How to Learn Efficiently : Techniques and Advices

28 Dec 2019

Reading time ~28 minutes

Learn Efficiently From Method to Smart Drugs.

Intro

This is not going to be a thread about bullsnap like ‘exercise well, eat well, sleep well’, no. After my years in such intense courses I’ve come to the conclusion that for success, this is not possible unless you are borderline obsessive-compulsive or at a functional level of Aspergers. This is the real deal on how to succeed.

Topics I will address:

Motivation: identify and develop your motivators for study.
Attitude: get the right attitude.
Learn to Learn Effectively: find out your learning style and how can you best study according to it.
Your Lifestyle and Academic Performance: what factors in your life affect your academic performance and how can you modify these to reach your maximum potential.
Competing with your Classmates: getting valuable information out of your competition and getting the edge on them - without being a dick!
Smart Drugs (Nootropics): what ones work, their uses, how to take them and the science backing their use.
Acing Exams: a review of the physical and mental side of exams and how to maximise your performance in them.
Assessment Technique: a brief look at how you should best approach assessments to obtain maximum marks.

tl;dr : Check these tldr sections to get the key points from a section.

1. The Motivation

This may be the most important factor when it comes to success in your academics. What motivates you to study. This will be your key driving force that keeps you going in the early hours of the morning. Knowing this will allow you to tailor your environment to inspire and encourage you to learn. I want you to take a moment now to think, really think, why is it that you’re studying what you’re studying?

“Motivation and engagement can be regarded as the driving forces of learning. They can also affect students’ quality of life during their adolescence and can influence whether they will successfully pursue further educational or labour market opportunities.”

Some definitions to keep in mind: Extrinsic Motivation: occurs when we are motivated to perform a behavior or engage in an activity to earn a reward or avoid punishment.

Intrinsic Motivation: involves engaging in a behavior because it is personally rewarding; essentially, performing an activity for its own sake rather than the desire for some external reward.

Examples of bad motivation:

I just want to graduate so I can be called “Doctor”, “Teacher”. [extrinsic - you want respect off other people]
I just need to pass so I don’t have to do again this course. [extrinsic - you don’t want the inconvenience of lost time]
I feel guilty because my friends are studying and I am not. [extrinsic]

Examples of ok motivation:

I want to be better than other drs so they respect me. [extrinsic]
I want to finish this so I can make some money. [extrinsic]
I want to impress my family/friends/teacher. [extrinsic]
I don’t want to fail (when your definition of failure is less than a distinction). [extrinsic]
I want to beat my friends and look smarter than them. [extrinsic]

Examples of the perfect motivation:

I want to be the best engineer to I can help change the world for good! [instrinsic]
I want to be the best computer expert in the world so I can help develop awesome technology for the world! [instrinsic]
I love learning this because I know it will help me achieve my main goal. [instrinsic] Some of these may seem intrinsic where I have labelled them extrinsic - why? Because we say one thing but really what we actually mean is something else (the statements in [])!

Key to Success: From the examples above, you can see there are forms of extrinsic (external) and intrinsic (internal) things that can motivate you. Intrinsic motivators are higher in quality, however, a fusion of BOTH intrinsic and extrinsic motivation is the KEY.

My advice : Write it down now, What is your intrinsic / extrinsic motivations?

You must to fill your space with stuff that reminds you of both of these things ; intrinsic motivators can be complicated to fill your space with. Once you surround yourself and constantly look at your motivations, they will gradually become ingrained in you and you will no longer require something in order to get motivated.

How I initially surrounded myself with these ideas:

Small A4 posters with images of what I will be able to do when I finish my new career and income.
End goals clearly are written and visible every day.
Comparing myself to my peers - asking what they have been studying, how they have been going in classes and competing internally (don’t be a dick when it comes to this - nobody likes a competitive CVNT - if someone asked my grade and they did Clay Davis(hope you got this one) I would just say I passed too, there’s no honour in making others feel bad. Modesty is a good quality!)
Tell yourself every day, morning and night in the mirror your intrinsic motivation.

tl;dr : Get a good reason to study - otherwise don’t bother. It should be more meaningful than to win or be the best.

Learn Efficiently From Method to Smart Drugs.

2. Attitude

Like most things in life, everything is what you make of it. You can sit, work, and hate your life while you’re there waiting for the time you can go home, or you can learn to enjoy it. This is a mental game, how strong is your mind? Many of us have altered coping mechanisms for whatever reason; genetic, developmental, environmental etc. These will be habits. Very hard habits to break. You must be aware of them and checking yourself when you go into these states. This can be enough to permanently alter your attitude.

The “This is stupid” attitude. We’ve all had that moment in geometry or writing essays when we have asked ourselves ‘when will I ever need this’.

REAL WORLD CHECK!

We ALL have to study stuff we don’t enjoy/hate! It’s important to not look at the subject in a negative view, look at the fundamental issue at hand. This type of forward thinking from a broad perspective is exactly what makes humans so incredible (unfortunately not all of us are capable of doing it without instruction). You can complain that circle geometry is pointless because you’re going to play the triangle in a band, prepare for failure. Sounds harsh? I’ve watched all my classmates say this stuff and now they’re flipping burgers struggling to make ends meet. I hated all these things but could see the broader goal of what I was working towards.

Here’s a secret to help you stop feeling sorry for yourself… Can you guess the real reason why we do AP calculus and not learn simply how to do your taxes or buy a house? It’s to teach you the process of thinking! If you can learn AP calculus you can learn something as simple as buying a house or doing your taxes. You may not know the deep details of tax, but that’s why we have accountants! Those people who are better in calculus, generally have a greater aptitude for that type of critical thinking and therefore are most likely to perform better than their poorer scoring peers in jobs where critical thinking is required (engineers, doc, etc).

The “I don’t need to study to be successful” attitude. You may be right! You may not have to! However, these days with increasing populations, 3rd world countries are developing a greater and greater competition for schools and jobs ! Gone are the days of our parents/grandparents where they could do what they wanted (assuming they had enough money). Education is a good way to safeguard your future (well more so).

“But Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates etc didn’t graduate from College!” Yeah, but they dropped out of Harvard. HARVARD. Not some generic college that lets anyone in. They obviously had awesome scores and an impeccable aptitude for learning to be admitted into Harvard. So, next argument please.

Indifference and Frustration The statements above probably all come down to these emotions. So it is these emotions that will control your performance and determine success.

Indifference - meaning ‘not giving a fucc’. I don’t have a hard and fast solution for you stopping giving a fucc. That’s completely internal.

Here are some suggestions:

Do you have an inspiration? If not research and get one for anything you want to succeed in. You don’t need just one inspiration, I have many when it comes to different aspects of life. Friends I have met abroad that inspire me in terms of my way of life, Bill Gates for his philanthropic work, Elon Musk for his thinking…
Are you surrounded by motivated people? Maybe you’re surrounded by people (friends, family, colleagues) that simply do not wish to achieve. Then make new friends! I’m not saying dump them, these days you can so easily connect with people who have similar ambitions and interests through forums, social media, discords and more!
Do you lack clear goals? Put time aside to research, travel, talk to people to identify goals. When you’re able to identify a larger goal, break these goals down into smaller achievable goals!
Do you not find class interesting? Sit in the front row and pay more attention, ask to change classes, ask to change subjects, change schools or my personal favourite. TEACH YOURSELF! This is the 21st century and we can easily find torrent textbooks for free, online courses, podcasts, countless youtube videos, sites dedicated to your course. We are so lucky to have more resources than just the teacher in front of us! There is no excuses for not doing this. I came from one of the worst ranked schools in my nation however I had an internet connection and youtube was my best friend! I taught myself maths, algorithms, AI, Blockchain, etc. So you can teach yourself elementary maths from youtube.

Frustration

It is unrealistic to believe you can rid yourself of frustration forever, but you can learn to do things to minimize your frustrations and to make sure you do not engage in unhealthy responses to frustration. You will need to learn to distinguish between what you hope will happen, what will probably happen, and what actually happened. Life inevitably has its ups and downs - its moments of relaxation and times of tension. When you learn to truly accept this reality, you come one step closer to being able to deal with frustration in a healthy way.

Identify what you are frustrated by. We can choose whether to be frustrated and give up (entrapment), or frustrated and cope (fight). You can decide how you respond. Below is an illustrated pathway of how we respond to threats or stresses. Humans are highly adaptive when it comes to these situations - you must just be willing to alter the path your brain chooses to follow. Entrapment, or cope. Fight, or withdraw.

Format: Alt Text

If you’re finding yourself struggling to follow the coping pathway even after this guide, perhaps it’s time to seek professional help in the form of a psychologist. Can’t afford a psychologist? Here is a book on cognitive behavioural therapy that will teach you the methods psychologists will help you alter your response pathways: “Change Your Thinking” by Sarah Edelman. Also available on Amazon.

So how will you deal with the frustration?

Ask for help from your teacher.
Take breaks time.
Review difficult concepts often so you don’t forget them.
Write things down (we will get into study technique later).
Study harder and harder.
Seek additional help from a mentor.

A deeper look at dealing with your frustrations:

Have Realistic Goals: if you can’t add up 2+2 today don’t expect to be doing complex polynomials the day after. Take your time and reward yourself when you make positive progress.
Feed Your Passions: some people are just terrible at complex mathematics but excel and take pride in art. Appreciate what you do well and notice that you are capable of things.
Be Persistent: success comes easier to others, but we all struggle. When things get hard, fight harder. The feeling when I’m memorising a list of 20 korean words and finally get them is amazing. The more persistent you are, the better you will get at conquering your struggles.
Have Gratitude: this is my number one tip and has got me through some of the toughest of times in my academic career! If you’re reading me right now then you probably have some form of an electronic device with an internet connection. Remind yourself of how lucky you are to be in the position you are in! Children are starving to death in Africa, dying of terrible diseases, can’t have proper education. That’s the common lot in the world but so many forget it. Be grateful and learn for those who cannot.
Develop Resilience: this ties in with the flow-chart above. We all have (well ME! maybe not ‘all’) failed something or multiple things! Like actual fail, less than 0%. I remember my first algorithm exam I got something like 30% of good answers! I was so disappointed in myself at the age of 18. Only 2 people passed (narrowly!). Half the people dropped the class too because they failed. I took this mark onboard and worked 10x harder than ever before - because I didn’t want the feeling of failure I experienced again (see extrinsic motivation - this was my early days of education before I taught myself to succeed)… I ended up having my exam and finally my degree.

tl;dr: Get inspired and set clearly defined goals. We all have to do stuff we don’t want to do in-order to achieve a goal. Surround yourself with motivated people (in person or online). Have gratitude for your ability to even get to learn and have access to the internet. Be resilient!

2.5 Learn to Learn

You’ve probably heard it before, we all have different styles that work for us. Let’s try and uncover our methods of learning together! Unfortunately, this is an extremely difficult skill to master and individualise (I’ll explain my personal techniques at the end). It took me 5 years (of 8 intense fulltime study years) to get to a technique that works best for me and I’m sure it could use refining.

The 7 Different Learning Styles:

Visual (spatial): You prefer using pictures, images, and spatial understanding.
Aural (auditory-musical): You prefer using sound and music.
Verbal (linguistic): You prefer using words, both in speech and writing.
Physical (kinesthetic): You prefer using your body, hands and sense of touch.
Logical (mathematical): You prefer using logic, reasoning and systems.
Social (interpersonal): You prefer to learn in groups or with other people.
Solitary (intrapersonal): You prefer to work alone and use self-study.

You may think you know your learning style. If you’re like me you don’t conform to a single learning style - this is of great benefit if you! If you are certain you only learn from one style I encourage you to try and integrate other methods - there is emerging evidence to support that using a variety of styles increases learning potential.

Take this short quiz to determine your Learning Style

NOTE: you’ll need to enter a name and email to receive your results. I selected this because it accurately determines my main methods of learning (and least favoured).

Format: Alt Text

How I Study:

Type a summary.
Make a question sheet directly from my summary and print multiple copies. Make the questions answers ideally in dot point or flow charts and require expansion.
I take the first letter from the keywords of dot points and make a word out of them using a scrabble word finder: http://wordfinder.yourdictionary.com/ This makes * recall much easier.
Handwrite copying directly 3 times from summary to answers.
4th attempt try recalling from memory.
Go to whiteboard and recall lists and details.
Read out loud as writing on the whiteboard and re-read.
Alternate between paper and white board.
Watch youtube videos to reinforce visually and through audio.
Once I have this down pat I study with friends to cement what I know by talking to them without reference to notes - it also helps me identify areas in which I can expand or where I may have gone overboard.

This aligns with my results visual (whiteboard), solitary (initially), logical (drawing connections between information and flow charts really cements knowledge for me), social (to further cement information).

Once you have determined your learning styles, it’s time to start studying according to them. It’s safe to say the top 4 results would be highly applicable to you and you should try all 4 methods to the same topic to get the maximum benefit.

3. Lifestyle and Academic Performance

I’m going to start by pointing out the obvious - for best performance you need to have a balanced diet, exercise, sleep etc. I mentioned in the introduction I won’t talk about these, much. I’ll address the ideal situation, then I’ll address the real-life student situation.

There are several possible direct and indirect pathways linking healthy eating and physical activity with academic achievement. While the current evidence is limited but evolving, it shows that certain factors can improve academic achievement. These factors include access to healthy foods and opportunities to stay physically active.

Improving access to healthy foods and physical activities is linked to healthier students who are also better learners.

Evidence on dietary behaviours and academic achievement

Student participation in the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) School Breakfast Program (SBP) is associated with increased academic grades and standardized test scores, reduced absenteeism, and improved cognitive performance (e.g., memory).
Skipping breakfast is associated with decreased cognitive performance (e.g., alertness, attention, memory, processing of complex visual display, problem-solving) among students.
Lack of adequate consumption of specific foods, such as fruits, vegetables, or dairy products, is associated with lower grades among students. Deficits of specific nutrients (i.e., vitamins A, B6, B12, C, folate, iron, zinc, magnesium and Omega3) are associated with lower grades and higher rates of absenteeism and tardiness among students.
Hunger due to insufficient food intake is associated with lower grades, higher rates of absenteeism, repeating a grade, and an inability to focus on students.

Evidence on physical activity and academic achievement

Students who are physically active tend to have better grades, school attendance, cognitive performance (e.g., memory), and classroom behaviours (e.g., on-task behaviour).
Higher physical activity and physical fitness levels are associated with improved cognitive performance (e.g., concentration, memory) among students. More participation in physical education class has been associated with better grades, standardized test scores, and classroom behaviour (e.g., on-task behaviour) among students.
Time spent in recess has been shown to positively affect students’ cognitive performance (e.g., attention, concentration) and classroom behaviours (e.g., not misbehaving).
Brief classroom physical activity breaks (i.e., 5-10 minutes) are associated with improved cognitive performance (e.g., attention, concentration), classroom behaviour (e.g., on-task behaviour), and educational outcomes (e.g., standardized test scores, reading literacy scores, math fluency scores) among students.
Participation in extracurricular physical activities such as interscholastic sports has been associated with higher grade point averages (GPAs), lower drop-out rates, and fewer disciplinary problems among students.

Evidence on Sleep and academic achievement

From most recent data:

Quote:

Sleepwalking through School: New Evidence on Sleep and Academic Performance (Wang, K., Sabia, J. J., Cesur, R., (2016)) Our findings provide some evidence that increased sleep duration—up to 8.5 to 9.0 hours per night—is associated with improvements in contemporaneous academic concentration and homework completion. Moreover, increased sleep duration—up to 8.5 10 In addition, as noted above, the effect of sleep duration on academic achievement may operate through sports participation, likelihood of skipping breakfast, and hours of television watching. In Appendix Tables 5 and 6, we estimate the sensitivity of the estimated impact of sleep duration on short-run academic achievement measurement and longer-run educational attainment, respectively. However, these controls appear to be relatively unimportant mediators.

7 hours per night—is associated with an increase in the probability high school diploma receipt and college attendance. These results are robust to the inclusion of controls for family- and individual-level unmeasured heterogeneity. Following the “academic optimum” number of hours of sleep documented above, increases in sleep duration are associated with a decline in academic achievement. We also find some evidence that insomnia is associated with diminished short-run, but not longer-run, educational performance. Finally, we find that the educational attainment benefits of increased sleep time can be explained, in part, by concentration-related improvements.

Evidence on class/lecture attendance and achievement The data reveals generally poor attendance leads to poor results. There are some localised studies that reveal no statistical significance between attendence and academic performance.

Quote:

“Factors such as age, gender, socioeconomic status, affluence, entry pathway, attendance type, year of study, language spoken at home, family responsibilities, distance between home and the university, etc, may also contribute to poor performance and be as important or significant as lecture attendance.”

As you can see there are many factors that may contribute to academic performance. I tried to focus on modifiable factors.

tl;dr: eat well, sleep 7-8hrs, attend class, exercise.

5. Competing with Your Classmates

So you want to be on top huh? Well, no one likes a dog, so I’m going to teach you how to ethically get the edge on your classmates when it comes to exams. You may be wondering why you’d want to compete with your classmates. Well, it’s who your professor will be comparing you to. This is of particular importance when your mark will be based off a bell curve.

What is curve marking? Grading on the “Curve” is a method of grading that is based on the belief that letter grades in any given class should be distributed along a bell curve. Typically, an assignment or test is scored, and the average score automatically becomes an average grade (typically a B- or C+). The scores above and below the average are distributed accordingly. For those of us who attended school in the US, you have probably been graded this way at some point.

It’s important to know how you are being graded! By the curve? OR criteria/objective based marking?

Even in objective/criteria based marking your professors will compare you to your peers. Often they will read all the papers once and make notes of everything good that was mentioned. Then go back and mark and see how many of those points you hit.

Start Early

Start your assignment or study for a test earlier than your classmates (minimum 2 weeks before them ideally).

How:

Ask them if they’ve started their assignment/study.
Ask when they plan on starting.
Integrate it into the normal conversation so you don’t sound like a socially retarded nerd. Usually starting the conversation complaining about it and how you’re * * procrastinating is a good method. If they ask if you’ve started - don’t lie. Say you have but haven’t made much progress - don’t look like a dick.

Pay Attention to their Habits

If you study in the same area or live in the same dorm, pay attention to their work ethic.

What to look for:

How long are they in the library for?
Does it look like they’re productive?
When do they leave?
When do they start their morning?
Aim to be arriving before and after them. Start your mornings earlier. Be more productive.

Study Broadly

To stand out you need to study more than just what the teacher gives you. Aim to expand on the knowledge they give you - this will both enhance your understanding and allow you to answer the questions more deeply.

Places to get extra information:
Prescribed textbooks.
Alternate textbooks from other major authors.
Journals (google scholar).
Articles.
For some, this is mandatory. If it is you need to go more advanced.

Talk to Your Teachers

No, not to kiss ass. To direct further learning and clarify the ideas in your own head - they can correct you before you do the exam/assignment.

Talk to Other Schools/Old Students

Talking to older students and other schools is invaluable - they’ve been through it all and have the material on hand ready for you.

What you can do:

You can pay old students who scored amazing marks for their notes - just search google for these sites. Talk to old students that did your subject (who excelled). Get notes that other students from other schools are given. Saving time on writing notes - so you can just focus on learning the content.

Study with Your Classmates

Doing this will allow you to see what else they’re studying, how much depth they’re going into and what they’re not studying. You’ll know to ease off and/or where to work harder. They may also have some resources to share with you.

tl;dr: Study earlier and harder than your classmates. Find out what they’re studying and go beyond that.

6. Acing Exams

So now you’ve got all the knowledge in your head, now it’s time to ace those exams. Let’s do this.

Preparing Physically

Does your exam require extended writing? If yes, I recommend buying a foam stress ball and a heavy pen a couple of months out from the exam like:

Stress ball: Alt Text

Stress Ball:

While you’re reading your notes I want you to constantly squeeze and pump the stress ball - your hand and muscles will begin to ache, that’s the point of this! Exercise! There’s nothing more frustrating than writing your exam and you’re slowed down by a sore hand/arm. This is training you physically to write quickly and without any pain. Trust me! It makes a massive difference!

Heavy Pen:

This will also be working out your muscles and slow you down while studying - you will switch to a lighter gel pen a week out from the exam to get used to your instrument before the exam. These tips may sound silly - but while others were shaking their hands in pain during the exam I was pushing through.

Preparing Mentally

Try and simulate the exam environment as much as possible a few days out before the actual test. This means:

Write information without referring to notes.
Answer sample questions (either given or self-made).
Try and guess the questions that will be asked and make broad answers.
Practice structuring answers.
Have your equipment ready and know where you’re going days ahead.
Know the structure of the exam if you have been told and make a plan - calculate time you wish to spend per section. MAKE THESE CALCULATIONS BEFORE YOU GO TO THE EXAM! This means you won’t waste time calculating and more time on the paper.

Equipment

You’re going to want the following for the exam:

Ballpoint pens ideally - gel can smudge. We want a pen that glides over the page and is light! You need multiple in case they run out. Get some black and blue ones.
Highlighters can be useful - even to use in the exam paper that isn’t marked if they’re not permitted.
The same calculator you have been using to study - plus a spare.
Earplugs - so you can fully focus.
A wristwatch - you may be away from a clock, this will allow you to quickly glance at the time and not completely have to stop and lookup.
Pencils, erasers, sharpeners etc (the usual).
Water.
Glasses if needed.
Comfortable clothes - a jumper in case the air conditioner is on.
Take some last minute cram notes to the exam - things that may enhance your answers as hopefully by now you know all the basic answer stuff.

When the Clock Starts

Start By:

Filling in all paperwork - do it now and get it out of the way, including numbering books etc.
Put extra books on the ground and pick up new ones as you need them. This will save the clutter and flipping through books searching for the correct one.
Read all the questions - start thinking about all of the responses - including the questions that throw you off - you will remember stuff as you answer other questions.
Think about how long each question may take you and plan accordingly.
What questions can you smash out of the park? Make sure you spend less time on the questions you are blabbering on about for the sake of putting something down and more time on the questions you can smash.

As You’re Working On the Paper

Remember to:

Keep an eye on the time.
You should allow x number of minutes per question then 15mins to proofread and go back and add to other questions.
Before diving into the questions - make a mini plan next to the question so your response has direction.
Read, then re-read the question. Think about what it is asking you.
Constantly glance at the clock while you’re writing so you can tailor your answers according to time.
If the time you allocated a question is up - if you have more than 3 sentences to write - STOP - STAR - SPACE - MOVE ON. Stop answering the question, put a star at the end of the sentence you have written, star the question in the Q book, leave a space (paragraph/page/whatever you think you need to finish off), move onto the next question and come back. I mean this - you will score better marks.
If you draw a blank on a question and you’re thinking for more than 1-2mins. STOP - STAR - SPACE - MOVE ON. To the next question. Things will pop into your mind to answer this question as you answer the others, I guarantee. Jot these things down next to the question as you remember them while answering other questions.
Underline key points in the alternate colour from what you’re using. This doesn’t break any rules but helps make a visual structure in your response.
Draw diagrams where you can (if you can) to support your responses.

Bonus

Try and include a specific reference in your responses to authors, pages, journals or years. I would memorise all my textbook authors and the most recent date it was published - these dates are often easier to remember than the version you may have for reference. After I state information I know is included in a certain textbook I will include (NAME, 2019). Better yet, get textbooks from each topic and memorise the first author and the most recent date.

tl;dr: Understand how to specifically answer each type of question whether it be ‘assess’ or ‘explain’. If you’re planning on writing lots in the exam, train your writing muscles physically.

7. Assessment Technique

Here are some very basic things to do before you start your assessment:

Understand the type of assessment: is it an essay? a literature review? an experimental report? You need to know! And follow the correct structure that each type requires. A simple google search will show you the way you should structure your assignment. You get marks for structure.
Understand the question: deconstruct the question and understand what it is actually asking you - if you’re not sure to ask your teacher.
Plan your response: it makes things a lot easier if you jot down a quick flowchart and list of things you want to discuss. This will allow you to direct your research instead of just reading pointless articles wasting time. Generally, an assignment will be related to something you’re learning in class - draw from the materials you have been given.
Research: research, research in line with what your plan is. As you research you will uncover new information and ideas you may wish to incorporate into your original idea. Continue to branch out and gather as much information as possible.
Multiple Resources: don’t just use 1 type of resource - should a breadth of research including textbooks, journal articles, thesis, lectures, videos, websites, government publications etc.
Use the Correct Referencing System: your school may require you to reference in a particular style such as Harvard or APA. Make sure you google how to structure these references both in-text references and your reference list - these all count towards your marks.
Label Things Properly: tables, graphs, charts etc all must be labelled in a particular way according to the referencing style. Some require the label to be above the table, some require it to be below. This contributes to your mark too!
Refer to figures, images and tables: merely including them in your assignment means nothing - you must specifically talk about any source you include. You cannot assume the reader will draw their own conclusions from the images. You must spell it out to them.
Start Early: duh.
Get Someone to Proof Read: we become blind to our own writing after reading it for too long - get someone, ideally from another field to proofread your assignment to ensure there are no typo’s and it all makes sense.

tl;dr: know what the assignment is asking, format your assignment correctly including labels and references, start early.

Thanks for reading that LONG article.