Basics

13 sessions · free of charge

✅ Checklist: the key points of this course

Thirteen sessions, one resolution per lesson, to check off. This is the ideal approach; you will find the reasons and evidence in each session.

Session 1 · How Remembering Works—and Why Forgetting Is Normal

☐ I group details into larger units instead of taking them in one by one.
☐ I review early, ideally on the same day, and not just shortly before the exam.
☐ I accept the effort of retrieval instead of choosing the comfortable method.
☐ I judge what I know only after I have tried it without notes.
☐ I study mainly with two techniques: self-testing and spaced practice.

Session 2 · Self-Testing: The Most Effective Technique

☐ I test myself instead of just rereading the material.
☐ I record where I stand as a number: this many out of this many questions answered without notes.
☐ I test myself before I look at the solution.
☐ I write flashcards that each test exactly one thing, and I keep the cards I already know in the deck.
☐ I use the ten minutes right after class to test myself.

Session 3 · Spaced Practice Instead of All at Once

☐ I spread my studying over several days instead of cramming.
☐ I set the gap between two reviews at about one fifth of the time until the exam.
☐ I deliberately let time pass between two rounds.
☐ I sort my flashcards in a Leitner box by how well I know them, and I never take a card out for good.
☐ I stick to a fixed review rule, for example every other Friday, plus one or two questions from an older section.

Session 4 · What Helps Less Than It Feels Like

☐ I highlight at most two passages per page and turn each one into a question.
☐ I put the text away before I summarize. Whatever is missing goes on my list of open points.
☐ I do not organize my studying around a learning style.
☐ After a disappointing grade, I look for an explanation that leads to an action.
☐ I ask: What does this material call for? Then I choose the format.

Session 5 · Taking and Organizing Notes

☐ I take a lot of notes, and I write them in my own words.
☐ I mainly note down reasons, qualifications, and examples. I write down word for word only formulas, definitions, and quotations.
☐ I divide my page using the Cornell method: notes on the right, questions on the left, summary at the bottom.
☐ In the left column, I write questions that could appear on an exam in exactly that form.
☐ I write directly on the existing slides and go through difficult sections of a recording a second time.

Session 6 · Attendance: The Factor Hardly Anyone Talks About

☐ I attend every class session and put a check mark in my calendar for each one I attend.
☐ If I do have to miss class, I miss no more than three class sessions per course.
☐ If I fall behind, I still go and also get extra help to catch up: a study group, office hours, reviewing the basics.
☐ I plan assignments early so that they do not crowd out any class.
☐ If I do miss a session, I schedule the catch-up work firmly in the same week.

Session 7 · Concentration: Distraction, Breaks, Environment

☐ I plan individual work blocks, not whole afternoons.
☐ When I study, I put my phone out of sight, ideally in another room.
☐ I protect myself from interruptions while I am working on a task.
☐ In class, I turn off the internet on my laptop if I do not need it for the class.
☐ I set up safeguards instead of making resolutions: every distraction should cost me one extra step.
☐ I work for 25 to 50 minutes on a clear task and then take a break away from my desk.

Session 8 · Reading on Paper or on Screen

☐ I decide deliberately whether to read a text on paper or on screen.
☐ I read informational texts that I have to understand under time pressure on paper.
☐ On screen, I write down keywords that summarize the text, and I set my own reading time.

Session 9 · Planning Your Week

☐ I compare earlier time estimates with how long things actually took and plan correspondingly more time.
☐ I write resolutions as if-then plans: “If [situation], then [small action].”
☐ I first enter the fixed commitments, then the study sessions, then buffers. Every week, I spend ten minutes looking back.
☐ I put the hardest work in my best time of day and keep a list of small tasks ready for bad days.
☐ If the plan falls apart, I cross things off instead of postponing them, note the reason, and make the next plan smaller.

Session 10 · Setting Goals That Hold Up

☐ I set myself a specific and challenging goal instead of “I’ll do my best.”
☐ I use SMART only as a memory aid and read the A as “ambitious.”
☐ I break down my goal: a result at the top, checkpoints for self-testing in the middle, actions at the bottom.
☐ If a goal is not working, I first check commitment, scope, and feedback, not my willpower.
☐ I link every goal to if-then plans, three triggers per subject.

Session 11 · Understanding and Ending Procrastination

☐ When I procrastinate, I check what is behind it: distractibility, impulsiveness, an unpleasant task, or low confidence.
☐ I start with the feeling, not the calendar: I name what makes the task unpleasant.
☐ I build in small, real deadlines early, ideally ones that another person sees.
☐ I make the start small: five minutes and a fixed trigger.
☐ I keep track of small steps I have completed. If procrastination affects almost everything for weeks, I go to a counseling service.

Session 12 · Your First Exam Period

☐ I plan backward from the exam date: review the material four weeks before, test myself three weeks before, practice under exam conditions one week before.
☐ When time is short, I first learn what carries a lot of weight and is close to what I can already do. Peripheral topics I learn only in a minimal version.
☐ When I have two exams in one week, I alternate between both subjects. Only the last two days belong entirely to one subject.
☐ I take practice exams without notes, with a clock, and in one sitting, and I spend longer reviewing them than I spent writing them.
☐ In the exam, I first flip through and divide up my time. Afterward, I write down the one thing I will change next time.

Session 13 · Staying the Course: Sleep, Recovery, and Limits

☐ I plan sleep as part of studying.
☐ I sleep regularly during the weeks of preparation, not just the night before the exam.
☐ I recover actively: detaching, relaxing, mastering something else, deciding for myself.
☐ During a break, I do something different from before, for example ten minutes of brisk walking instead of a screen.
☐ If rest has not been enough to recover for weeks, I go to my university’s counseling service.

How remembering works. The two techniques that actually work. What helps less than it feels like. Taking notes, attendance, concentration, reading on paper or on screen, planning your week, goals, procrastination, your first exam period, staying the course.

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