one
of these answers gives you a probable 90%
improvement over random guessing.
10. Look at the surrounding answers:
Author also found that correct answers are usually
not repeated consecutively, so looking at the answers
of the questions you can figure out those questions
that you are stuck on. For example, if you have same
options for four questions and you also know that the
answer to Question no.1 is A and that of Question
no.3 is D, then you can realize that A and D wouldn’t
hold true for Question no.2. Knowledge outsmarts
guessing but when taking a guess, follow this strategy
and you will probably be right.
11. Choose the lengthiest answer:
It has been found in researches that usually the
longest answer was correct among all the given
options. The makers of test have to make sure that
the right answers are the best indisputably and this
needs some qualifying language along with detailed
explanations. They try so hard with it that the answer
gets longer word by word. So, if have no idea about
the answer and notice an alternative longer than the
other options, it is most probably, the right answer.
Ideally multiple choice tests are without any pattern
and randomly set. However, all tests are written by
humans and the human nature makes it almost
impossible to be absolutely random. Hence a few
patterns, few theories have been found in the
research on which above points are based.
All will emphasize that the actual knowledge of the
subject is the best strategy but when you don’t have
it, it is better to have the above given strategies with
you because guessing smartly will improve your
chances of being correct.
An old saying goes – Failing to prepare is preparing to
fail. It is true and should be remembered. Prepare for
the tests and it not only means studying for long
hours, but make sure that those sessions are effective
as well. Another way to bomb a test apart from not
studying is carelessness.
Multiple choice tests can be taken by following a few
tactics and if you don’t study and don’t pay heed to
the above strategies as well, it is a bigger sin. So,
follow the above points and clear the tests without
any anxiety and restlessness
Effective textbook reading is a key study skill for
student success. Nearly every class makes you read
them.
“Makes” is the right word here. “Requires,” “forces,”
or “insists” will also work. Few people read textbooks
unless they have to. If you read textbooks for fun,
shoot me an email. I need to interview you, because I
don’t think you exist.
Reading textbooks is weird. That’s right – weird.
Granted, we all have to read them. But even you
bookworms – the kinds of people who devour the
Twilight books in one week, or Harry Potter, or the
Hunger Games books – know that textbooks are a bit
weird.
Think about it. Textbooks are the only books you read
today that have pictures on nearly every page (Dr.
Seuss fans excluded). In fact, should you be forced to
read a textbook without pictures, you are in real
trouble. Those books get seriously tough.
Nevertheless, understanding how to read a textbook
is vital.
The goal of a textbook is simple: inform and educate.
The goal of the Harry Potter books is very different.
Novels tell stories. Textbooks communicate ideas
through explanations of information. Because of this,
you need a different strategy for reading textbooks.
Follow these four easy steps to get on your way.
1. Don’t read front to back (aka, READ BACKWARDS)
Reading a textbook chapter front to back ensures that
you will waste time.
I know it’s counter-intuitive to not read a book front
to back, but don’t do it. Mystery novels stink when
you read the back first, as do good thriller movies. If
you read the last page of a Sherlock Holmes novel
before you read the story, it’ll be lame. If you know
Bruce Willis is dead, don’t watch the 6th Sense.
But textbooks are rarely building to a suspenseful
twist at the end. I promise. I’ve read a lot. They don’t
come with surprise endings. “And then, Abraham
Lincoln dodged the bullet!” Yep, that’s never going to
be in a textbook.
Want to try this strategy? Try reading your textbook
chapter in this order:
1. Go to the questions at the end first. Read
them, answer them to the best of your
ability, and then begin your actual reading
strategies. This will sort of “prime the
engine” of retention.
2. Next, read the final summary of the
chapter. This will give you a general
background as to the Big Ideas in the
chapter.
3. Third, look at the headings and subdivision
of the chapter.
4. Fourth, read the chapter introduction.
From that point you can then work through the
chapter from front to back. By taking this out-of-order
strategy, you are focusing not on the chronological
order, but rather connecting the ideas found in the
chapter together. This is infinitely more important
than reading things in the order they were written.
2. Read for Big Ideas
Textbooks are extremely thorough. You, while
needing thoroughness, are not going to be able to
absorb every tiny detail found in a chapter. You have
to focus on what’s most important. See our posts on
filtering for more info on this.
Textbooks are great because they explain those Big
Ideas in context, but make sure you don’t get lost in
the minutiae. Read for the Big Ideas first and foremost
and you’ll be able to sift through the mountain of
information available.
In textbooks, Big Ideas are easy to spot because they
are often in bold print or section headings. Look for
the complete sentence thought that summarizes
and drives each subdivision and you’ll have identified
the Big Ideas.
3. Read for Key Details
Big Ideas need support. Otherwise they’re just
opinions. After you identify each Big Idea, make note
of the supporting details that fill out and help the Big
Idea make sense.
While this looks different in each subject, they should
be relatively easy to pick out. Key people, places, and
events often make up the key details in history books.
Grammar rules are the important details frequently in
grammar books. For languages, vocab are some of the
most important key details of the chapter. Check your
notes against the questions at the end of the chapter.
If they reflect the same key details, you know you are
barking up the right tree.
4. Read the book once but your notes multiple times
You should never have to read a chapter more than
once (in theory). If you’ve done your reading well
and taken notes as you read, you have a record of
the thoughts being communicated.
Granted, it takes a while to adapt to this approach.
Don’t be upset if you have a time of adjustment
before being able to read a chapter only once.
But if you put in the work now to get used to reading
a textbook more effectively, consider the time you’ll
save in the long-run. We promise you’ll see the
benefits quickly. For those of you who are already
using this type of active textbook reading strategy,
congratulations on making the honor without losing
your social life. Well done.
Multiple-Choice Test Taking Tips and Strategies
College entrance exams, classroom tests, and most
other examinations contain multiple-choice
questions. Since you will no doubt encounter these
types of questions on tests if you are preparing to
enter college, learning some test taking strategies
will be very beneficial.
Read the entire question.
Read a multi-choice question in its entirety before
glancing over the answer options. Students often
think they know what a question is asking before
reading it and jump straight to the most logical
answer. This is a big mistake and can cost you dearly
on multiple-choice exams. Read each question
thoroughly before reviewing answer options.
Answer it in your mind first.
After reading a question, answer it in your mind
before reviewing the answer options. This will help
prevent you from talking yourself out of the correct
answer.
Eliminate wrong answers.
Eliminate answer options which you're 100 percent
sure are incorrect before selecting the answer you
believe is correct. Even when you believe you know
the right answer, first eliminating those answers you
know are incorrect will ensure your answer choice is
the correct choice.
Use the process of elimination.
Using the process of elimination, cross out all the
answers you know are incorrect, then focus on the
remaining answers. Not only does this strategy save
time, it greatly increases your likelihood of selecting
the correct answer.
Select the best answer.
It's important to select the best answer to the
question being asked, not just an answer that seems
correct. Often many answers will seem correct, but
there is typically a best answer to the question that
your professors is looking for.
Read every answer option.
Read every answer option prior to choosing a final
answer. This may seem like a no brainer to some, but
it is a common mistake students make. As we
pointed out in the previous section, there is usually
a best answer to every multiple-choice question. If
you quickly assume you know the correct answer,
without first reading every answer option, you may
end up not selecting the best answer.
Answer the questions you know first.
If you're having difficulty answering a question,
move on and come back to tackle it once you've
answered all the questions you know. Sometimes
answering easier questions first can offer you insight
into answering more challenging questions.
Make an educated guess.
If it will not count against your score, make an
educated guess for any question you're unsure
about. (Note: On some standardized tests incorrect
answers are penalized. For example, a correct
answer may be worth 2 points, an unanswered
question 0 points, and an incorrect answer -1 points.
On these tests, you can still make an educated guess,
but only when you're able to eliminate at least one
or two incorrect answers.)
Pay attention to these words...
Pay particularly close attention to the
words not, sometimes, always, and never. An answer
that includes always must be irrefutable. If you can
find a single counterexample, then the answer is not
correct. The same holds true for the word never. If
an answer option includes never a single
counterexample will indicate the answer is not the
correct.
It's usually best to stick with your first choice--but
not always.
It is best to stick with the answer you first chose
after reading the question. It is usually
counterproductive to constantly second guess
yourself and change your answer. However, this
doesn't mean your first answer choice is necessarily
the correct answer choice. While multiple choice
tests aren't usually intentionally designed to trick or
confuse students, they are designed to test students'
knowledge and ability. To this end, the answer
options provided will often include the most
common wrong answer among the choices or
answers that seem logical but are ultimately
incorrect, or the best answer.
"All of the above" and "None of the above"
When you encounter "All of the above" and "None
of the above" answer choices, do not select "All of
the above" if you are pretty sure any one of the
answers provided is incorrect. The same applies for
"None of the above" if you are confident that at least
one of the answer choices is true.
When there are seemingly two correct answers.
When two answers are correct in a multiple choice
question with an "All of the above" option, then it's
probably the correct choice.
Place your bet on the positive option.
In most cases, a positive option is probably true if
there is also a negative one.
The more information... the better.
More often than not, the correct answer usually
contains more information than the other options.
This is good to know if you must guess.
Critical Reading Skills and Strategies
by Becton Loveless
People learn at an early age to read. Reading is
important in society. It's something we do everyday,
whether we're reading signs, instructions, or leisure
reading for fun. However, when it comes to learning,
there's a more active form of reading that's known as
critical reading. Critical reading is an attempt to get
the readers to read and understand, on a deeper
level, the material that they're engaged with. It is a
more complex form of reading that asks the reader to
analyze the material and interpret it. It's also
important for evaluating materials.
Critical Reading in Practice
Critical reading is particularly important as people
begin to enter higher levels of education, although it's
a useful skill at any age. However, it's an absolutely
critical skill to have for people in college and getting
advanced degrees. For instance, take a person putting
together a research paper. They may have a dozen
sources that they're thinking about including in their
argument. The question becomes whether every
source should be included, or whether certain
sources are more valuable than others.
People performing this kind of research often have to
read critically. In being active with the material, they
need to seek to understand what their source is
discussing and whether the argument in their reading
makes sense. At the same time, they need to interpret
the findings of their sources. What do the conclusions
of their source mean? Can those conclusions be used
to back up the reader's own arguments? All of this is
part of an evaluation process that the reader uses to
judge whether the source is valuable. As an example,
say a reader is writing a research paper about space
travel. To back up an argument, it would be important
to find previous research that discussed fuel
consumption or shielding from radiation found in
space. If a source made claims about space travel that
weren't backed up by hard math and scientific
concepts, it wouldn't be a source that a person would
want to use. In practice, many people read
uncritically. They simply accept the claims made by
other people. This can be harmful, since the reader
can go on to make untrue claims because they didn't
critically examine the arguments they were reading.
The Critical Reading Pattern
The University of Toronto has a basic worksheet
describing the difference between reading and critical
reading. There are six elements of critical reading:
purpose, activity, focus, questions, direction, and
response. In typical reading, the purpose behind the
reading is to only get a basic idea of what is being
communicated. In critical reading, however, the
reader is reading not only to understand the content
but to make judgements about that content. They
think about the arguments being made.
Consequently, the activities that people engage in
while reading tend to be different from critical
reading. Typical readers only look to absorb the
content. Critical readers are in a constant process of
evaluating what is being read. It's the difference
between knowing what the reading is about versus
evaluating whether what is being said makes sense
and is logical.
The focus of normal readers is on what the text says,
while the critical reader focuses on how the text is
making its argument. This is why normal readers ask
different questions from critical readers. Typical
readers will commonly ask the following questions:
• What is the text saying?
• What information can I absorb from the
reading.
Critical readers, on the other hand, ask the following
question:
• How was an argument made?
• What choices were made in terms of
content included in the material?
• What reasoning was used in the
reading?
• What assumptions did the writer make
during their writing?
Because readers ask different questions from critical
readers, the direction of their reading differs from
critical readers. Traditional readers take for granted
that the reading is true, whereas critical readers are
constantly asking whether the reading is making
sound arguments. At the conclusion of their reading,
traditional readers can summarize the material.
Critical readers, on the other hand, can evaluate the
truth of the reading and interpret the reading.
Interpretation often occurs as a person compares
what they've read against other texts that are similar.
Returning to the idea of writing about space travel, a
person who reads uncritically simply accepts a text
that says the speed of light travel is now possible. A
critical reader, on the other hand, will place the text
in context with the larger body of literature indicating
that faster than light travel is impossible.
The Critical Reading Process
A critical reader often approaches a text differently
from a traditional reader. First, they will often seek
out the central argument of a text, or its thesis. They
will then look at the supporting evidence that the
writer uses to create that central argument. Writers
often combine many different sources to make their
argument. A critical reader will look not only at the
thesis of a text, but also the supporting evidence and
judge whether that supporting evidence is valid.
Critical readers are also sensitive to the types of
arguments being made. Some writers tend to appeal
to a person's emotions more than rely on sound
arguments, whereas other writers try to create a
reasonable argument. Another way that critical
readers differentiate themselves is in the ability to
identify how the writer analyzes material. Writers
may use cause and effect logic or compare and
contrast different topics. Critical readers are sensitive
to these different kinds of analysis and are able to
determine whether the analysis was conducted in a
sound way. If an analysis is a bad analysis, then it may
undermine the entire paper.
Another part of the critical reading process involves
interpretation. Interpretation requires the reader to
understand the ideas beneath the paper. What
debate is the author engaging in? What are some
similar debates that others have been involved in? A
critical reader even asks if they're biased to believe
the writing. This can be dangerous, because it can
lead a reader to agree with materials that aren't
rational. The final part of the critical reading process
is the evaluation portion. Critically evaluating a
reading involves asking about both the strengths and
weaknesses of the argument. Critical readers also ask
if the argument is logical. Another part of critical
reading is whether the main argument is consistent
with larger work in the field. If a reading doesn't agree
with the larger literature, that doesn't mean the
reading is wrong. However, it's important to ask
critical questions about the material to understand
why the reading conflicts with other writings on the
topic. It may be that the reading is making a novel
contribution to the field, approaching the topic from
a direction that has previously gone unresearched.
The Dangers of Uncritical Reading
While there are many occasions when it is perfectly
fine to read in a traditional way, there are also some
significant dangers associated with uncritical reading.
For example, take the writings of politicians and
people who have the power to make public policy. It
can be easy to read the writings of a politician you
agree with. However, that may cause you to go along
with what that person is arguing without ever
questioning whether it's a bad argument.
This is actually a fairly common problem in political
advertisements and editorials. The writer appeals to
a person's emotions instead of making a sound
argument. However, because the reader wants to
agree with the writer, they never question the
argument. The problem is that using this approach
can lead a person to agreeing to public policies,
policies that will personally affect their lives, that may
actually be harmful. They may agree to public
programs or tax policies that will end up damaging
their own ability to make a living. For this reason, it's
important to be a critical reader when it comes to
material that could have a significant impact on a
person's life and society at large.
Preparing to be a Critical Reader
In order to be a critical reader, there are some definite
steps that can be taken prior to engaging with reading
material. One of the most important keys to being a
critical reader is to be widely read. The more you read
on a topic, the more expertise you bring to a new
reading. It's far easier to judge a paper or book if you
have read other material that touches on similar
topics. The more familiar you are with a field, the
more you'll get used to asking questions about what
you read. You'll ask some of the same questions over
and over, from one reading to another. As you get
into this habit, you'll become much better at
evaluating new material.
With a solid reading background, you'll be prepared
to critically read. The next step in this process is to
become a part of the writer's audience. It's important
to remember that writers write for specific audiences
and rarely set out to address the general population
as a whole. To best understand a text, it's important
to know about the field that's being written in,
understand the purpose of the writing, and have at
least a passing understanding of other writings in the
same field. This goes back to the importance of being
widely read. For instance, it's far easier to understand
a book written on the topic of Impressionism art if you
also understand some of the schools of art that gave
rise to Impressionism.
As you read, do so with an open mind. While
constantly evaluating the material, be open to the
author's arguments. There is a difference between
evaluating a paper fairly and being antagonistic to the
author. This is particularly likely to happen when
reading materials on a sensitive topic, like religion or
politics. It's important not to be hostile to the writer,
so finding a balance between critical reading and
outright hostility is necessary. As you're reading, if
you find yourself repeatedly making judgements of
the author, it may be best to take a step and ask
yourself whether you're giving the author some space
in which to make their argument.
If you don't do a lot of reading, then there are some
basic steps you can take to helping you understand
the material. For instance, if it's a particularly
scholarly work, you may encounter words you've
never read before. Keep a dictionary on hand. In fact,
because the internet is so prevalent today, you can
always look up confusing words as you're reading.
Even more importantly, you can quickly bring yourself
up to date about topics a writer is speaking about. If
a writer mentions a theory that's important to their
argument, you can quickly get up to date on that
material thanks to modern technology.
There are even more basic steps you can take to being
a critical reader. Pay attention to the title of a work,
since it may help clarify what the author's purpose is.
If the reading is difficult, feel free to make your way
slowly through the material. You may even benefit
from taking notes as you read through the material.
Particularly if a work is in a field you're unfamiliar with
or simply more difficult than what you normally read,
you can benefit from writing notes as you go through.
Feel free to keep reading journals as you're working
your way along or to jot down notes in the margins of
the reading, particularly if it's a book that you'll be
going back to in the future.
The truth is that people make false claims in their
writing all the time. From science to politics and many
other subjects, it's not uncommon to find writers
willing to bend the truth to support their arguments.
Being a critical reader will help you to make sound
judgements about the material and determine
whether the argument is sound.
Critical Reading and Critical Thinking
The final way you can benefit from being a critical
reader is by the fact that it will help you become a
critical thinker. Not all the material you'll need to
make critical judgments about will be found in
writing. On radio and in the media, you'll encounter
many people making unsound arguments, the same
way that people do in writing. As you become familiar
with asking critical questions about writing, you'll also
become adjusted to asking those same questions of
material you encounter from day to day. You'll find
yourself asking important questions about things you
hear in the new, for instance. Becoming a critical
reader is the first step to becoming a critical thinker,
which will help you to better evaluate claims you hear
from many different types of media, from television
to the internet.
10 Habits of Highly Effective Students
by Becton Loveless
The key to becoming an effective student is learning
how to study smarter, not harder. This becomes more
and more true as you advance in your education. An
hour or two of studying a day is usually sufficient to
make it through high school with satisfactory grades,
but when college arrives, there aren't enough hours
in the day to get all your studying in if you don't know
how to study smarter.
While some students are able to breeze through
school with minimal effort, this is the exception. The
vast majority of successful students achieve their
success by developing and applying effective study
habits. The following are the top 10 study habits
employed by highly successful students. So if you
want to become a successful student, don't get
discouraged, don't give up, just work to develop each
of the study habits below and you'll see your grades
go up, your knowledge increase, and your ability to
learn and assimilate information improve.
1. Don't attempt to cram all your studying into one
session.
Ever find yourself up late at night expending more
energy trying to keep your eyelids open than you are
studying? If so, it's time for a change. Successful
students typically space their work out over shorter
periods of time and rarely try to cram all of their
studying into just one or two sessions. If you want to
become a successful student then you need to learn
to be consistent in your studies and to have regular,
yet shorter, study periods.
2. Plan when you're going to study.
Successful students schedule specific times
throughout the week when they are going to study --
and then they stick with their schedule. Students who
study sporadically and whimsically typically do not
perform as well as students who have a set study
schedule. Even if you're all caught up with your
studies, creating a weekly routine, where you set
aside a period of time a few days a week, to review
your courses will ensure you develop habits that will
enable you to succeed in your education long term.
3. Study at the same time.
Not only is it important that you plan when you're
going to study, it's important you create a consistent,
daily study routine. When you study at the same time
each day and each week, you're studying will become
a regular part of your life. You'll be mentally and
emotionally more prepared for each study session
and each study session will become more productive.
If you have to change your schedule from time to time
due to unexpected events, that's okay, but get back
on your routine as soon as the event has passed.
4. Each study time should have a specific goal.
Simply studying without direction is not effective. You
need to know exactly what you need to accomplish
during each study session. Before you start studying,
set a study session goal that supports your overall
academic goal (i.e. memorize 30 vocabulary words in
order to ace the vocabulary section on an upcoming
Spanish test.)
5. Never procrastinate your planned study session.
It's very easy, and common, to put off your study
session because of lack of interest in the subject,
because you have other things you need to get done,
or just because the assignment is hard. Successful
students DO NOT procrastinate studying. If you
procrastinate your study session, your studying will
become much less effective and you may not get
everything accomplished that you need to.
Procrastination also leads to rushing, and rushing is
the number one cause of errors.
6. Start with the most difficult subject first.
As your most difficult assignment or subject will
require the most effort and mental energy, you
should start with it first. Once you've completed the
most difficult work, it will be much easier to complete
the rest of your work. Believe it or not, starting with
the most difficult subject will greatly improve the
effectiveness of your study sessions, and your
academic performance.
7. Always review your notes before starting an
assignment.
Obviously, before you can review your notes you
must first have notes to review. Always make sure to
take good notes in class. Before you start each study
session, and before you start a particular assignment,
review your notes thoroughly to make sure you know
how to complete the assignment correctly. Reviewing
your notes before each study session will help you
remember important subject matter learned during
the day, and make sure your studying is targeted and
effective.
8. Make sure you're not distracted while you're
studying.
Everyone gets distracted by something. Maybe it's
the TV. Or maybe it's your family. Or maybe it's just
too quiet. Some people actually study better with a
little background noise. When you're distracted while
studying you (1) lose your train of thought and (2) are
unable to focus -- both of which will lead to very
ineffective studying. Before you start studying, find a
place where you won't be disturbed or distracted. For
some people this is a quiet cubicle in the recesses of
the library. For others it is in a common area where
there is a little background noise.
9. Use study groups effectively.
Ever heard the phrase "two heads are better than
one?" Well this can be especially true when it comes
to studying. Working in groups enables you to (1) get
help from others when you're struggling to
understand a concept, (2) complete assignments
more quickly, and (3) teach others, whereby helping
both the other students and yourself to internalize
the subject matter. However, study groups can
become very ineffective if they're not structured and
if group members come unprepared. Effective
students use study groups effectively.
10. Review your notes, schoolwork and other class
materials over the weekend.
Successful students review what they've learned
during the week over the weekend. This way they're
well prepared to continue learning new concepts that
build upon previous coursework and knowledge
acquired the previous week.
We're confident that if you'll develop the habits
outlined above that you'll see a major improvement
in your academic success.