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学习策略 · Study strategy · 5 min

Practicing under real time pressure

You do not rise to the level of your preparation. You fall to the level of your training.

Sitting a math paper with no clock and unlimited breaks tells you almost nothing about how you will do on June 7. You need to train the exact conditions or you are practicing a different sport.

Once a week, sit a full past paper with a real clock, no phone, no snacks, no bathroom breaks except at the halfway mark. Mark it the next day, coldly.

The first few times you do this you will be shocked at how much slower you are than in casual practice. This is the useful shock. It is far better to feel it in April than in June.

Track two numbers over the term: total score, and time spent on the section that gave you the most trouble. Both should trend in the right direction. If one is improving and the other is not, adjust.

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