Scott H. Young offers an interesting take on learning, and I think it’s probably the closest I’ve seen an article come to describing how I feel like I learn and remember things. I like the “web” analogy; I think that’s very accurate. And perhaps this helps explain why it is that I, like the title of the article suggests, could usually ace my tests without studying. 
Excerpt from How To Ace Your Finals Without Studying
I’ve never been that keen on studying before an exam. I rarely study for more than a half hour, even for big final exams worth more than half my grade. When I do study, I usually just skim over the material and do a few practice questions. For some of my math classes I have yet to do a single practice question for homework. Most people study by cramming in as much information before walking into the test room, whereas I consider studying to be no more than a light stretch before running.
Despite what some might point out as horrible studying habits, I’ve done very well for myself in school. I had the second highest marks in my high-school class with honors all four years. My first term university marks were two A+’s and an A, for calculus, computer science and ancient Asian history, all courses with high failure rates. I also won a national chemistry exam for a three province wide district that I didn’t even realize I was writing until I was called in and told to get started.
It’s very easy to look at my successes and apparent lack of effort and quickly deem that it is an innate gift, impossible to replicate. I think this is bullshit. I believe that myself and anyone else who can produce these results simply has a more effective strategy for learning new material. With my system of learning, you only have to hear or read something once to learn it. Best of all I believe it is a system that can be learned.
Read the rest of the article: How To Ace Your Finals Without Studying
(source: Scott H. Young)
I’m Marissa, can-do-ologist, perpetual Curious George, and daily adventurer. 
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