The Layering Method: Study Smarter, Faster and Better (Guaranteed)
Summary
TLDRIn this video, third-year medical student Zay shares an effective study method for mastering complex topics quickly. The key is learning in layers, starting with skimming and creating a mind map to understand the basic concepts and how they interconnect. This is followed by a deeper dive into general concepts, visualizing processes, and simultaneously crafting recall questions to reinforce memory. Zay emphasizes the importance of active recall and self-testing as primary revision tools. The final layer involves tackling complex details and continuously refining recall questions based on understanding. This structured approach not only aids comprehension but also makes the study process more manageable and less overwhelming.
Takeaways
- 📚 **Layered Learning**: Zay emphasizes the importance of learning in layers, starting with the easiest foundational information and gradually moving to more complex details.
- 🔍 **Initial Skimming**: The first step is to skim through the material, look up keywords, and watch basic videos to get a general understanding of how topics are interconnected.
- 💭 **Mind Mapping**: Creating a mind map helps in linking big topics and visualizing how they work together, which is crucial for understanding the progression of diseases.
- 📝 **Recall Questions**: Zay suggests creating recall questions while studying to test memory and understanding. This method aids in active recall and revision.
- 🔄 **Active Revision**: After creating recall questions, Zay actively revises by answering them, then referring back to the material to correct any misunderstandings.
- 📈 **Progressive Building**: Learning is compared to building a house, where you start with the basic structure (first layer) before adding details (second layer) and finishing touches (third layer).
- 🎨 **Color Coding**: Zay uses a color-coding system for recall questions to quickly identify and focus on areas of difficulty during revision.
- 🤔 **Active Engagement**: The process of learning involves actively engaging with the material, not just passively reading, to ensure deeper understanding and retention.
- ⏱️ **Time Efficiency**: Zay demonstrates that by using this method, complex topics like liver diseases can be understood and detailed questions created in a short amount of time.
- 🔗 **Interlinking Activities**: Reading and question answering should not be separate; they should be interlinked to form a cohesive learning experience.
- 📈 **Iterative Improvement**: The quality of recall questions improves over time as Zay continually refines them based on self-testing and understanding.
Q & A
What is the main issue with reading for hours without actually taking anything in?
-The main issue is that the reader is not reading effectively, possibly due to a lack of structure or strategy in processing the information.
What is the name of the speaker and what is his educational background?
-The speaker's name is Zay, and he is a third-year medical student.
What is the concept of 'learning in layers' as described by Zay?
-Learning in layers involves organizing the way information is taken in, from the easiest foundational layer to the more complex details, similar to building a house step by step.
What is the first step in Zay's study process?
-The first step is to understand the basic concepts of the topic by skimming through the material, looking up keywords, and creating a mind map.
How does Zay create a mind map for a study topic like liver diseases?
-Zay creates a mind map by first skimming through various resources, then structuring the information in a way that links the major topics and their progression, such as the stages of liver disease.
What is the second layer in Zay's learning process?
-The second layer involves understanding general concepts, visualizing processes, and creating recall questions as he goes through the material.
How does Zay use recall questions to aid his learning process?
-Zay uses recall questions to test himself on the material, focusing on what he needs to remember. He answers these questions out loud without looking at resources, which helps reinforce the information in his memory.
What is the method Zay uses to revise and improve his recall questions?
-Zay revises his recall questions by actively recalling the answers, checking his understanding against the resources, color-coding the questions based on difficulty, and continuously refining the questions over time.
What is the third layer in Zay's learning process?
-The third layer involves going through the complex information and details that were difficult to understand initially, adding to the recall questions as he progresses.
How does Zay ensure that his reading and question answering are interconnected?
-Zay ensures they are interconnected by using the questions to guide his reading and understanding, and by revising the questions after reading the material in context to correct any misunderstandings.
What is the final step in Zay's learning process?
-The final step is to keep repeating the process of answering questions, going back to the resources, and correcting his understanding, which helps in solidifying the knowledge.
What is Zay's approach to studying complex topics like liver diseases?
-Zay's approach involves creating a structured learning process with layers, starting with basic concepts, then general concepts with recall questions, and finally, tackling complex details while continuously refining his understanding and questions.
Outlines
📚 Effective Learning Strategies for Medical Students
Zay, a third-year medical student, introduces a method for efficient learning that involves reading and understanding complex topics rapidly. He emphasizes the importance of learning in layers, starting with basic concepts, then general concepts, and finally the complex details. Zay demonstrates his approach by studying liver diseases, creating a mind map to understand the progression of diseases, and using multiple resources to deepen his understanding. He also discusses creating recall questions to test and reinforce knowledge, which he believes is a crucial part of the revision process.
🖌️ Creating Recall Questions for Active Learning
The second paragraph focuses on the process of creating recall questions to facilitate active learning and revision. Zay explains that these questions help him test his understanding when he revisits a topic. He outlines a four-step method involving recalling answers, checking resources for inaccuracies, color-coding questions based on difficulty, and repeating the process to refine the questions over time. This method ensures that he focuses on areas of weakness and continually improves his understanding. Zay also shares his experience of quickly grasping complex medical conditions by building on prior knowledge and using structured thinking.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Reading Comprehension
💡Learning in Layers
💡Mind Map
💡Recall Questions
💡Active Recall
💡Revision
💡Liver Diseases
💡Complex Information
💡Effortful Learning
💡Information Structuring
💡Active Processing
Highlights
Zay, a third-year medical student, shares his effective reading and understanding strategy for complex topics.
The importance of reading and understanding topics quickly is emphasized, regardless of difficulty.
A live demonstration of studying a medical school topic in real-time is presented.
The concept of learning in layers is introduced to efficiently process information.
Layering involves organizing information intake from easiest to hardest.
Students are encouraged to structure their knowledge rather than relying on textbooks or teachers.
The first layer of learning involves understanding the basic concepts and creating a mind map.
A mind map for liver diseases is used as an example, showing the progression of liver conditions.
The second layer focuses on general concepts, visualization, and creating recall questions.
Recall questions are created during the learning process to facilitate active recall and revision.
Active recall is emphasized as the primary method for revision and understanding.
A method for using recall questions effectively is outlined, including self-testing and correction.
Color-coding of recall questions helps in focusing on areas of difficulty.
The final layer involves delving into complex details and guidelines, adding to the recall questions.
The process of creating and refining recall questions improves with each revision cycle.
The entire process is designed to be fluid, iterative, and adaptable to the learner's understanding.
Zay's approach to learning is demonstrated through a time-lapse, showing the efficiency of his method.
The video concludes with an invitation for viewers to follow along in future live studying sessions.
Transcripts
if you're the person who reads and reads
and reads for hours on end without
actually taking anything in is because
you're doing it all wrong my name is Zay
oif I'm a third-year medical student and
in this video we are going through the
exact steps one by one everything that
you need to know to read and understand
your topics very very quickly regardless
of how difficult they are and as
requested this is a live demonstration
so I'll be studying a med school topic
right in front of you and I swear no one
does this but I will literally be
showing you how I go through information
how I create recall questions my entire
process all of it in real time so let's
get into the second video of the live
studying series most of you just start a
topic and start reading through it line
by line word by word and then end up
getting stuck 2 minutes in trying to
read the same things 10 times over
trying to force it in somehow but the
key to actually getting through a ton of
information very quickly and
understanding it effortlessly is
learning in layers this means that when
you're studying a topic very very
consciously organize the way you take in
the information easiest to hardest and
the fact is that no textbook so no
teacher actually teaches the information
in this way you're the one that actually
has to structure the knowledge that you
need to understand you're the one that
has to First figure out and think
through what the topic is actually about
that's the first layer only then do you
go on to reading the general concepts
visualizing the processes that's the
second layer and after you've spend time
understanding 80% of it that's when you
now go back through all of it and look
at the complex 20% details the 20% of
things that were actually difficult to
understand of the first go through but
now that you've done all of this work
it's not as hard that's the third layer
that's all layering is literally think
of taking in the knowledge like you're
building a house the walls and the
floors are the first layers then come in
the doors and the furniture that's the
second layer and then you end up with
the third layer of the stuff the decor
the paintings the house has to be
constructed in a layer by layer fashion
you can't just put in paintings and
stuff when there's no walls the same
applies to learning anyways enough
foreplay let's get started with the
actual studying today we are doing liver
diseases the first layer is the basic
concepts as soon as you start learning a
topic the first step is only to take in
the easiest foundational layer of
information this means skimming through
the entire chapter looking up keywords
that you don't know watching basic
videos very generally making sense of
how each big topic links together in our
study process we do this by first
skimming through a bunch of resources
and then creating a mindmap instead of
just reading through different concepts
one by one and then afterwards trying to
connect them and make sense of them what
I do is I start with creating a mind map
a structure that helps me link the big
topics and see how they work together
this is the Mind map I made for liver
diseases firstly you see that it has a
very clear flow it's very visual as you
can see so I'll remember it but the Kik
key thing with this is that I found a
memorable way to connect both of these
conditions through one central idea
which is the progression of how bad the
liver gets as the as both the diseases
worse in it first says fat then it
becomes fat and inflamed then it ends up
being fibrosed and sosed or at least
that's what I think it is from the
minimal work I've done so far the reason
making this initial mind map is actually
very very useful is because right from
the start it forces me to think about
how everything that I'm going to be
learning about out actually works which
is way better than just normally
skimming through the topic and glancing
over the stuff in the beginning anyways
I really suggest watching the previous
live video I made of me making the Mind
map it's linked here it shows my entire
process but overall all I've done so far
is I've skimmed I've read through some
definitions and I've watched a few basic
videos took me around 30 minutes and I
already have such a clear mental model
such an easy way to think about all of
these conditions and now I can start to
study in more detail now I'm actually
going to start going through the topics
in more detail now comes the second
layer this is where I'm going to try and
understand the general Concepts
visualize processes and side by side
create my recall questions as well I'll
talk about how I create those in a
minute after I've actually done some
studying but do note that my aim is not
to read through everything right now
it's just the general concepts ignoring
all the complex stuff the details that I
don't need to know that I will have to
memorize at a certain point my aim is to
get that second layer right anyways
let's get
[Music]
started
[Music]
so as you saw I was using multiple
resources to learn the topic a high
yield textbook online websites um I'm
side by side creating my own recall
questions throughout the entire process
but overall the aim here was to get a
very good gist of all the conditions
that I need to learn to in this case
without looking at that many details and
of course side by side also create myall
questions as I went through the
investigations the management how these
conditions even work I converted
everything that I need to know from my
exams into these recall questions it's
usually a very simple list of questions
that are just divided by the topic and
the conditions that I need to know that
week but the point is every few
sentences I'm thinking okay what's
important here what's important for me
to remember okay how can I convert that
into a question and then per section per
few sentences I'm writing two or three
questions down seeing what is important
seeing what works editing throughout by
this point I've been doing this for
years now so I'm used to understanding
the topic very quickly and and side by
side just making these questions as I go
along but of course if you want to take
your time to understand build the layers
of knowledge first and then do these
questions after you have a bit of
understanding that's fine as well it's
just a bit slower the reason I create
these recall questions is so that when I
come back to revise this topic I can
straight away start to test myself on it
testing yourself should always be the
main form of revision and these
questions become the perfect resource to
then actively recall and force yourself
to remember what did I learn and
understand that last time and there's a
method for it let me quickly explain it
and give you an insight into how I use
these questions step one in my next
revision session when I come back to
look at this topic I will try and look
at those questions and answer them and
try and recall whatever I remember to
the best my ability I'll answer them out
loud I may write them down usually I
don't I usually just answer them out
loud and I do it without using any
resources like honestly I spent several
minutes formulating and thinking through
the answers in my head because frankly I
know the more effort I put into this the
more I will actually end up remembering
for the next time step two once I've
tried my best to actively recall those
two to four question questions or
whatever makes sense for the section
that I need to know I'll then go back to
the resources and fully scan them and
check back with where my understanding
was lacking it's an active process of
Correction I get a few questions semi
right maybe wrong and I go back and look
through the entire resource and read
through in context where my
understanding isn't full isn't full yet
this is important the reading and the
question answering shouldn't be two
separate activities they need to be more
Interlink step three I color code these
questions red orange green depending on
how difficult I found them and that way
when when I come back to revise them for
the next session I can immediately jump
to the red questions the stuff I didn't
know and focus on my weaknesses and
lastly step four of this process is to
keep repeating it keep repeating this
fluid process of answering a few
questions going back to the resources
correcting my understanding for the next
time that I come now to revise this and
also by the way the quality of these
questions isn't final it will improve
after these first revisions because only
after testing yourself will you then
realize okay what have I do I actually
need to recall and test myself on and
what if I just put on the questions just
because it was there in my resources in
my future R Visions I'll constantly be
adding questions I'll constantly be
removing by the end this list will be
completely different based on what I
find is ends up being most important
anyways let's continue to the final
layer the details I'm going to go
through things that I found difficult
the complex information the guidelines
that I haven't gone through yet and I'll
continue to add to my recall questions
throughout the process of
[Music]
course
[Music]
I know it's time lapse but as you can
see I was reading through and getting
through Concepts and all of their
details much much quicker compared to if
I was just linearly reading through the
website understanding entire conditions
creating the Mind M creating all these
questions in less than an hour the sling
is just a lot more chill and easier
because my brain by this point had
enough prior knowledge ready to support
the new difficulty of the knowledge
actually coming in because I had skin
first made a mind map found a good
structured way of thinking about all of
these diseases and how they were was I
then able to easily understand the way
these conditions progress their
investigations how they're diagnosed how
they're treated everything as you saw I
didn't really get stuck at all I didn't
have to repeatedly read anything the
difficult stuff just isn't difficult and
keep in mind I've never genuinely looked
at these conditions nor understand them
properly before the lier was always a
mystery to me anyways that was my
learning process using layers to
understand creating questions side by
side I'll definitely keep on going with
this live studying series I'll show you
how I test myself how I memorize
difficult details and all of this sort
of stuff different parts of my studying
process but for now I really hope this
video has helped leave a like spam the
comments and I will see you in the next
one
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