Speed is the obsession of the new millennium. Everything has to be fast, ever faster, ever faster, ever faster… and the studio is certainly no exception.
Many, many of the requests I receive every single day via email, in comments, and in private messages on Instagram, Facebook, and Linkedin have to do with the speed of the study.
How fast can you study 10 pages? How long does it take to prepare for an exam? How can I study faster? I have 10 days to prepare for an exam, how can I go faster? How do you increase the reading speed?
It is a constant bombardment and then, since the interest in this topic is very high, I decided to write an article on this, also recovering some material from an old life of mine dating back to two years ago (which on social media, more or less, they correspond to a geological era ).
In this article, we will clarify what it means to become fast in the studio, how fast you can become, and above all how to do it, with a supersonic roundup of practical advice that will leave you stunned like Superman trying to catch the Flash spinning around him!
Strategies That Don’t Work
Ok, let's quickly review the 4 strategies that absolutely do not work, so as to stay away from them.
The first is the classic one of accumulating the study close to the deadline, condensing it in a few days, the famous cramming. This strategy doesn't work, because it raises stress to senseless levels, maximizing the likelihood of developing serious problems of exhaustion, anxiety, and all.
The second is to cut out parts of the study method. By now you know the mythological paradigm of PACRAR better than I, brutally cutting one or the other phase is inviting (Zeus alone knows how many times I thought of cutting badly the schematization phase and saving time), but once again the negative peak of quality is remarkable.
Increase the reading speed too much through speed reading techniques. I wrote an article some time ago in which I explained in detail why speed reading, photo reading, three-dimensional reading, and satellite reading are all pseudoscientific hoaxes that lead you astray, I do not express myself further.
Bet everything on memorization. It may seem faster to memorize everything instead of taking the time to understand, but it's the complete opposite. Hard and pure memorization is very tiring and, in the long run, very slow. Trust me, and if you don't trust me go ask them.
Trolley of Advice
Finally, it's time: a roundup of practical advice in strictly scattered order to increase speed and reach the maximum efficiency potential in the studio:
Progressive acceleration: modulate your study on the principle of spacing, taking your time and distributing the study, but intensify as the deadline approaches, arriving at very intense rhythms at the end. The difference with cramming will be that you will end up in the final sprint on the review, not the study. By doing so you will not accumulate too much stress but you can still benefit from the intensity.
Take care of your notes in class and attend, damn it! The notes speed up all the other phases, with a good technique and consistency you can lower the study time at home by up to 15%. It's been so many hours. So many. Don't waste them.
Apply the effective reading mechanism I teach in Reading to Know, my free manual, and never go back and reread it unless there is a difficulty in understanding. Get used to the here and now, to give your best the first time you read, and do not be listless, passive, or carried away. Do you want speed? Speed requires intentionality, focus, sprint, and attention. With a really well-done reading that keeps you from the infamous rereading, you will save tens of hours at a time. In the manual then there are also tips to increase the actual reading speed, follow them.
Stop reviewing what is obvious that you already know. There is no better feeling than continuing to review something you already know, but it is a waste of time. Once you've established that that topic is there, move on to the next. Without mercy.
Eliminate all redundancies of your method. We have already said about the rereading, but what about those who redo the schemes several times? Rewrite several times? Re-emphasize several times? Each phase must be done at its best but only once.
Eliminate repetition completely, which is slow and boring by definition, by replacing it with testing and exercise.
Get used to studying little, but intensely, take breaks often, if you feel tired stop, doing the study drills makes no sense because you lose efficiency and remember that what seems to your speed in the short term, because maybe you do more pages in one day, it translates into long-term slowness.
When reviewing the testing, prefer, especially in the first part of the preparation, dry and precise questions, no super general questions, and no speeches aloud: precise and mental answers, which work the same way but save time.
Avoid multitasking like the plague. Do one thing at a time, study one subject at a time, if you are forced to prepare for two exams at the same time at least alternate them in days, so as not to have to jump between exams on the same day, losing focus and wasting mental energy in the passage.
Always give priority to understanding. When you really understand something, studying it and remembering it is a moment, understanding is the foundation on which to build speed. And in this regard I quote, once again, the mythological sentence of the immortal Isaac Asimov who said "I am not quick to read, I am quick to understand"
Time to Stop
And… I'll stop here, we're talking about speed, I can't make an infinite blog. Already these are not just tips, they will definitely come in handy, also because they have the advantage of really working!
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