Ima Freeman

How to study properly?

10 posts in this topic

Since starting to seriously study again for college, I thought about how to do it very smart and dustainably instead of just pushing a lot of information into my mind for a short period of time.

Especially now with the advent of AI there are many more intelligent ways to study.

Apart from basics like finding interest and passion in the subject that you learn or finding connections between different fields, do you have practical strategies for how to aquire a lot of knowledge and expertise?

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I highly recommend reading the book How to Become a Straight-A Student by Cal Newport. 

It‘s a fantastic book on how to succeed at university, without being a grinder — a person that spends all day in the library. 

He interviewed many of the most successful students from Ivy-league colleges, who don‘t spend their entire day studying. The book is a collection of their methods. 

I don’t think AI changes that much in terms of studying.

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look into youtube channel of justin sung and benjamin keep

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There is no one-size-fits-all approach to study. With study there is always a breadth versus depth tradeoff with regards to time. In college the emphasis is on breadth, because it's designed to give you a good overall (but shallow) grounding in a subject.  If you continue to a Masters or PhD then you will narrow down and get more depth, or you'll get a deeper understanding if you continue your learning in the work place.

Breadth and depth learning require different strategies. The low-hanging fruit for breadth learning are:

  1. Consistency. Have a daily set routine for study, which is for a certain number of hours with short breaks and distraction free (no phones, no friends). Even two or three hours a day can make a huge difference for retention.
  2. Alertness. Get enough sleep ideally with consistent hours. Reduce consumption of alcohol and other substances that affect your body. Eat well. You will also find that certain times of the day are better for concentration, find your personal preference.
  3. Drilling. Use a system like Anki flashcards or working through exercises or past exam papers to consolidate your learning. Revise the material at set intervals of days and weeks and months (spaced repetition).
  4. Go meta. Concentrate on learning the concepts rather than getting bogged down in detail: why does a three-phase-induction motor exist, what problem does it solve? rather than: it's constructed in this way and obeys these physical laws. Often the detail follows as a consequence of the guiding concept, not the other way round. Look for relationships between all the concepts in your area of study, what is the chronological history of those concepts?
  5. Have fun. Have time off from study. But keep a good balance between study and relaxation.

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Learn to say everything in one sentence. 

Or at worst a small paragraph.

This is how you own knowledge.

Example: do you know what anger is?

Anytime not getting expected result.

Note it's not just one sentence, it's an acrostic.

You won't find my knowledge in a book

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@Ima Freeman realise the brain only stores stuff that’s actually important. When you study some material, try to somehow convey yourself this is important to remember and oh would you look at that the brain starts to work!

Also try to study materials three times this is because it can store in your mind for months. 
 

try something like this 

1. Study the materials while writing them down.

2. Read over the materials. And make bullet points.

3. Read the bullet points as the last thing you study in that day. 
 

I found that extremely effective.


Anyone who says they’re enlightened on this form in anyway is not, except me I am. 

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Posted (edited)

I have thought about this and I think focusing on doing what is closest to the test that determines your grade is the smartest.

 So for example, im  studying chemistry right now. And the exam that determines my grade (except for lab reports but there you can only get  approved vs disapproved result, don’t know what it’s called in English) is 90% just doing calculations , and just a small amount of theoretical explanation of something.

I did the mistake of focusing too much on theory, so I read a lot before the exam, thinking if I just understand it theoretically then l’ll be able to do calculations on it.

But it was not a good method, because all the theory didn’t translate to being able to do the calculations, and with theory, reading just once isn’t enough, you need repetition, but I didn’t have enough time for that so most things I just read once. So it didn’t really stick in my brain.

It would’ve been smarter to do many calculating tasks, and old exams, to practice that skill. And only learning theory when listening to lectures and if I’m really not understanding something then I can look it up online or in a book.

So basically doing things similar to the exam before the real exam, if you’re shooting for a good grade.

Also depending on the course, our teacher says that if she doesn’t mention something, we don’t need to know it. So basically all the theory needed comes from listening to lectures (taking notes and reading the PowerPoint)

We also have a book for every course. But I found I had spent too much time in the book, and I read things that I didn’t even need to know so it was a waste of time. So if you know the teacher says all you know, reading extra might not be much necessary .

I will try out this theory of mine irl and see if it goes better in next exam 

Don’t fall into trap of spending too much time thinking about how to study rather than just doing it. 

 

Edited by Sugarcoat

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Thank y'all for your different perspectives and strategies.

Gonna study how to study now.

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