What is the Feynman technique?

It's a method of learning by explaining topics in simple terms to identify knowledge gaps.

How does the Pomodoro technique work?

You work for 25 minutes and take a 5-minute break, repeating the cycle to maintain focus.

Why is flashcard overuse discouraged?

Overusing flashcards can lead to the illusion of knowing rather than understanding concepts deeply.

What is interleaving in studying?

Interleaving involves mixing different topics or subjects to find connections and improve understanding.

Why is sleep important for studying?

Sleep helps in the consolidation of memories, turning short-term learning into long-term knowledge.

How can planning improve study outcomes?

Planning organizes study time effectively, balancing academics with personal life and enhancing productivity.

What are the dangers of rereading notes?

Rereading can create a false sense of familiarity, without enhancing true understanding or memory retention.

The Top Student Tier List (Ranking 27 Study Skills)

00:33:14

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEAGAKE0z_8

Summary

TLDRThe video evaluates various study techniques, rating them from S (highly recommended) to D (not recommended). It discusses popular strategies like flashcards, which are deemed useful for rote memorization but risky if over-relied upon (rated C). The Feynman technique is praised for teaching through simplification and understanding (rated S). Techniques like Pomodoro are recognized for aiding focus but considered rigid for long tasks (rated A). Practice problems and planning are seen as essential, with planning rated S for aiding balance between study and personal life. Strategies such as interleaving and priming the material before class also receive high ratings (S and A, respectively). The video addresses potential pitfalls in techniques like mind mapping, blurting, and the passive approach of rereading or rewatching content, which are rated lower. Other discussions include the merits of sleep, exercise, group discussions, and using modern tools like ChatGPT for learning support. The creators help guide viewers on how to optimally use these techniques in a structured, effective manner.

Takeaways

📚 Flashcards are useful for rote learning but can be counterproductive if overused.
🧠 The Feynman technique excels in teaching complex topics through simplification.
⏲️ Pomodoro helps maintain focus with structured breaks, but can be rigid.
📝 Planning is crucial for effective time management and life balance.
🔄 Interleaving boosts understanding by mixing study subjects.
🔍 Priming before class aids comprehension by familiarizing with material.
💤 Sleep is essential for memory consolidation and effective learning.
🚫 Relying solely on rereading is ineffective for long-term retention.
🎯 Creating content or projects enhances learning through active engagement.
💪 Exercise supports memory retention and focus.

Timeline

00:00:00 - 00:05:00
The video begins discussing the overwhelming number of study techniques available online, emphasizing the need for a systematic approach that combines effective strategies to save time. Flashcards are criticized for promoting rote learning, potentially creating an illusion of familiarity, and they are ranked as C-tier.
00:05:00 - 00:10:00
The Feynman technique is introduced as an effective strategy for identifying gaps in knowledge by simplifying topics, ranked as S-tier for transforming teaching into a powerful learning tool. Pomodoro Technique, which involves timed study sessions followed by breaks, is discussed for its simplicity, and ranked A-tier despite its rigidity.
00:10:00 - 00:15:00
Practice problems are valued for their ability to enhance test preparedness and understanding, earning them an A-tier ranking. Study planning is highlighted as a critical meta-skill for productivity, deserving of an S-tier. Interleaving, a method to mix study topics to find connections, is ranked S-tier for promoting deeper learning.
00:15:00 - 00:20:00
Priming and chunking are discussed for their potential to improve understanding and memory retention, both ranked A-tier. Syntopical reading, however, is seen as a broad investment that can sometimes be overwhelming, thus given B-tier. Blurting, while useful for recall practice, lacks structure and is ranked C-tier.
00:20:00 - 00:25:00
Frameworking and visual associations are praised for organizing information into digestible formats, receiving A and A-tier respectively. Group discussions and chat-GPTing (prompting AI) can be beneficial but often depend on structure, both averaging around B-tier. The importance of techniques like sleep for memory consolidation is reiterated as S-tier.
00:25:00 - 00:33:14
Negative study practices like rewatching and rereading are consistently ranked D-tier for their passive nature. Reviewing related study strategies such as cramming and music while studying emphasize their conditional usefulness, ranked C-tier. Overall, the importance of strategic, structured learning techniques is emphasized throughout the video.

Mind Map

Video Q&A

What is the Feynman technique?
It's a method of learning by explaining topics in simple terms to identify knowledge gaps.
How does the Pomodoro technique work?
You work for 25 minutes and take a 5-minute break, repeating the cycle to maintain focus.
Why is flashcard overuse discouraged?
Overusing flashcards can lead to the illusion of knowing rather than understanding concepts deeply.
What is interleaving in studying?
Interleaving involves mixing different topics or subjects to find connections and improve understanding.
Why is sleep important for studying?
Sleep helps in the consolidation of memories, turning short-term learning into long-term knowledge.
How can planning improve study outcomes?
Planning organizes study time effectively, balancing academics with personal life and enhancing productivity.
What are the dangers of rereading notes?
Rereading can create a false sense of familiarity, without enhancing true understanding or memory retention.

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Subtitles

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00:00:00
there are so many different study
00:00:01
techniques and skills and things that
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people share all over the Internet hard
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to know which one's good which one's bad
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which one's should you completely ignore
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which ones you should be using every
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single minute of every single day in
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your life if you find the right
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combination of learning strategies and
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put them together into a system that can
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like easily save you 10 15 hours a week
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but you have to be doing them the right
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way so I put out some feelers this
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morning asking a lot of our community
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members what are like their favorite or
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what they call their best study
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strategies and their worst ones I think
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the worst are and so we got some pretty
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interesting answers but we just wanted
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to make this video to help guide some
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students so s tier means definitely
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definitely do it everyone should be
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doing s tier stuff and then D tier is
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absolutely do not do this run away run
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for the hills don't even touch them do
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not be disturbed by by the D tier stuff
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so looks like the first one here we got
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is flash cards oh boy Mike and Maddie
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and flash cards go way way back everyone
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remember remn note we came from medical
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school and Med students love using flash
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cards yeah basically what I was taught
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in med school was you just make 5,000
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flash cards and then you just spend all
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day all night doing flash cards
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everywhere you go in the bathroom in the
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bathroom on in in class when you're
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supposed to be paying attention I think
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flash cards have a pretty specific
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purpose which to me is trying to
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memorize a piece of information mhm
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that's what we call rote learning yeah I
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was going to say like flash card is just
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inherently rot learning yeah you're just
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you repeating something the same way mhm
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but rely over relying on flash cards
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eventually reaches a point where it
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becomes counterproductive MH and this is
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because of a pretty well studied
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psychological Effect called the illusion
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of familiarity you remember that there
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is a flash card that you've created
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about this idea yeah and then you just
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associate oh yeah I made a flash card
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about that that's going to be the answer
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that's never how you're tested on it I
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would honestly give it even if you do it
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well a c I don't think it should be a
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core part of your system what do you
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think about that um yeah I think uh C is
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fair so the next one here um the findan
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technique mhm and I think it's named
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after Richard feeman but not created by
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Him the fan technique is a way of
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teaching something to yourself picking a
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topic and then you're trying to break it
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down into the simplest terms and then
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you're really looking for where the gaps
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in your knowledge and so if you do this
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enough then you'll identify all your
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weak spots and then you can go back to
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your notes and then you can learn more
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about what you missed the thing about
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the fan technique is I don't think
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there's really a wrong way to do it like
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at least if you try to do it then you're
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getting benefit I think the more
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important thing about fan is to just
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understand that teaching itself as a
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strategy is a very powerful strategy and
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fan is not the only way to teach yeah I
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think something that fan does pretty
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well is it gives good stepbystep
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instructions for how to think about
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teaching yeah I think that giving
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structure to how to use techniques is a
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great way to to learn how to use it
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correctly and get the most out of it so
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with all of that I would almost say that
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we just transformed the fan technique
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into teaching
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right so what would you rank teaching as
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oh definitely um s tier yeah I was
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actually going to say the same thing and
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we have our first s tier still right
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there so the next strategy on this list
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is pomodoro Pomodoro is where you work
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for a short period of time usually 25
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minutes you take a 5minute break and
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then you just rinse and repeat that
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cycle and I think Pomodoro honestly for
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like the barrier to entry to do it which
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is incredibly low all you need is a
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timer it can get you pretty far I
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actually like how like it is such a
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simple tool that can get someone to
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focus I do think that pomodora runs into
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some issues down the line especially um
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once you get more comfortable with
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focusing for longer stretches of time
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that you don't necessarily want to break
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at 25 minutes or even 50 minutes if
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you're able to like sustain good flow
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and Rhythm for a long time and so
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because it has that limitation of being
00:03:48
too rigid I wouldn't give it an S tier
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but actually I would think Pomodoro is
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like an a tier yeah I was going to say a
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tier actually because it's a very
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userfriendly technique go to cage and
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.focus just go there that's the best
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place to go to actually that's the best
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one next is practice problems or
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practice tests of self assessment
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basically having some sort of material
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that reflects what you might see on the
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day of the exam the bad way to use it is
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you're just trying to Breeze through and
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passively memorize the answers to the
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questions but the good way to use it is
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to actually understand why the right
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answers are right and why the wrong
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answers are wrong if when you're doing a
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practice problem like a multiple choice
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practice problem M it could potentially
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be five questions all packaged into one
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so it's like five learning points that
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you could possibly benefit from I think
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practice problems are something that
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depending on the subject you're studying
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of course is going to be like the
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default resource that's given to you any
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kind of calculation based class like
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math physics chemistry you're going to
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be given practice problems same thing in
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medicine like CU Banks of thousands of
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practice problems and the reason why I
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would encourage people to use them is
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because that is exactly how you are
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going to be tested aside from like the
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does it help you learn better versus
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does it help you get better grades I
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think those are two different outcomes
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it does get you better grades MH because
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it's how you're going to be tested I
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will give this an a tier okay moving on
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to the next one this is kind of a broad
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category but it's called study planning
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and this is really just because from
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Discord I got so many people saying that
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the best strategies they use is
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literally like I like planning my day I
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like uh uh planning my next big day so
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like the whole thing about planning is
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that you want to have a balance between
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your studying and your social life mm
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your personal life right so so planning
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is extremely important planning is just
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one of those meta skills that will help
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you just be a more productive human most
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people their idea of planning is oh I
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need to study sometime today like that
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is their their version of planning MH
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where you don't know when you're going
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to be studying you don't know what
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you're going to be studying you don't
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know how long you're going to be
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studying those are the three questions
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you should definitely answer for every
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single study session when how long and
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what and most most people don't do that
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if you're doing it with the
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intentionality that we just talked about
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study plan in is easily s tier oh for
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sure yeah I agree with that okay so the
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next one on the list here is inner
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leaving so inner leaving is not really
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like a technique more like a yeah like a
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mindset strategy of how you can
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Implement different study skills inter
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leaving basically means mixing up what
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you're studying so that you can find
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connections and relationships between a
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lot of potentially related Concepts but
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you wouldn't have found that unless you
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were thinking about how is this related
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to something else mhm the visualization
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that I like to keep in my head for
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interleaving would be like let's say
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that you're trying to be like a master
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chef at cooking fish you know this
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analogy yeah I know this I love this
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analogy so let's say that you're trying
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to like become the best um fish Chef in
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the world if you keep cooking the same
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the same dish the fish dish the same
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fish dish over and over again then
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you'll only get good at that one fish
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dish but interleaving means you're
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cooking the fish in many different ways
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so you could make sushi for example mhm
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you could make uh fish and chips I don't
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know what that looks like fish and
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chips or you can make baked fish you can
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make steamed fish there's so many ways
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to cook a fish and by doing it in so
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many different ways you see how each way
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is different you see how each way is
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related to each other you can compare
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and contrast which ways are easier
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harder which ways are more valuable
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right so all those things is what you
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get from interleaving yeah and I guess
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comparing the chef to you as a learner
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what Chef do you think knows fish better
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the one who only knows how to make
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really good what was this one foret uh
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baked fish I guess a baked fish expert
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or a chef that knows how to make all of
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these and knows why that why the flavors
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of these different dishes goes together
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clearly I would want that Chef who knows
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the wide range of things in my kitchen I
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would say as toar so next on the list is
00:07:48
priming priming basically means this is
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actually a term that comes from
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psychology behavioral psychology which
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is the way that you experience something
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where it shapes the next time that you
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see it so with studying priming means
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getting familiar with some of the stuff
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that you're about to study or learn
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before you actually get deep into
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learning it like skimming through the
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lecture slides skimming through the
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textbook chapter or like watching some
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short YouTube videos about the topic
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just to get like an overview or general
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idea about it before you go to class so
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that you're not completely lost uh and
00:08:18
seeing it for the first time mhm you're
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surveying you're scoping so many words
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for it I would say that priming is
00:08:24
really underrated because if you go to
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class and you didn't Prime the material
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and you're going to be so lost exactly
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if the teacher like once you get lost
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you're going to fall so behind that
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you're not going to be able to keep up
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then most students are just going to
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zone out and just kind of give up
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primate can be very very effective but I
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think it is actually really difficult to
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do well yeah I would actually let's just
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give it an a how about that I would give
00:08:45
it an a yeah this next strategy is
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called chunking what's chunking so
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chunking is basically reducing the
00:08:52
amount of information that you need to
00:08:53
learn group them together this is really
00:08:55
interesting analogy that I heard from um
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one of the business podcast I was
00:08:59
listening to okay but so there are these
00:09:02
human beings who actually have eaten
00:09:05
entire trains and planes like airplanes
00:09:09
oh I I think I've seen this somewhere
00:09:10
I've seen this article wow this is like
00:09:12
pretty interesting and so what they do
00:09:14
is like they take the entire plane and
00:09:16
they grind it down into powder break
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break it apart yeah yeah so they have
00:09:19
like this little container of like it's
00:09:20
like pepper so every meal they eat they
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just sprink a little bit of the plane or
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train onto their meal and they'll eat
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that yeah chunking is basically just
00:09:27
like making it easier for you to lots of
00:09:30
information yeah so anything like longer
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than a sequence of four or five is
00:09:33
really difficult for our brain to wrap
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its head around but that's why if you
00:09:37
think of like phone numbers they break
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it up into like three-digit four digigit
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four-digit instead of just like 10 in a
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row so they're chunking it by little
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groups like that so it's easier for you
00:09:45
to remember and anything that you're
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trying to learn is to break it down into
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different categories and try to see what
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is the flow and the Order of information
00:09:52
what would you give chunking kind of be
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a tier or higher okay I would say let's
00:09:56
give it an a tier so the next skill on
00:09:59
the list is syntopical reading this is
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actually something that came from
00:10:04
Mortimer Adler is that Mor Adler yeah
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Mortimer Adler morer Adler how to read a
00:10:08
book so syntopical reading simply means
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consuming multiple different resources
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at the same time to understand a topic
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so instead of just using your lecture
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slides it's also watching some YouTube
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videos reading some other textbooks I
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know that no one wants to think about
00:10:24
reading multiple textbooks for class um
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using chat GPT chat GPT talking to your
00:10:28
professor or or your classmates um that
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is supposed to give you a better
00:10:32
perspective to that subject I think it's
00:10:34
incredibly valuable cuz when you go to
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school your professor gives you one
00:10:38
point of view that's the professor's
00:10:39
point of view yeah if they wrote the
00:10:41
book then that's still that's just their
00:10:43
point of view that's true but if they
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like assign you like a textbook that was
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written by someone else then now you
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have two points of view and I know a lot
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of people like are averse to syntopical
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reading because at least when I was in
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college I hated it when my professor
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would be like oh there's all these
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optional readings you can do and as a
00:10:58
student I'm like
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I'm do extra if I don't have to I'm just
00:11:02
going to give it a b you get pretty far
00:11:05
withour and you can get lost you can get
00:11:07
lost for sure so the next technique on
00:11:09
the list is blurting blurting so this is
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basically another word for brain dumping
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I guess that's right it's just like
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you're just trying to write everything
00:11:19
that you know about a topic I think with
00:11:21
blurting the whole point of it is that
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there's no structure to it the good part
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about it I think is that it's forcing
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you to try to recall things right you're
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pulling it yeah from the Dome exactly
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recall retrieval whatever you want to
00:11:33
say but the danger of using blurting is
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like you could just be recalling facts
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uhhuh and not really thinking about how
00:11:41
everything relates together yeah and
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that's that's the problem with not
00:11:43
having structure but if you're just like
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randomly recalling everything you know
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about like Japan in a random order then
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it's probably not going to be very
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useful there's like no Direction like
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why are you doing this mhm yeah so
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having some kind of structured approach
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to blurting would make it very much
00:11:58
would make it a lot better yeah but then
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at that point it just becomes teaching
00:12:01
right not even as good as teaching
00:12:02
because you're necessarily like using
00:12:05
simple words uh I would probably say
00:12:07
like a c yeah I'm good with giving it a
00:12:11
c so the next one on the list is
00:12:15
frameworking frameworking maybe we can
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also call this like modeling uhhuh so
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frameworking basically means giving
00:12:22
structure to the way that you think
00:12:23
about something the most common types of
00:12:25
Frameworks that you might be familiar
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with from anything like a table a Gra
00:12:30
yeah um a flowchart those are all
00:12:31
different kinds of Frameworks vend
00:12:34
diagrams love V diagrams I will also say
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though that Frameworks is pretty hard to
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do it is very stressful it can take a
00:12:40
lot of time and especially if you're
00:12:42
drawing it could be like what you just
00:12:44
saw Mike doing you could spend a lot of
00:12:45
time trying to draw a framework before
00:12:48
you even get to a shape that you like
00:12:49
and so because of that I would actually
00:12:51
probably give it a b okay what would you
00:12:53
say you want to go higher I was going to
00:12:55
say a but I think B is fair okay moving
00:12:57
on to the next one we have rereading we
00:13:00
have so I don't know if we need to spend
00:13:02
too much time on rereading I think the
00:13:03
world at this point the internet knows
00:13:05
that it's not very strong and I stand
00:13:07
behind it yeah you're basically just
00:13:10
wrote learning like passive wrote
00:13:12
learning it's passive because it is not
00:13:14
challenging your brain in any capacity
00:13:16
you're just reading words it's playing
00:13:18
into this thing called the illusion of
00:13:19
familiarity so when you read something
00:13:22
your brain actually believes that it
00:13:24
understands what you read the same thing
00:13:25
is if you watch something your brain
00:13:27
understands thinks that it understands
00:13:28
what what you watched for example like
00:13:30
if you watch a documentary you will be
00:13:32
entranced in that documentary like oh my
00:13:34
God I'm learning so much about history
00:13:35
an hour later I guarantee you will have
00:13:37
forgotten like 80% of it like the
00:13:38
students who reread their notes over and
00:13:39
over and over they're just like giving
00:13:40
their brain dopamine like yeah yeah I
00:13:42
know all this I know this so easy so
00:13:43
easy so easy the moment you take it away
00:13:45
and they try to recall it they're
00:13:46
they're stuck and so rereading is just
00:13:48
dangerous for those for those reasons
00:13:51
and for that I can't give it anything
00:13:53
lower than a d I would have give it an F
00:13:54
if I could like d for detrimental d d
00:13:58
for damage d just major damage so the
00:14:01
next one here we can quickly talk about
00:14:03
going to class what do you think about
00:14:05
going to class I mean it depends like if
00:14:07
it's mandatory or not like that's like
00:14:10
the thing we always see like in our
00:14:11
community like I have to go to class I
00:14:13
have to sign in or also I'll fail I
00:14:15
think going to class for the typical
00:14:17
student in the US cuz that's all most of
00:14:20
the students I know is not very good
00:14:23
because they do not prime they go in
00:14:25
completely blind to class usually in
00:14:27
college after terrible night of drinking
00:14:30
and partying M and or being hung over
00:14:32
and or maybe being drunk in class who
00:14:33
knows like what kids do nowadays but for
00:14:35
all those reasons if you go to class
00:14:37
without preparing without having even a
00:14:39
pencil and a notebook without knowing
00:14:40
anything it's a wasted hour mhm or or
00:14:43
more depending on how long the class is
00:14:45
yeah but if you do all the things you're
00:14:46
supposed to do which is like Prime and
00:14:47
then like be prepared and then pay
00:14:49
attention and ask questions then it can
00:14:50
be pretty useful so it's pretty in the
00:14:53
middle for me like I don't know what I
00:14:54
would say I don't know I have nothing
00:14:55
more to add to that I would agree it's
00:14:58
just hard because like coming from med
00:14:59
school it wasn't mandatory yeah it was
00:15:01
great so I never went to class yeah and
00:15:04
the thing is like it actually made me
00:15:05
more self-reliant yeah and it made me
00:15:07
like more autonomous with my studying
00:15:09
because I didn't go I'm going to give it
00:15:10
a c yeah c for class yeah next one on
00:15:13
the list highlighting basically just
00:15:15
highlighting over words and sentences
00:15:17
that you think are important yeah going
00:15:19
to highlight this here I generally don't
00:15:22
think it's too useful like if you're
00:15:24
reading rereading your notes and you're
00:15:25
highlighting important things in your
00:15:27
notes then it's already passive you're
00:15:29
not really adding much more if you're
00:15:30
like uh tree noting or mind mapping and
00:15:33
you're using highlighting like color
00:15:34
coding in your mind maps to to make
00:15:36
things pop out then I think that's
00:15:39
pretty useful I think what they're
00:15:40
referring to is what you said before you
00:15:41
think it might be useful so you
00:15:42
highlight it to come back to it again
00:15:44
later but that is the problem right
00:15:46
there if you're highlighting something
00:15:47
because you don't want to forget it
00:15:48
because you want to come back to it
00:15:50
again then you're just not learning then
00:15:51
you are basically just delaying learning
00:15:54
and that's D is D like you're not
00:15:56
learning you're waiting you're delaying
00:15:59
deeper delaying delay next one on the
00:16:01
list rewatching didn't we just do this
00:16:03
similar to rereading I guess we talked
00:16:05
about it already I'm also going to give
00:16:06
this one a d we can just Breeze by it do
00:16:08
we even need to talk about it no not
00:16:09
really D re rewatching is a d if you
00:16:12
didn't get anything the first time then
00:16:14
if you re-watch it without any new
00:16:16
information then you're also not going
00:16:17
to get anything out of it yeah so the
00:16:19
next one on the list here is space
00:16:21
repetition so space repetition I don't
00:16:23
even know if it's like actually like a
00:16:24
study strategy strategy it's a strategy
00:16:26
and it basically is the opposite of
00:16:29
cramming so you can be spending the same
00:16:31
overall amount of time on a subject but
00:16:33
you're just doing it either all at once
00:16:34
which is cramming or spacing which is
00:16:37
over time and what science has shown us
00:16:40
is that spacing is far superior to
00:16:42
cramming I think I'll add a little bit
00:16:44
to it I tried to draw a brain here I
00:16:45
don't know if that I mean there a shape
00:16:47
of a brain and I've have labeled this
00:16:49
working memory and this is long-term
00:16:51
memory those are not like the actual
00:16:53
accurate locations but just we'll just
00:16:56
go with it for now they're actually
00:16:57
flipped but oh okay when you space
00:16:59
things out it gives your brain a chance
00:17:01
to take the information you learn and
00:17:02
put it into long-term memory so that's
00:17:04
like you need time for your brain to
00:17:07
connect the ideas M to long-term memory
00:17:10
the reason you want to do it a little
00:17:11
bit every single day is because during
00:17:13
the time that you're not like the in
00:17:15
between time is when your brain actually
00:17:17
moves information into long-term memory
00:17:19
so if you don't give your brain some
00:17:21
time to like debrief process information
00:17:23
then it actually just forgets it and so
00:17:25
if you cram it all at once and then you
00:17:26
take your exam and you never look at it
00:17:28
again most of that stuff didn't go to
00:17:30
your long-term memory so you're going to
00:17:31
lose it all M so spacing is just like a
00:17:33
way to incrementally add building blocks
00:17:35
to what you know without losing at all
00:17:37
if your if your goal is long-term
00:17:38
retention then it's pretty high yeah
00:17:41
maybe an a yeah let's give it an A or an
00:17:43
S I mean it depends I going to give it
00:17:45
an A so the next one on the list is mind
00:17:47
mapping well basically the point I was
00:17:50
trying to make with like mind map mind
00:17:52
mapping uh is that it's similar to
00:17:54
blurting a lot of people want to use it
00:17:57
uh because it's like a trendy uh
00:17:59
technique but without very clear
00:18:03
protocol or guidelines or structure on
00:18:04
how to use it then you can use it
00:18:06
incorrectly and waste a lot of time
00:18:08
here's like a typical mind map you would
00:18:09
see it's like it's hard to know like
00:18:12
what the ideas are because everything
00:18:14
just looks so monotonous because the
00:18:18
passive way to mind map is like you're
00:18:19
just reading oh I'm reading chapter 1
00:18:22
and chapter 1 has like three subsections
00:18:25
and you're just you're just literally
00:18:26
like transcribing the entire chapter
00:18:30
into like a different layout without
00:18:32
really thinking about how how like how
00:18:33
does this relate with this how does this
00:18:35
relate with this one over here how does
00:18:37
like this part relate with that over
00:18:38
there it's like most people in my map
00:18:41
they just transcribe but like when you
00:18:43
have like a structure to follow that
00:18:45
forces you to think about information
00:18:47
then like a better mind map would be
00:18:48
like you're using Color to emphasize
00:18:51
like this is different from that because
00:18:53
of this you're using arrows you're using
00:18:55
different shapes like you're you're
00:18:57
actually trying to compare the
00:18:59
information to each other and see how
00:19:00
they're related I think that's like the
00:19:02
most powerful part of my map so we have
00:19:04
like two videos that we've made on this
00:19:06
already that we can link above we don't
00:19:08
want to get too into it but the trino is
00:19:10
a framework that we teach where each
00:19:12
letter gives you like pretty clear
00:19:13
instructions on how to get the most out
00:19:15
your my maps so I would probably just
00:19:17
give it an a even a b maybe yeah a let's
00:19:21
give it an a next one on the list
00:19:22
neonics what is a neonic is basically a
00:19:25
good way to memorize like lists of
00:19:29
things where you just like create a
00:19:31
pattern or create like a rhyme or create
00:19:34
some sort of mini framework where you
00:19:36
just memorizing a list yeah um usually
00:19:38
there's no Rhyme or Reason to this just
00:19:41
memorizing them and it's useful like
00:19:43
when you're memorizing large lists or a
00:19:44
lot of things like in med school
00:19:46
everyone used neonics for sure there's
00:19:48
tons of neonics there was like the
00:19:49
cranial nerves one it's like fun ways to
00:19:51
memorize things but the thing is you
00:19:53
have to actually memorize the neonic too
00:19:55
and it doesn't really help you use the
00:19:57
information it just helps you
00:19:59
recall it so then you fall into the risk
00:20:01
of just recalling isolated details and
00:20:04
not really understanding the big picture
00:20:05
M yeah I would give pneumonics to see so
00:20:07
the next one on the list is not really a
00:20:10
technique again more just what people
00:20:14
have to do which is sleep a necessity
00:20:16
yeah sleep is something that should not
00:20:19
ever be sacrificed I mean
00:20:22
ever Beyond school well I mean like I
00:20:25
sleep people agree that it's healthy
00:20:27
it's good for you like no one is going
00:20:28
to deny that sleep is good but I think
00:20:31
the the part about sleep that some
00:20:33
people Overlook is that it's actually
00:20:34
good for your learning because while
00:20:36
you're sleeping that's when your memory
00:20:38
is getting Consolidated that's when
00:20:40
everything that you've learned during
00:20:41
the daytime is being moved into your
00:20:44
long-term memory it's like what you're
00:20:45
doing right now you took the memory card
00:20:46
out and you're you're trying to save it
00:20:48
into your laptop yeah so we so we can
00:20:50
continue learning capturing exactly like
00:20:53
think of this the camera as your brain
00:20:55
which our our memory card just ran out
00:20:57
of space because the camera because we
00:20:59
didn't sleep I don't think anyone will
00:21:00
deny how good it feels to wake up after
00:21:03
a good night's rest sleep it is s tier
00:21:06
hands down yes sleep is sleep tier
00:21:09
basically so next one on the list is
00:21:12
doing homework oh this is interesting
00:21:14
generally speaking I disagree with
00:21:16
homework but that is simply because for
00:21:18
the most part homework is attached to a
00:21:21
grade or percentage and when you tell a
00:21:24
student they have to do an assignment or
00:21:26
else that puts them into a state of a
00:21:28
fear of missing points fomo and so they
00:21:30
will do whatever it takes to complete
00:21:32
that assignment and forego any potential
00:21:34
benefit of learning from it I've been a
00:21:36
student who also does this where like if
00:21:38
you have like a take-home quiz like
00:21:39
everyone just forms study groups and
00:21:41
they just share answers they just like
00:21:42
we just take turns like today this
00:21:44
person is going to do it and the next
00:21:45
week I'll do it we'll share it together
00:21:47
it's like a commune of just copying
00:21:49
homework and answers together MH and so
00:21:51
if that's the case it is incredibly
00:21:53
unhelpful I think if homework was
00:21:55
optional and or not part of your grade
00:21:57
and it was really just for or giving you
00:21:59
feedback about how to improve your
00:22:00
learning it can be useful mhm but for
00:22:02
the most part I don't think anyone uses
00:22:05
homework in a way that is useful you got
00:22:06
to be strategic about your homework you
00:22:08
don't have to do all of your homework
00:22:10
yeah but you shouldn't skip all of your
00:22:12
homework um how much of your grade is it
00:22:14
worth and um if it's not worth very much
00:22:17
then you fall into the Trap of like
00:22:18
homework feels very urgent to do but is
00:22:20
it actually important like is are you
00:22:22
actually going to learn something from
00:22:23
it or are you better off doing something
00:22:25
else to learn better exactly yeah that's
00:22:28
all yeah so I'm going to give homework a
00:22:29
c just because I don't want anyone
00:22:31
failing out of school because of me next
00:22:33
one on the list is studying with music
00:22:36
um yeah I got mixed feelings about this
00:22:38
one a lot of studies on music and
00:22:40
basically music is not that great but
00:22:42
it's just so enjoyable yeah speak that
00:22:45
it makes me yeah I like using music to
00:22:47
study I know I'm just kidding I think
00:22:49
that um I think that music gives you
00:22:50
like that enjoyability factors like I
00:22:52
remember I would never take practice
00:22:54
tests with music because I really need
00:22:57
every single brain cell possible if you
00:22:59
follow these three practices that I do
00:23:01
for music then it might not be as bad as
00:23:03
you think one don't listen to it too
00:23:06
loud that is very distracting two listen
00:23:09
to music that is without lyrics you
00:23:11
don't want to be singing along to
00:23:12
anything and three don't pick music
00:23:14
that's too slow because I found at least
00:23:16
for myself that if it's a little bit
00:23:17
fast I would say like between anywhere
00:23:19
between like 90 and
00:23:21
125 130 BPM is probably the best range
00:23:24
to be in are people even going to know
00:23:26
what that means you don't want it too
00:23:27
fast cuz it's going to get too ramped up
00:23:29
and so if you have it too slow then it's
00:23:31
going to doze you off so so what about
00:23:32
like binaural beats cuz like the the
00:23:35
point there is like you're trying to
00:23:36
sync your brain waves to like a certain
00:23:39
yeah I would I don't know if if I
00:23:40
consider binaural beats music though
00:23:42
yeah it's like sound I don't know I have
00:23:45
uh I guess we if we want to classify it
00:23:47
differently yeah I mean there are some
00:23:48
sounds that could be helpful like white
00:23:49
noise is helpful for people right music
00:23:52
I was specifically talking about
00:23:53
something that's like someone created
00:23:54
for entertainment purposes yeah
00:23:57
enjoyable artistic music is more
00:24:00
artistic music a c as much as I hate to
00:24:02
say it hate to see it music is a c all
00:24:05
right next one on the list creating
00:24:07
content super underrated actually yeah I
00:24:11
think creating content or reframing
00:24:13
creating I think creating content is a
00:24:15
very specific use case of it learning
00:24:16
through having a reason to create
00:24:18
something yeah is an incredibly powerful
00:24:20
way to learn for us at least on YouTube
00:24:22
it's like we have a reason to learn
00:24:24
because we want to teach we want to make
00:24:25
these videos and so it forces us to
00:24:27
learn a different things not just like
00:24:30
the study and the learning stuff that we
00:24:31
teach we learned how to set up our
00:24:33
cameras we learned how to Market we
00:24:34
learned how to advertise them how to
00:24:35
sell all these different skills came
00:24:37
from us trying to achieve some kind of
00:24:40
project which is like a YouTube channel
00:24:41
so I think if you can attach what you're
00:24:43
learning to some kind of project to
00:24:45
become some kind of hobby yeah like ever
00:24:47
since we've been creating I think the
00:24:49
important part about creating is it
00:24:50
forces action yeah and I think that
00:24:52
learning is taking action doing things
00:24:56
reading is not learning just
00:24:58
yeah you're just consuming things
00:25:00
creating anything with it yes but
00:25:02
learning means like you're behaving
00:25:04
you're acting you're doing something so
00:25:07
just thinking about the word create that
00:25:10
is learning creation is learning reading
00:25:12
is not learning that's all I think
00:25:14
that's really important distinction yeah
00:25:16
and it's really fun I mean I think every
00:25:18
human this is maybe us going on a
00:25:20
soapbox but every human is creative you
00:25:22
just haven't tapped into what it is to
00:25:24
be human is to be creative exactly you
00:25:26
just haven't tapped into what it is that
00:25:28
you like to create you can be like a
00:25:29
doctor that creates like a treatment
00:25:31
plan you can be like an accountant that
00:25:33
creates like spreadsheets it's like
00:25:36
creating data from data is extremely
00:25:38
valuable um so yeah creating just
00:25:40
basically means that you are practicing
00:25:42
what you're what you're learning yeah
00:25:44
you're synthesizing ideas to generate
00:25:47
something that came from you that came
00:25:49
from there um expressing that and so
00:25:51
that is very valuable creating content I
00:25:53
mean I am I'm going to say it's stier
00:25:56
I'm biased also but yeah it is stier all
00:25:58
right so the next one on the list is not
00:26:00
really again a technique um exercise it
00:26:03
could be a technique oh but yeah I mean
00:26:06
it's like a like a bench press yeah
00:26:08
exercise improves your memory and all
00:26:10
that stuff um exercise helps like Focus
00:26:13
too uhhuh so your energy levels there's
00:26:15
so much that goes into it yeah I agree I
00:26:18
mean you cover everything I would say
00:26:19
exercise is very valuable I it's not
00:26:21
like mandatory like sleep is yeah it
00:26:24
doesn't yeah it's not mandatory like
00:26:25
sleep is I say if like a b or a I don't
00:26:28
know what do you think uh I'll just give
00:26:30
it a b cuz I do know a lot of people who
00:26:32
don't exercise and they still crush it
00:26:34
and learn next on the list is group
00:26:36
discussions I think group discussions
00:26:38
like many of these can be done very very
00:26:40
well and it can be incredibly useless it
00:26:43
comes back to mind mapping and blurting
00:26:45
it's like you need a structure for group
00:26:47
discussions cuz if you don't it's going
00:26:49
to quickly be a waste of time get out of
00:26:51
hand you can learn so much like
00:26:53
especially if the the people you you
00:26:54
surround yourself with the five people
00:26:57
that you want to be most like it's also
00:26:58
yeah you're talking like a mastermind
00:27:00
then at that point that's like a
00:27:01
mastermind yeah like why did I get into
00:27:02
med school because I surrounded myself
00:27:04
with preds who wanted to get into med
00:27:05
school right um that's just plain and
00:27:07
simple yeah if you're doing it in a way
00:27:10
where you're just hanging out with your
00:27:11
buddies who procrastinate all the time
00:27:12
they play video games on their phones no
00:27:14
one's prepared or no one's like read the
00:27:16
lectures you get together and try to
00:27:17
study you will be better off on your own
00:27:20
versus participating in the group
00:27:22
because most people probably don't use
00:27:23
it cuz you don't need it sure but yeah
00:27:26
it's pretty good so you can get by
00:27:28
studying solo yeah it's and sometimes
00:27:30
it's hard to find people who are like
00:27:31
actually self-improver and yeah but like
00:27:34
Beyond school and after graduation group
00:27:37
learning and group working is definitely
00:27:39
s tier that quote like if you want to go
00:27:41
fast go alone if you want to go far go
00:27:43
together next one on the list is visual
00:27:45
associations visual associations is
00:27:48
basically breaking a concept down and
00:27:50
then turning into a visual one easy way
00:27:52
to use visualization say you're mind
00:27:55
mapping right and in this mind map you
00:27:57
have like a bunch of different ideas
00:28:00
coming off of this one thing mhm is
00:28:02
there a way that you can ask yourself
00:28:05
how do these all relate to each other
00:28:07
and can you turn all of this into like
00:28:09
one single picture like and tell a story
00:28:12
with it like maybe there's like a I'm
00:28:13
just drawing a storm cloud with a
00:28:15
thunderbolt I don't know why just but
00:28:17
like maybe all of this reminds you of
00:28:19
like you know a storm so then you would
00:28:22
just instead of drawing all these out
00:28:24
you can just draw the storm here and
00:28:26
instantly by looking at this one image
00:28:28
you will know all of these together so I
00:28:30
guess the the point of visualization is
00:28:32
you're can you're you're breaking things
00:28:34
down into their simplest parts and then
00:28:36
you're making it so that you can recall
00:28:38
it as fast as possible it would take you
00:28:41
like minutes to read this whole page of
00:28:43
notes but if you turn like chunks of
00:28:45
these pages into like a visual you know
00:28:48
MH then instantly by looking at like one
00:28:51
of these things you know like oh this
00:28:54
this picture means all of this stuff
00:28:56
yeah and just looking at it like what is
00:28:58
it a picture is worth a thousand words M
00:29:00
um just looking at it you'll be able to
00:29:02
review your notes much faster but I
00:29:05
would give visual associations and a I
00:29:07
would say I think it's pretty powerful
00:29:09
all right next up on the list is chat
00:29:12
gping which is funny because it used to
00:29:15
be Googling oh yeah but now it's chat
00:29:16
gping chat gping I mean pretty soon it's
00:29:19
probably going to be whatever else the
00:29:21
next AI the next AI like Bing or yeah
00:29:25
binging or whatever other ones are um I
00:29:28
recently saw this uh interview with um
00:29:31
the CEO of Nvidia he was saying like the
00:29:33
most important skill to learn in the
00:29:36
future is prompting like knowing how to
00:29:39
talk to AI I was very shocked because
00:29:41
not too long ago everyone was saying
00:29:43
that the most important skill to learn
00:29:45
was coding now ai can do a lot of the
00:29:46
coding for you and what's more important
00:29:48
is knowing how to talk to the AI to get
00:29:50
what you want when you're trying to
00:29:51
learn knowing how to prompt means that
00:29:53
you have to understand what to ask it
00:29:55
yeah so it forces you to think about the
00:29:57
information in a way like like how do I
00:29:59
extract exactly what I want from the AI
00:30:01
it requires you to critically think so I
00:30:03
think that prompting I guess we should
00:30:05
probably call it prompting I don't know
00:30:07
if it would be an S tier but like just
00:30:09
the idea of prompt yeah probably like a
00:30:12
probably b or an A yeah I'm going to
00:30:14
give it a I'm going to give it a b tier
00:30:16
just because it's so easy for us to over
00:30:19
rely and or offload learning to AI or
00:30:24
algorithms instead of trying to
00:30:26
understand ourself you come up with the
00:30:28
really good prompt and AI just does all
00:30:29
of the work for you and then you don't
00:30:31
have to try it all to piece it together
00:30:32
or learn then it could be a bit harmful
00:30:35
also to use it as a crutch and so with
00:30:37
that caveat in mind I'm just going to
00:30:38
give it a b finally on the list we have
00:30:40
cramming cramming well I mean if
00:30:42
cramming is the opposite of space
00:30:44
repetition then does it automatically
00:30:46
make it a D since spacing is like an a
00:30:49
well yeah I mean I like annais like
00:30:52
cramming uhhuh I like cramming in the
00:30:54
fact that if you are cramming
00:30:56
efficiently which is like I only have
00:30:59
this much time what are the most
00:31:01
valuable things I need to extract from
00:31:02
it I think that's a really good way to
00:31:04
approach learning because you are
00:31:05
focused on like the high yield what is
00:31:07
the most high yield stuff that it needs
00:31:08
to know mhm but if cramming you mean by
00:31:12
you only study for like 2 hours for your
00:31:13
exam ever then I don't think it's that
00:31:15
good the way you don't want to cram is
00:31:17
to lose sleep sleep is an S tier
00:31:19
technique and a lot of people sacrifice
00:31:21
sleep with cramming or by cramming I
00:31:24
think cramming was pretty valuable for
00:31:25
me like when I was in college and I was
00:31:27
taking like a lot of classes that I
00:31:29
didn't care for or that were really
00:31:31
boring or I I knew I wasn't going to be
00:31:33
using like prisoner studies or something
00:31:36
like that or like yeah anthropology or
00:31:38
something um I would just cram for the
00:31:40
quiz do well and then you know move on
00:31:42
with my life cuz it was like a required
00:31:43
class so it's it's useful in some cases
00:31:46
yeah but it could be detrimental if you
00:31:48
sacrifice other things I don't think
00:31:50
it's a good habit to get into if
00:31:52
anything you want to build systems that
00:31:53
are sustainable and that are over
00:31:56
inherently not stressful M cramming is a
00:31:59
system that is incred stressful whenever
00:32:01
you do it like whenever someone says I
00:32:03
have to cram for this exam it's never
00:32:04
coming from a place of positivity mhm
00:32:06
and it's never coming from a place of
00:32:08
excitement it's always dread remorse and
00:32:10
or regret um I I mean c for cramming I
00:32:13
guess I'll give it a c yeah it's in the
00:32:14
name we we'll just give it it's the
00:32:16
average technique that average people
00:32:17
use so looking at this list we got 1 2
00:32:19
three four five s's it's actually more
00:32:22
than I thought we're going to have
00:32:23
actually do we need to bump any of these
00:32:24
down I mean it's just got to you just
00:32:26
got to have your honest opin right yeah
00:32:29
no our this is what we're saying here is
00:32:30
absolute truth this is how we would rank
00:32:32
study skills and all those things you
00:32:34
just describe there thinking about the
00:32:36
system thinking about how do we reach
00:32:38
desire difficulty how do we challenge
00:32:40
ourselves how do we avoid you know
00:32:42
passive learning these are all things
00:32:44
that we go into very deep with our
00:32:46
program study Quest I think in general
00:32:48
there's a lot of techniques and there is
00:32:51
a optimal way to use it and there's like
00:32:53
a not so optimal way to use it yeah and
00:32:55
one of the things that we really
00:32:56
emphasize in study Quest is we make sure
00:32:58
that you use the techniques correctly so
00:33:00
that you're getting the most out of your
00:33:01
learning yeah it's our program if you're
00:33:03
interested then we'll have links in the
00:33:04
description below go ahead and check it
00:33:06
out let us know if we got anything wrong
00:33:07
if you completely disagree if you love
00:33:09
it if there are some things you want to
00:33:11
try or if there are anything things that
00:33:12
we missed that should be in this list