- Question
- What is the best way to study?
- Position1 of 3›
- Long-term study skills
- Argument1 of 3›
Complete all assignments
Completing every assignment over the course of the entire school year is the best method of study.
The argument
Proponents of this view hold that the most reliable path to lasting academic preparation is also the simplest: complete every piece of homework and every assignment the course sets. The reasoning begins with what assignments are for. Coursework is not busywork layered on top of learning; it is the structured practice through which learning actually takes hold. A lecture introduces material, but hearing an idea once does not fix it in memory. When a student then works through the assigned exercises, they revisit that material, apply it, and engage with it actively rather than passively. This is the reinforcement mechanism at the heart of the argument: each completed assignment returns the student to what was taught in class and cements it. From this mechanism follows a claim about sufficiency. Because assignments are set to reinforce exactly what the course teaches, the student who completes all of them has, on this view, already done the preparation that tests demand. Simply doing one's work as assigned is enough — no supplementary technique or extra regimen is required. The diligent student arrives at each test well-prepared by default, having practiced the very material on which they will be examined. Finally, advocates connect this to long-term study skills specifically. Completing all assignments is not a one-off tactic deployed before a single exam; it is a habit that operates continuously, week after week, across an entire course of study. Preparation built this way accumulates steadily rather than being crammed and forgotten, which is why proponents conclude that it builds lasting preparation and therefore stands as the best long-term study skill a student can adopt.
Premises
Counter-arguments
Completing all homework and assignments is not enough. Although it does help reinforce learning, there is a distinct difference between homework and studying: Homework is for extra practice, and studying is for internalizing and mastering content.
Rejecting the premises
[Rejecting P1] Homework and studying is not the same thing.