Should I Study this? Or That?
This is something you’ll be asking yourself a LOT of times if you’re studying dedicatedly, for the simple reason that you’ll be short on time to do all the 1001+ resources available on the internet, and libraries.
But you can’t do it all.
This isn’t about how to start your preparations, that’s in another article here.
This article is about deciding what to drop and what to focus on once you hit the time crunch.
PART A:
Remember this one simple pseudo-formula:
(Time Studied X 2) + (Focused Studying)²
_____________________________________ ∝ Rank
(Time Wasted X 3)
Your efforts should be on FOCUSED STUDYING, since THAT will get you the most results. a.k.a REVISION
- It’ll make no sense if you do 10k MCQs and NEVER revise them.
- It’ll make NO SENSE if you read your notes once or twice.
- It’ll make NO SENSE if you read each and every possible online “post” without actually reinforcing and integrating it with what you’ve already studied.
My point is that you have to FOCUS on a very few things: Notes, MCQs, Tests in THIS priority, and you have to revise them again and again and again in the same priority.
Do NOT add anything to your study tools, like a new webpage or another new MCQ App, etc.
DO the one’s you’ve already invested in THOROUGHLY! Don’t let even a sentence worth of money go to waste.
- Revise Notes ATLEAST 4–5 times before the exam. Don’t just read. Pay attention and learn something new each time.
- Revise your MCQs ATLEAST two times before the exam.
This is what I did, and this is possible.
I also wanted to revise my SWT MCQs and do more Grand Tests, but since those were lower in priority, and since I didn’t have much time, I never got to them.
Priorities matter.
You have to be comfortable at saying “No!” and focus and know your Notes and Solved MCQs inside out.
90% of questions will come from just these. It all depends whether you’ve revised and remember that 90%.
Integrate other “tools” like Youtube or a Book like Harrisons, only to reinforce a SPECIFIC concept or MCQ. Then dump it. Don’t do the whole playlist or the whole Harrison.
If you don’t revise something ATLEAST 2–3 times, consider it USELESS.
Sure… this will sound all pointless now, and you’ll logically think you’ll be better off doing everything.
But, the way the brain works is that it’ll ONLY remember things that have been repeated 5 times +. That’s how the Hippocampus ACTUALLY works.
Logic has no say in this. We forget one-instance occurrences, but remember things that we have to repeat multiple times.
Revise.
PART B:
A little more on that formula.
The time you spend studying, gives you twice the gains towards your results, but at the same time, the time you waste (Watching TV, chatting on WhatsApp, etc.) causes you a loss of THREE times towards your rank.
Everytime you Stop Studying and waste time, it’ll take you THAT MUCH longer to get your mind refocused towards studying, which is much more than the time you’d have been studying.
Be Careful of fooling around. Everyone else ISN’T.
It Costs more.
PART C:
Quite a few folks have difficulty deciding which study material or “App” to use and where to start.
Look.
There’s no “Study Material” or “App” that’ll give you 100% results. There’s about 2–3 Reputed Coaching Companies, and about 2–3 reputed App companies.
3 + 3 being used by 1.42 Lakh Users.
So, I can assure you that atleast 1k people are using the SAME study material and tools you’ll be choosing, and hence it really doesn’t matter much WHAT you choose:
Just make sure that it’s a reputed company- and make sure you have
Handwritten Notes,
an MCQ Bank
and SWTs.Period.
Don’t overthink this part.
What’s most important is your strategy, and actually studying- NOT wasting time deciding your study technique.
Studying what you’ve chosen and completing it will give you the most results.
And once chosen, try your best to not change. You want to focus on being consistent with revision- If you keep changing, you’ll lose your edge quick.
So, choose, and be sure and certain about it- clear all your doubts before hand so you have high faith in your chosen study material and stick to it through you preparation.
{This article is a part of the CostaPG publication.}
