# How to Ace your Exams : The Method to Mastery - review & insight | Gareth B. Davies Source: https://garethbdavies.com/course-insights/how-to-ace-your-exams-the-method-to-mastery/ [← All courses](https://garethbdavies.com/course-insights/) Productivity · Solid intro · Rated 7 /10 # How to Ace your Exams : The Method to Mastery By Gareth B. Davies · Updated July 2026 Mike And Matty · Doctors, YouTubers, Music Producers All levels · 134 min A free, focused study system for anyone who wants a proven planning-and-flashcard routine without wading through study-science theory. [Get a Free Month on Skillshare](https://skillshare.eqcm.net/c/3155494/298081/4650?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.skillshare.com%2Fclasses%2Fhow-to-ace-your-exams-the-method-to-mastery%2F1787903253) New to Skillshare? Your first month is free, enough to take this course at no cost. ## A planning system built on personal trial and error Method to Mastery is structured around three phases: planning, processing, and practicing, each mapped to a rule about what makes studying stick (focus only on testable material, force active engagement with it, then rehearse it in the same format as the actual exam). The planning section is the strongest stretch of the course. It gives a concrete blueprint for building a single calendar per test, dividing available days between learning new material and reviewing it, and walks through both a college-syllabus scenario and a standardized-test scenario side by side. The advice to consult professors and upperclassmen before buying materials, and to commit to exactly one review book and one question bank rather than collecting several, is unglamorous but genuinely useful, and it comes from two people who have clearly sat multiple high-stakes exams themselves. The middle third of the course is a RemNote tutorial series, eleven lessons covering parent-child note hierarchies, portals, tags, split-screen workflows, and linking tools. This is thorough and specific, down to keyboard shortcuts for pulling a note into a second pane. The tradeoff is that roughly a third of the runtime is dedicated to one specific piece of software rather than transferable study skill, and the course itself acknowledges RemNote replaced an earlier Anki-based version of the method, which raises the question of how tool-dependent the underlying system really is. Anyone not planning to adopt RemNote specifically will find this stretch far less useful than the planning or processing sections. ## Processing and practicing hold up, with gaps The processing walkthroughs, one for lectures and one for a textbook, are where the method becomes concrete rather than aspirational. The lecture example works through an actual slide deck on alcohol use disorders, showing how to convert a professor's verbal aside into a road-map question and then into a minimal flashcard rather than a wall of text. The textbook example does the same using a table of contents as an organizing skeleton, breaking a review book down from organ system to individual disease to sub-symptom. Both examples are specific enough to imitate directly, which is more than most study-skills content offers. The practicing section on multiple-choice strategy, including a full walkthrough of a diagnosis question and the reasoning for not switching a first answer, is well demonstrated, and the essay-writing blueprint (introduction, examples-as-body-paragraphs, structured around who-what-when-where-why) is a genuinely reusable template. Coverage of problem-based subjects like math and physics, by contrast, gets a single short bonus lesson that amounts to watching worked examples and doing lots of practice problems, offering none of the specificity found elsewhere in the course. The course deliberately skips the research behind its recommendations, which keeps the pacing brisk at just over two hours but means viewers get a system to follow rather than an understanding of why it works. For students who already believe in active recall and spaced repetition and just want a plan to execute, that tradeoff is reasonable. For those who want to be convinced first, it will feel thin. Overall, this is a practical, occasionally over-narrow toolkit rather than a comprehensive theory of studying, and its value scales directly with how closely a student's workload matches reading-and-memorization-heavy exams. The standout The road-map method for processing lectures, turning slide-by-slide learning objectives into targeted questions before note-taking begins, forces active engagement rather than passive transcription into flashcards. ## What you will learn - · How to build a single test-specific study plan by mapping days available against material to cover - · How to gather and prioritize the right resources (professors, upperclassmen, one review book, one question bank) instead of hoarding materials - · How to use RemNote's parent-child hierarchy, portals, tags, and references to build a connected flashcard database - · A repeatable three-step lecture and textbook processing workflow: map questions, read to find answers, convert to flashcards in your own words - · How to work through multiple-choice questions systematically, including why not to second-guess a chosen answer - · How to build a reusable essay blueprint that turns memorized examples into structured answers under time pressure Best for: Students already committed to spaced-repetition study, especially those in reading-heavy college, standardized-test, or medical/professional exam tracks, who want a concrete daily planning structure. Skip it if: Anyone hoping for underlying research citations, a tool-agnostic system, or help with math and problem-based subjects, which get only a single bonus lesson. Clarity of Instruction Actionable Steps Organization of Lessons Helpful Examples [Get a Free Month on Skillshare](https://skillshare.eqcm.net/c/3155494/298081/4650?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.skillshare.com%2Fclasses%2Fhow-to-ace-your-exams-the-method-to-mastery%2F1787903253)