The "Why" Question Drill
Whenever you read a factual statement in your notes, pause and ask yourself: 'Why is this true, and why does it make sense?' Keep asking 'Why?' three times until you hit the underlying mechanism.
Understanding the 'why' behind a rule means you can reconstruct the answer on exam day even if you blank on the exact wording.
Memorizing 'warm air rises' as a random fact without understanding density and molecular motion, so a curveball exam question trips you up.
- Read a key fact or rule from your lecture slides.
- Ask yourself: 'Why does X cause Y instead of the opposite?'
- Explain the cause-and-effect chain in 2 sentences, then verify it against your textbook.