I made this because i was tired of every 'study tips' post saying the same five things...

Browse by what's hurting

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Start here if you're in panic

An exam just got moved

Rule 7 — When an exam moves later, don't expand your plan. Keep the same hours, just shift them.

I bombed a midterm

Rule 17 — When you score below 50% on any assessment worth ≥20% of your grade, run the math within 24 hours. If the required minimum on the remaining work exceeds 90%, formally lower your target grade.

I don't know where my hours go

Rule 1 — Calculate the exact grade weight of every assignment in week 1. Use that math, not your instinct, to allocate time.

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That's all of them.

19 rules. if it feels like a lot, fair. i went through every rule that didn't make this list and cut it for being too obvious, too generic, or too far from the real decisions you actually make in a semester. these are what was left.

Some honest things before you close this:

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if you want to see how i actually handle all this stuff every week without losing my mind, i wrote about it here:

One more thing

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Most of these rules are about decisions, not about effort. you can be the hardest-working student in your year and still get worse grades than someone who applies rules 1, 2, and 16 correctly. it's not fair, it's just true. that one took me a long time to accept.

The rules that hurt the most to apply (16, 17, 18) are the ones with the biggest impact. that's not a coincidence. they hurt because they fight your instincts, and your instincts are what got you into the situation that needs the rule in the first place.

You don't have to apply all 19 at once. pick the category that matches what's hurting right now. when something different starts hurting, come back.