For students who are approaching final exams, I have a suggestion that might surprise you. Don’t study.

“Studying” is a vague term, one that can let you off the hook too easily. You can say that you studied for three hours for a math test. But if you just passively flipped through the book and reviewed your homework without a goal in mind or any way to actively judge what you know, all the while responding to text messages, what did you really accomplish during those three hours? “Studying” is a word that sounds a lot better than it often is in practice.

A vague term leads to a vague objective. And that’s not how successful people reach their goals.

When professional football, baseball, and basketball teams show up at practice, the coach doesn’t tell everyone to grab a ball and do whatever they want with it. They run specific drills, discuss strategy, and put players in specific scenarios—all of it based on how the team has been performing.

Actors rehearse specific scenes. Musicians practice particular pieces. Even professional video gamers do more than just haphazardly play the game.

Before you sit down to “study,” make a specific plan based on what you’ve been told will be on the test and what you believe you need to better understand. A specific plan means that there should be an easy way for you to judge whether or not it’s been effective. “Reviewing,” “going over,” even “re-reading”—those are not plans. Determining why you missed questions on a past exam, or practicing 20 problems with polynomials that are still giving you trouble, or completing all the end-of-chapter questions that involve the subjunctive tense—those are specific plans.

And here’s a good litmus test to judge the effectiveness of each study session. If you had to go into class tomorrow and teach your classmates what you just reviewed, could you do it? When you’re able to teach a concept, you thoroughly understand it. And you know there is nothing left for you to worry about when it comes to being tested on that particular topic. But you don’t get that kind of mastery just by “studying.”

Make a specific plan before you start. Then set aside the time, eliminate your distractions, and focus. You’ll get more done, more effectively, in less time when you decide to do more than just “study.”