Sorry, what?
Did you just say you can improve your marks by studying less?
Hell yeah, I did. In fact, you can apply this rule to all aspects of your life to achieve more with less effort.
I’m serious…
Table of Contents
The 80/20 Rule
The 80/20 Rule or the Pareto Principle is the idea coined by an Italian Economist which suggests that 80% of outcomes in your life come from just 20% of the effort you put in.
To simplify what this means in study terms, basically, you get 80% of your marks from just 20% of your study. So if that 20% is productive, the 80% will account for a better grade than if the 20% is unproductive.
The goal with the Pareto Rule is to make the 20% as productive as possible.
80/20 in Practice
Every time you study, you should be focused on making the first 20% of that session as productive as possible. This should set you up for a more productive end to the session.
For example, if you plan to do three hours of study tonight, the first 36 minutes should be distraction-free and targeted to get your mind in a productive state.
The best way to achieve this is to start a study session with a few past paper questions to get you thinking and writing.
I’d start with the multi-choice because it’s quick, enjoyable and easy to get feedback (you mark it straight away).
If the first 20% is productive (cause), the following 80% should be similar (outcome).
How to Study Less with the 80/20 Rule
I know this is the reason you clicked on this post, so let’s have a look into it.
According to the 80/20 Rule, 80% of your marks come from just 20% of your study.
To apply this in a way that allows you to study less, we have to look at how you currently study and weigh up your goals in relation to what marks you want.
Let’s assume you currently study for 4 hours a night, 6 days a week. That equates to 24 hours of study each week. Let’s also say that you’re aiming for a mark of 85% in your HSC exam.
80% of that 85/100 result is going to come from just 20% of the 20 hours of study each week.
That means 68/100 is coming from just 4 hours and 48 minutes of study each week.
So what does that mean and how can I use it to study less?
Well, it means that you could study for just 5 hours every week and expect a result of around 68% in the exam.
That’s a reduction of 19 hours per week for a loss of just 17%!
If you make that 5 hours of study even more productive, and maybe add back an hour or two, you can expect your marks to literally sky-rocket!
For a much more in-depth breakdown of the 80/20 principle, Richard Koch has an excellent book that really shows how you can use it in your studies, relationships and everyday life.
It’s an easy read and honestly, I reckon you’d be crazy not to at least skim through it.
How to Study More Productively
We’ve now established that you can reduce your study time and expect similar results, but how can we now make our study more productive to expect better results?
Well, I think there’s a few methods worth mentioning here.
Spaced Repetition
Spaced repetition is a study technique that exactly replicates the 80/20 rule.
This is most commonly used for flashcard memorisation.
It involves spacing out your memorisation over longer periods of time each time you get a recall right.
For example, let’s say you have a palm card with the definition of a key syllabus term (learn what a syllabus is here).
Using spaced repetition, you might test yourself on that palm card today, get it right, and then leave it until tomorrow. When you test again tomorrow, if you get it right, leave it until next week. Next week, if right, leave it for another two weeks. Continue this process of leaving a longer period of time between recalls until you have it stored in your long-term memory.
The point here is to forget the answer and then learn it again every time you test yourself. This allows the brain to create new pathways between content and ultimately remember it better in the long-term.
This is heaps more effective than simply reading the definition every day (and takes way less time)!
Break Often
Studying for 6 hours without standing up sounds good in theory (you might be getting a lot done), but in reality it is a terrible method of study.
Your brain needs to have time to refresh, reset and prepare to go again. In a 6 hour session, after the first 2 hours it’s super likely that the rest of your study is utterly pointless because your brain has switched off.
That’s why you should always have breaks when you’re studying. Go for a walk, go for a swim, sit outside, watch Netflix, anything that doesn’t require much thinking.
Give yourself time to reset before you go again. This will allow you to get through the same volume of content in a shorter amount of time, and retain it better!
Don’t waste time
One of the biggest reasons you aren’t studying productively is because you get distracted or you choose to procrastinate doing hard tasks.
This is absolutely normal. Everyone does it (myself included).
There are a few ways you can turn a lack of motivation into something more useful than scrolling Instagram:
- Rather than 20 mins of Netflix, print off 20 multiple choice questions and give them a go. This is quick and helps you better remember syllabus content.
- Instead of jumping on your phone to check out your friend’s posts, jump on youtube and search up a topic you don’t quite understand.
- Hungry? Get a bag of chips and take a handful each time you get a question right.
Small things like this can keep you productive even on your worst days…
I’m sure you’re excited now that you know how to improve your marks by studying less!
Just remember that in order for this to work, the 4 hours has to be much more productive than the 20 hours was. You can’t just study less with the same methods and expect the same results.
Again, if you want to have a read of the 80/20 Principle by Richard Koch, you can buy the book here (I’ll get a small commission, but this is at absolutely no cost to you! So, thanks in advance).
So what are you going to do now with the extra 19 hours each week? This post about how to schedule your life during the HSC might give you some ideas.
If you apply the 80/20 rule to your study already, I’d love to hear how you do it and whether you think it’s working… Leave a comment down below or email me!
Cheers to less work, more play,
Uncle N.
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