Remember that your goal is to learn the material well. Don’t make the mistake of blazing your way through a chapter just to say you “read” it. Unfortunately, self-deception often works too well. Be honest with yourself. Instead, read deliberately and methodically. And if you fail to do so the first time through, make yourself repeat the material. Take the necessary time to truly master the material.

The same goes for practice problems. I see too many students who binge problem solve. They solve dozens and dozens of problems at each sitting, only to realize that they’ve learned little that can be applied in the future and have “burned” through an already limited set of useful practice problems. Don’t make this mistake. Instead, when you solve problems, squeeze as much juice out of them as you can. Ten thoughtful attempts at ten practice problems in which you learn how to overcome your mistakes will help you far more than answering fifty questions in a rush.

In other words, focus on the quality of your studying, not on the quantity. If you get a question wrong, stop and analyze why you chose the wrong answer. Then you won’t make the same mistake with future questions on the same topic.

Students often have a hard time gauging their level of knowledge. Here’s a simple, effective rule of thumb that I call the “Tabula Rasa Rule.” If you could not sit down with a pen and a blank sheet of paper and teach a concept to somebody else, you need to keep studying until you can. When you study a new topic, use this rule to help you gauge whether you’ve sufficiently learned that topic.