I can hardly believe it. After six years of working alongside students from both high school and university, I have come to a startling discovery. It’s one that effectively renders BA: An Insider’s Guide – the entire book that I wrote on effective study skills – obsolete. Seriously, if you haven’t bought it yet, don’t even bother.

Why would I actively dissuade you from buying my product? Well, because I’ve just realised that a student’s success actually has nothing to do with how many classes you attend, how early you start your essays or how hard you study for your exams. All that it depends on is your ability to use two things. Two very simple, cheap, commonplace things.

To be a top student, you don’t need to know how to focus in lectures, read academic writing, or schmooze your lecturers. You don’t need to know how to use textbooks or study planners or fancy online learning tools. All you need to know how to use is: a) a pencil case and b) a semi-colon. The correct usage of these two items is the common link between all of the top students who I have ever known. I have years of observational evidence to back up my theory. I’m amazed that I haven’t discovered it earlier.