Techniques in School

Teacher-enforced study methods often lag behind learning science, so the practical problem for a student isn’t which technique is best — it’s applying a better one inside a system that may discourage it. Mainstream teacher training has little focus on learning science, so enforced methods can be outdated or anecdotal, occasionally harmful. The general rule: where this advice conflicts with what school tells you, follow this advice.

Working around an unaccommodating classroom

• Use the technique discreetly. If notes aren’t being checked, write non-linear notes your way regardless.
• Do the minimum on unweighted work. Spend as little time as possible on ungraded assignments to protect time for real self-study.
• Turn class into a quizzing environment. Instead of passively absorbing, hunt for things you’re unclear on and ask deeper questions — the standard move for university students doing real prestudy.
• Do homework during class when you already know the material.

Time-boxing

Distinct from time-blocking (scheduling a block of time, with flexibility to run over), time-boxing means you do not exceed the time allotted — when the hour is up, it’s up. It fits two opposite cases:

• Very important but not urgent tasks (improving learning skills, working through a course) that can’t finish in one sitting — boxing commits steady progress to life-changing work that would otherwise be crowded out.
• Very unimportant but compulsory tasks (ungraded homework) — boxing gets them done to a sufficient standard without bleeding time past their value.

How to box homework: allocate and schedule the truly important tasks first; give the leftover time to the unimportant-but-mandatory ones; then finish those as fast as possible inside the box. (This leans on Parkinson’s law — work expands to fill the time available, so cap the time.)

Links into the system

A scheduling application of Time Management, Attention and Scheduling and Study Scheduling; the boxing discipline is a direct counter to Procrastination a System Problem.