Study Prof

Imagine trudging down to the track three times a semester to wheeze through a 12 mile run. Maybe you would make it without blowing your lunch. Maybe. But for days after you would stagger around like a zombie on stilts (which … ya’ know … is pretty staggery).

Non-stop study marathons can likewise hurt your performance. Just like an athlete who overtrains and pops a kidney or deep fries their duodenum, overstudying can puree the gray stuff betwixt your ears. So you show up for the big test next day with a skull full of partially hydrogenated goo.

Yet this is exactly how most of us study. The week before midterms we embark on a mental marathon of round-the-clock cramming and then wonder at our painfully sub-par grades. It’s all because our brains are zombified, stultified, and … ya’ know … staggery.

Just as with distance running, the secret is smart training on a daily basis. Run a mental mile or two every day and there’s no need for a study marathon the night before the exam. “Yeah, but who has time to study for every class every day?” I’m glad you asked. You do! Take that time between classes–when you normally text your entourage or snooze on a library couch–and study. Go for eight full hours of school every day–not four hours of class and four hours of wasting time between classes.

Begin today to treat school like and eight-to-five job. “How lame, geeky, and egg-headed,” you protest, but hear me out. Between classes you can’t do any of the really fun and marginally legal stuff you long to do anyway; get some good out of that time. And the icing on the proverbial pastry? In the evenings and on the weekends you can take some guilt-free time off to do the sorts of things you will NEVER tell your kids about. When the exam comes around, you’ll already be studied up and ready to go; you might even have a rap sheet. Study steady, and leave the mental marathons for those who know no better.