How To Study Less, Have More Free Time, And Still Get Higher Grades

As human beings with limited time, energy, and resources, we naturally desire to get the most done with the least amount of work possible. From reading books and experimenting throughout the years, I have accumulated a collection of techniques that maximizes efficiency and has allowed me to achieve a 3.93 GPA while studying less than three hours a day. Below are some of these techniques. 

Although I have separated it in general and chem 1A study tips sections, these study tips can be applied to every class you will ever take in Berkeley. Furthermore, some of these tips, especially the blocking technique, will skyrocket your ability to get more done in less time not only in school, but in life in general. I hope these tips will benefit you as much as they have and continue to help me.

General Study Tips

1. Study in purely focused block periods
Our body functions in cycles. For example, our circadian rhythm dictates when we sleep. Likewise, our brains also work in cycles. The human mind can only focus so long before it fatigues. It is much smarter to follow the natural Ultradian rhythm instead of going against it. Follow the 50-10-50-30 rule. 

Work on one subject uninterrupted for fifty minutes. I recommend using a stopwatch app. Turn off all distractions. No cell phones, no laptops, no disruptions. Set the timer to fifty minutes then begin working. You’ll find that after the first twenty minutes or so, you’ll enter a flow state. 

After the fifty minute is up, set the timer for ten minutes and relax completely. Watch videos, go on FB, talk with friends, etc. Then work for another fifty minutes block period. Again, no distractions. It is best to work on the same subject if you haven’t finished since your mind is still in that state. After those fifty minutes are up, relax completely for thirty minutes. Get up and move around, eat a meal, or take a nap. Allow your brain to recharge. 

I usually finish all my homework / studying after one 50-10-50-30 period. But if you don’t, you can do another 50-10-50-30 period. 

If you choose to implement just one study tip, implement this one! It takes some discipline, but if you really follow the time guidelines and work with interruptions, you’ll be two or three times more efficient. You’ll get more done in two hours than you could have ever imagined.

2. P, TN, R
How much of an advantage would you have over your classmates if you have learned the material three times before they have even learned it once? This technique allows you to do just that. 

P, TN, R stands for preview, take notes, and review. 

Preview the material before class. In chem 1A, the professors upload the lecture slides onto bspace the day before. Read over the slides to get a general overview of the structure and material to be presented. If any questions come up during this time, write it down. If anything in the slide contradicts what you thought, write it down. You can also skim over the corresponding pages in the textbook to get an even better background understanding. Most students usually neglect to look at the slide beforehand and come to class unprepared and clueless. By previewing, you’ll be a head start because you’ll know what to expect during class. Number of times learning the material. You: 1. Regular student: 0. 

Pay attention and take detailed notes during class. You already have a basic understanding of the material because you have previewed it. You already have a sense of what is the most important point. Build on that by writing down notes that are related to those main points. The key during the class is to pay attention. If you bring a laptop to class, don’t be watching cat videos on Youtube or checking IG. A lot of students go to class, but they don’t learn. Many end up getting distracted or falling asleep. By paying attention and taking notes, you’ll continue to build on your lead. Number of times learning the material. You: 2. Regular stuent: 0.5, maybe 1. 

Review the material as soon as you can after class, ideally immediately. Look over your notes, and then summarize the key points of the lecture. It is crucial to review as soon as you can because you are cementing what you learned into from short-term into long-term memory. Most students fail to review asap and don’t look at their notes again until the week before midterms. Number of times learning the material. You: 3. Regular student: 0.5, maybe 1. 

Because of the long entry, this may seem like a lot of additional work, but in reality, it really isn’t. Reading the slides and skimming the maybe may take half an hour tops. You’re already in class so you might as well pay attention and take notes. Reviewing may only take another ten minutes. All together, you may be spending an additional forty minutes at most, but you’ll be saving yourself hours down the road when most students have to relearn the material because they never adequately learned it the first time.

3. Learn the material the first time around
Learn the material the first time it is presented. If you run into something you don’t understand while reading or during a lecture, write down questions or make a note of what you don’t understand. 

Then commit yourself to learning that concept as soon as you can, preferably on the same day. Re-read the book, attend office hours, search online, and ask a tutor, but learn it no matter what. 

The concepts in chem 1A build upon each other. If you fail to grasp one concept, then you’re going to fail to understand all the subsequent concepts that build upon that concept, creating a snowball effect of “I don’t know.” Don’t let your “don’t know” pile up and try to learn everything the week before midterms. 

Learn the material the first time around and save yourself time and headaches later.

4. Sleep & wake up earlier
Have you ever wondered why you can sleep for ten hours and still wake up feeling restless? 

There are many reasons, but one of the biggest factors is the time you go to bed. Our body’s rejuvenation phase occurs between 10 pm – 2 am. During that time, our cells repair and replenish themselves. Most of us normally sleep after 1 am. That means most of us are only getting one hour of rejuvenating rest. If you’re sleeping after 2 am, your body is barely getting any, which explains why you wake up tired even after a long night’s sleep. Try to sleep before 12 so you at least get two hours of rejuvenating sleep. 

Also, wake up earlier. I find that I work two to three times more productively in the early morning. It is much easier to focus in the morning. Everywhere is quiet, your friends are asleep, and there’s no point in going on social media. Even if you don’t consider yourself a morning person, give this a try. You might be pleasantly surprised at what moving your bedtime back a few hours can do to your productivity.

Chem 1A Study Tips

1. Always keep the big picture in mind
All the topics in chem 1A are interconnected although they can seem very unrelated at times. As you know, the curriculum is split into 4 units: matter, change, energy, and light. 

When you are studying for a midterm, keep the big topic in mind. For example, when you’re studying for the light midterm, see how everything in the slides relates to light. 

Unless the professor is terrible at teaching, the information is on the slides for a reason: because it’s relevant to the topic. Also, build connections between concepts. You’re not just memorizing a bunch of random facts (well kinda, but bear with me). Almost everything you learn can be supported/explained by something you learned before.

2. Dedicate a specific amount of time to chem 1A outside of class
This is another tip that can skyrocket your productivity and prevent hours of wasted time, especially if combined with 50-10-50-30 rule. 

Dedicate a specific time period to study chem 1A outside of lecture/ lab. Tell yourself, “I’m going to spend X amount of hours on chem every day.” Unless something unexpected comes up, spend no more and no less than the determined time period on chem. 

There are two benefits. 

First, it’ll speed up your work. If you know you only have X amount of time to study, you’re going to study faster so you can get your work done in time.

Second, it’ll keep you on track and prevent you from falling behind. Most of the time, your specified time period will allow you to finish right in time. Other times, you might finish that day’s homework a bit earlier. Remember, you still have to spend the determined time period on chem. So in the latter scenario, review your notes for past lectures, work on something that isn’t due for a week, and do some practice problems. Be proactive with your time. 

Warning: This tip only works if you actually spend the entire dedicated time period working. Don’t say you’re going to spend two hours of chem, then spend 45 of those 120 minutes on Facebook. Also, dedicate a reasonable time period. I don’t think anyone can get everything done in fifty or thirty minutes.

3. Apply Pareto’s 80/20 Principle
If you’ve never heard about this principle, your life is about to be changed. Pareto was an Italian economist who observed that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the population. Why is this relevant at all? Well, the 80/20 principle doesn’t only apply in economics. It applies to almost everything we do. 

Roughly 80% of our results come from 20% of our effort. For sales representatives, 80% of successful closes come from 20% of the customers. Likewise, for us students, 80% of our grades come from 20% of our effort. In other words, 80% of our effort only accounts for 20% of our grade, which means most students spend the majority of their time on assignments or work that determine a small fraction of their grade. 

So how can Pareto’s principle help you get better grades with less studying? The key is to find the highest leverage activities and find the 20% of work/ assignments that account for 80% of your grade. Then spend more time on those work/assignments and less time on the majority that only account for 20% of your grade.

4. Attend office hours
This tip is blatantly obvious but most students never attend office hours. Professor office hours provide many benefits. 

First, you’re interacting with one of the smartest minds in the world & one of the leaders in his / her respective fields. 

Second, when you ask questions, you are getting answers from the person who will be writing your exams. I had a professor in the past who even hinted to me what would & won’t be on the exam. Most professors can explain complex subjects in a way that’s easy to understand during office hours even if they seem completely perplexing in lecture. 

Third, attending office hours regularly is a fantastic way to develop a relationship with your professor. If you’re pre-health, you’re going to need a letter of recommendation later. It is much better to ask a professor who knows you somewhat personally than to ask a professor in whose class you got a good grade. Some professors will even hook you up with research/internship positions. 

WARNING: go to office hours early. Office hours tend to get packed as midterms near. You might not even get to ask a question because there are so many students. Besides professor office hours, you can also go to GSI office hours.

5. Ask classmates for help & help classmates in need
One downside to science majors is that they think by helping others, they will be hurting themselves since classes are curved. While that may be true for some science classes, it isn’t for chem 1A. Chem 1A is graded completely on a point scale. If everyone in the class gets above 90%, then everyone will get an A. 

That being the case, help other students in need. Share your resources with your classmates. If you find a helpful explanation online, SHARE. Explain concepts to people who need help. I’m sure you’ve all heard it before, but teaching really is the best way of learning. You may think you fully understand the concept, but you may discover otherwise when trying to teach it to someone else. 

If you’re struggling, ask your classmates for help. Don’t try to do everything by yourself. Chem 1A is possibly one of the biggest classes on campus. You have over 1000 classmates. Make some friends in lectures or labs and mutually help each other out. Sometimes, having a friend explain the concept to you in ten minutes is more effective than reading about it in a book for thirty minutes.

6. Utilize your available chem 1A resources
Because over 1000 students take chem 1A each semester, there are many helpful resources available. In addition to this site, here are a few other services that are fantastic. 

Res Hall Academic Services: if you live in dorms, there are chemistry tutors literally downstairs. Tutoring hours are 8 pm – 10 pm. If I’m not mistaken, students living off campus can also use this service. Go early because it gets so packed that you can’t even get a seat during midterm week. 

Student Learning Center: The SLC is located on campus right next to the Golden Bear Café. They offer free drop-in tutoring services. Again go early before the place is overflowing with students during midterm week. The SLC also offers study groups, which meet once or twice weekly to go over the key concepts covered that week. If your schedule permits, I strongly recommend you join a study group. Your understanding and your grade WILL improve. 

Private Tutor: Sometimes it can be difficult to get your questions answered at the dorms or the SLC, especially during the hectic midterm week. If you want individual attention in a one-to-one setting, consider hiring a private tutor. Sure, it’ll cost a little bit of money, but you’ll be getting a lot of benefits. I’ll just list a few here. You’ll get to ask 10x as many questions in an hour because you’ll get the tutor’s individual attention. There’ll be no wait time in between questions, meaning you’ll get more studying done in less time. You’ll get easy-to-understand explanations for difficult concepts. You’ll get tutored according to your schedule instead of having to be at a certain place at a certain period. 

If you’re interested in tutoring, click here.

********MOST IMPORTANT TIP********

Do something meaningful & fun! If you implement the tips I have shared, you’ll be able to finish all your schoolwork in three hours or less. You’ll have so much free time, which you can do anything with. 

Let me illustrate my point with an example. If you have 15 units, that’s 4 hours of classes per day. 3 hours will be dedicated to school work and 8 hours to sleep. 24 – 4 -3- 8 = 9. If you really follow these tips, you’ll have 9 hours of free time every day while acing your classes and still get 8 hours of sleep per day. 

NINE HOURS. Who said you can’t have all three of grades, sleep, and social life? What’s more important though is what you do with those nine extra hours of free time. What’s the point of all that free time if you’re just going to stay in and waste it on social media, YouTube, or online in general? You might as well work less efficiently then because you’re going to be bored out of your mind. No, that is the wrong approach. 

With all that free time, go do something you always wanted to do. Go outside and do something. There’s so much to do in Berkeley, such as the hiking fire trail, hiking up the Big C, seeing the Botanical Garden, camping out at People’s Park (just kidding), exploring the Marina, etc. Volunteer. Hang out with friends. Meet new people. Join some clubs. Fight for a cause you believe in. Develop your hobbies. Work on your career. Learn a new skill. Party hard. Chase after your dreams. Don’t waste all the free time you worked so efficiently to get. 

LIVE LIFE!