How to Finish 7 Weeks of Studying in 3 Days (from a Med Student)
Summary
TLDRSalim, a final year med student, shares his Crunch Method for efficient studying. He advises starting by listing and prioritizing topics using a study matrix based on importance and personal strengths/weaknesses. Salim then recommends 'priming' topics for a general understanding before delving into details. He emphasizes active retrieval through mind mapping and practice questions to reinforce learning. The method also includes building a foundational knowledge, filling gaps with high-yield information from videos, and deepening connections by revisiting content for details. Salim concludes with strategies to maintain discipline and motivation in studying.
Takeaways
- đ **Efficient Studying**: Salim emphasizes the importance of studying efficiently to maximize output while minimizing effort.
- đ **Crunch Method**: Introduces the Crunch Method, a systematic approach to studying that covers from starting points to memorization techniques.
- đ **Listing Topics**: Advises to list out topics and sub-topics, grouping them based on their relevance and your strengths or weaknesses.
- đŻ **Study Matrix**: Recommends creating a study matrix to prioritize topics based on importance and personal proficiency.
- đ€ **Determining Importance**: Suggests determining the importance of topics by consulting seniors, syllabus, past papers, and online resources.
- đ **Identifying Strengths and Weaknesses**: Encourages self-assessment of strengths and weaknesses by reflecting on past performance and study time.
- đ **Grouping Sub-Topics**: Highlights the benefits of grouping closely related sub-topics to build stronger connections and aid memory retention.
- đ **Priming Content**: Stresses the need to get a general idea of a topic before delving into details, using key headings and summaries.
- đ§ **Active Retrieval**: Emphasizes the value of active retrieval of information to enhance memory retention.
- đ **Building on Foundation**: Discusses the process of filling knowledge gaps through practice questions and educational videos.
- đ **Deepening Connections**: Suggests revisiting content to find smaller details and deepen connections between topics.
- đ„ **Group Study**: Recommends studying with friends to practice active recall and gain different perspectives on topics.
- đȘ **Motivation and Discipline**: Touches on the importance of motivation and discipline, with a teaser for a video on how to study without relying on them.
Q & A
What is the main goal of the Crunch Method?
-The Crunch Method aims to maximize study output while minimizing effort, allowing students to study efficiently and have time for other activities.
How should students begin organizing their study topics?
-Students should list out their topics and subjects, breaking them down into sub-topics and grouping them based on their relatedness to create a study matrix.
What criteria should be used to determine the importance of study topics?
-To determine importance, students can ask seniors about exam topics, check syllabi for major topics, review past papers, and look for online discussions about key focus areas.
Why is it important to group related sub-topics together?
-Grouping related sub-topics helps build a stronger connection between concepts, making it easier to remember information and study more efficiently.
What initial steps should be taken when approaching a new topic?
-Students should cover the basics by skimming through content, focusing on key headings and chapter summaries, and making a mind map of what they remember.
How can practice questions aid in the study process?
-Looking at practice questions helps identify gaps in knowledge without answering them immediately, allowing students to focus on high-yield information.
What role do videos play in the study process according to the script?
-Videos provide engaging and dense information, making it easier to absorb key concepts and fill in knowledge gaps after initial study.
How should students handle less important content after building a foundation?
-Once a foundation is established, students can focus on smaller details and revisit textbooks or resources to deepen their understanding of those topics.
What is the significance of active recall in studying?
-Active recall enhances retention by prompting students to retrieve information from memory, which is more effective than passive review.
What strategies can help students maintain motivation to study?
-The speaker shares techniques to work without relying on motivation or discipline, emphasizing the importance of developing habits that encourage consistent study.
Outlines
đ Mastering Efficient Study Techniques
In this paragraph, Salim, a final year medical student, introduces the concept of the Crunch Method, which aims to maximize study output while minimizing effort. He emphasizes the importance of knowing where to start by listing topics and breaking them down into sub-topics. This helps in creating a study matrix that prioritizes subjects based on their relevance and the student's strengths or weaknesses. Salim advises consulting seniors and reviewing past exams to identify important topics. He also discusses the significance of grouping related sub-topics to enhance understanding and retention. An example of cardiology is provided to illustrate how to categorize topics effectively, highlighting the need to focus on high-yield areas while not getting bogged down by less important subjects.
đ„ Engaging with Content for Better Retention
This paragraph focuses on the approach to studying each topic after identifying them. Salim stresses the importance of covering the basics first to gain a general understanding before delving into details. He suggests priming through content by identifying key headings and summarizing main ideas during lectures or while reading textbooks. After this initial review, he recommends creating mind maps to visualize connections between topics. Salim highlights the necessity of taking time to actively recall information, which aids in retention. He provides an example of how to approach heart attacks by identifying key concepts and questions, emphasizing that this foundational knowledge is crucial for building a deeper understanding of the subject matter.
Mindmap
Keywords
đĄEfficient Studying
đĄStudy Matrix
đĄPrioritization
đĄActive Retrieval
đĄMindmap
đĄPrime Through Content
đĄHigh-Yield Information
đĄDeepening Connections
đĄActive Recall
đĄMotivation and Discipline
Highlights
Maximize study output and minimize effort to achieve high grades efficiently.
The Crunch Method is introduced for efficient studying.
Studying starts before sitting down to study with 'Knowing Where to Start'.
List out topics and sub-topics, and group them based on their relation.
Use a study matrix to prioritize topics based on strengths, weaknesses, and importance.
Determine importance by asking seniors, checking syllabus, and consulting online resources.
Identify strengths and weaknesses by reviewing past performance and study time.
Group closely related sub-topics to build stronger connections and aid memory.
Difficulty in a subject does not equate to its importance.
Example of breaking down cardiology into sub-topics and prioritizing them.
Approach each topic by covering the basics before delving into details.
Prime through content by focusing on key headings and summaries.
Review content by creating a mindmap to find connections between topics.
Active retrieval of information helps in better retention.
Build on the foundation by filling in gaps with practice questions and videos.
Practice questions are a source of high-yield, relevant information.
YouTube videos can be more engaging and informative than textbooks.
After building a foundation, focus on smaller details for higher marks.
Review content for smaller details and add them to your mindmaps.
Practice questions and quizzes with friends can help fill in gaps.
Repeating the method for each topic or group ensures a high level of understanding.
The method works by layering information for efficient learning and self-testing.
Motivation and discipline are not always necessary for effective studying.
Further strategies for making oneself study without relying on motivation or discipline are discussed in another video.
Transcripts
Imagine if you could finish all of your work in just a few days and still get the highest grade, Â
instead of being like everyone else spending months studying and barely making any progress..
Iâm Salim, Iâm a final year med student, but Iâve also done an undergrad and postgraduate Â
degree - so Iâve spent more time studying than most people would do in their entire life.
But that helped me figure out how I can maximize my study output and minimize my effort, Â
so that I study efficiently and still have time for other things in my life.
So Iâll go through the Crunch Method so that you can do the same - and this covers the best Â
approach to studying from knowing where to start to knowing how to remember everything you learn.
And each part connects with the next, so watch until the end to maximize your study efficiency.
So when it comes to studying efficiently, it isnât just about the time when you sit down to study.
Because it starts even before, with Knowing Where to Start - and thereâs quite a few parts to this, Â
so Iâll give a personal example at the end of this section to help you visualize it better.
But the first thing you need to do is list out the topics and subjects you have on one document, Â
breaking them down into sub-topics, and grouping them based on how closely related they are.
This is so that you can place them into a study matrix, which is a way to prioritize Â
topics based on both your strengths or weaknesses, and how important a topic is.
But how can you tell if something is important, or if something is or isnât Â
a strength of yours - so for importance, ask your seniors for what came up in their exams and what Â
was emphasised by teachers or professors, check your syllabus for the biggest topics, Â
same for past papers, and even check online for what seems important to focus on.
The last is especially useful because thereâs definitely a Â
post online where someone asked the same questions for your exact subject.
And for knowing your strengths or weaknesses, look at how you did in past exams, or how much Â
time youâve spent on the topics so far and what you remember from them.
And remember to the start, I said to group sub-topics based on how Â
closely related they are - this is because these bigger groups share some fundamental Â
knowledge so that you can go through them faster and build a stronger connection, Â
helping you remember for longer - so shift these grouped sub-topics higher up in your study matrix.
Just make sure to group these quite sparingly - if Â
thereâs very little connection, donât group topics together.
So now for an example to help you visualize, if I broke down cardiology into sub-topics, it includes Â
heart attacks, dyslipidaemia, arrhythmias, high blood pressure, cardiomyopathies, and more.
The closely related sub-topics includes heart attacks, high blood pressure, Â
and dyslipidaemia - and they all happen to come up a lot in past papers.
So them having a lot of connections between each other and other topics, Â
and being common in past exams ranks them high in the study matrix.
But on the other end, itâs important to realise that, Â
if something is difficult, doesnât mean itâs important.
I remember how I didnât know much biochemistry, making it a weakness.
But when I saw past papers, no questions on them came up, Â
and my seniors said to ignore them too -Â so that ranked it low in the study matrix.
And in the end, it didnât come up in my exams.
This first step of knowing where to start gets you through the most important and relevant Â
things first, which is necessary if you want to do as much as possible in as little time.
So for now ignore anything too complicated, Â
because later in the video, Iâll tell you the best time to do them.
So now you know how to start, but how do you actually approach each topic? So Â
again thereâs a few parts to this and as before Iâll give an example at the end.
But the first thing you need to do is cover your bases - this is about making Â
sure you get a general idea of whatâs in a topic, before you go into the details.
Because how many times have you done a class or lecture where you kept taking Â
notes on specific things, but after the lecture, you couldnât remember anything?
Whatâs important to do first, whether thatâs in a lecture, Â
from your textbooks or anything else, is to prime through the content.
For lectures or classes, this is just sitting there to listen, only taking notes on key Â
headings that come up in the lecture slides, or making a few questions based on the lecture.
For going through textbooks, thatâs focusing again on key headings, Â
but also chapter summaries, because those will focus on the key principles of the topics.
Right after youâve finished doing this, review what you went through by making some form of Â
mindmap of anything you can remember, also trying to find connections between what you went through.
These connections are especially important if you went through the sub-topics that Â
you could group together, as in the first part of this video.
For this part, people rush and move on straight away if they donât remember, but itâs important Â
that you give about 15 to 30 seconds to really think hard about what you went through.
Because this active retrieval of information from your brain helps Â
you retain information better than if you were to quickly move on - so Â
itâs important if youâre trying to go through a lot in a short amount of time.
This is all going to create the first, most basic layer of your Â
knowledge that helps you understand the core concepts and vaguely how they come Â
together - and the rest of the content you go through will build on this layer.
So as an example, if Iâm going through heart attacks, Iâll prime through the Â
content by picking out the headings, such as the anatomy of the arteries, Â
the types of heart attacks and how they present, and the management.
And Iâd think of any questions that would be good to know the answer to, Â
making sure I actively try to remember what I read.
This shouldnât take more than 10-15 minutes to do because itâs a very brief run through of the Â
key points - but this already cuts down on the hours you would have spent on a single lecture.
And this leads onto the next point which is knowing How to Build on this foundation.
So youâll realise from your initial approach of the last section that Â
thereâs a lot of gaps in what you know, which is normal - and in this point, Â
thereâs a lot of things that help you fill in these gaps to remember everything.
The first might sound weird, but itâs to look at practise questions Â
for the topics youâve gone through, but not actually do them - the idea is to just skim Â
through the questions and think about whether youâd be able to answer them.
If you donât know the answer, write down what this question is about.
The reason to do this is because practise questions, whether from textbooks, Â
your lectures, or online question banks, are more likely to cover the high-yield, Â
more relevant information in your topics.
And once you have a list of these questions on the topic, you can start to fill in Â
the gaps - and one of the best ways to do this is by watching videos on the topics.
Because YouTube videos are created in a way thatâs more engaging and more dense with Â
information than your textbooks or classes, making it faster to absorb key information.
And only after youâve seen these videos, try to answer the questions, Â
and fill in the gaps you had in your initial mindmap from the previous section of the video.
This works well because you arenât just gaining information and moving on to the next topic, Â
youâre gaining information and testing yourself at the same time, which is what Â
helps your brain actively engage and then store that information for the long-term.
For example, if I do questions on cardiology, Â
I might notice things I missed such as how to investigate and diagnose a heart attack, Â
or treatments to prevent future heart attacks, so Iâll look more into them after.
Doing this on the high yield and important parts of the topic builds a solid foundation Â
of knowledge made up of the first layer from the approach section of the video, Â
and from the gaps you filled from this section.
And this map of key information keeps you from Â
having to constantly check through massive textbooks or lecture slides.
And now I know what youâre thinking, what about the content that isnât as Â
high yield that you would need to know for the higher marks?
So now, you can start to worry about that, because after building a foundation, Â
these smaller details are easier to remember now that you have connections to work with.
And if you remember back to the section on approaching your work, Â
I said to prime through the content briefly - so now as part of filling Â
in your gaps to deepen your connections, go back to your textbooks, lecture slides, Â
or online resources, and read through the content that you briefly went through before.
But this time, look for the smaller details that you missed, making sure Â
to add them to wherever they fit in your mindmaps.
This is going to make you actively remember associations between sub-topics and the small Â
details, so you again learn and test yourself at the same time.
After youâve done one round of this, go back to questions, Â
and you should find yourself feeling that you can answer a lot more than before.
And at this point, you should start doing the questions instead of just Â
looking at whether the content of them seems familiar to you.
Just make sure that when you do them, give yourself those 15 to 30 seconds of time to Â
really try and remember what you went through, instead of rushing through the questions.
But doing questions isnât the only way to practise, Â
and being able to repeat these steps a few times in different ways itâs what can help Â
you build a high level of understanding for your topics in a short amount of time.
And another way to make sure you fill in any gaps is going Â
through questions or quizzes with your friends.
Whether thatâs doing online question banks or past paper questions together or even Â
making your own questions, do them together so that you can take turns in answering them.
This works well because if you donât know one question, chances are one of your friends would, Â
so they can explain it to you by giving a brief summary with only key information - and that helps Â
them too since theyâll practise active recall as they retrieve information from their brain.
If you find yourself getting quite a few questions wrong within a sub-topic, repeat Â
both the build and deepen connections sections of the method until you feel more confident.
And once youâve done this for one topic or a group of them, repeat the method for the next.
I really want to stress that all of these steps work because it makes you layer information in an Â
order that makes sense for efficiency since you both learn and test yourself at the same time.
But now a big problem is that, even if you know how to study efficiently, Â
it can still be difficult to get yourself to study if you donât have Â
the motivation or discipline, or even if you just feel lazy.
And over the years Iâve been able to reliably make myself do work without needing motivation Â
or discipline, so that I can do well at med school and still have a personal life.
So in this video here, I talk about how you can make yourself do work without Â
needing motivation or discipline -Â so click the video to learn more.
Weitere Àhnliche Videos ansehen
How to Study When You're Tired (from a Med Student)
how to STUDY for an exam THE NIGHT BEFORE (and still get all As)
The Lecture-Studying Method: Learn the 1 Hour Class in ONLY 7 mins
How to Study 3x Faster Instantly (from a Top 1% Med Student)
How to Take Notes So That You Never Have to Study (Mindmapping Guide)
How I Make Myself Work When I'm Lazy (from a Top 1% Med Student)
5.0 / 5 (0 votes)