I had the worst study habits in the history of college, until I found out what I was doing wrong: highlighting with black magic marker.

Altman’s joke hinges on an absurdly literal “study tip”: highlighting is meant to emphasize key passages, but using a black marker would obliterate the text entirely. By claiming this was the root of his “worst study habits,” he satirizes both his own supposed incompetence and the way students sometimes substitute mechanical rituals (highlighting everything) for real comprehension. The line also plays on the language of self-help confession—“until I found out what I was doing wrong”—to deliver a punchline that reframes the problem as comically obvious. The humor ultimately points to a serious subtext: effective studying requires discernment and engagement, not just performative annotation.