Study Methods: What Works and What Doesn't
Summary
TLDRThe video ranks 10 popular study methods, discussing their effectiveness based on personal experience. The creator emphasizes that different techniques work for different people and encourages viewers to share their opinions. Top methods like past papers, active recall, and the Feynman technique are highly recommended, while others, such as rote learning and the method of loci, are considered less effective. Techniques like using YouTube videos, flashcards, and the Pomodoro technique are also evaluated. The video aims to help students find the best strategies to improve their studying and exam performance.
Takeaways
- 📚 The video ranks 10 common study methods based on their efficiency and personal preference.
- 🧠 The Feynman technique is effective for breaking down complex concepts and teaching them, but it ranks as an A-tier method due to even more effective methods existing.
- 📄 Using past papers is considered the most effective method for studying, earning an S-tier ranking due to its ability to familiarize students with exam structure, marking schemes, and time management.
- 🎥 YouTube is an excellent resource for study motivation, understanding key concepts, and study tips, but it ranks as A-tier because of its potential for distraction and passive consumption.
- 🔁 Rote learning is a D-tier method due to its inefficiency and lack of engagement unless used with active thought and questioning.
- 🖍️ Mind maps rank as a C-tier method, primarily beneficial for visual learners but less effective for non-visual learners like the creator.
- 👥 Social learning, studying with friends or in groups, ranks C-tier. It can be helpful but risks distractions if not managed properly.
- 🧩 Active recall is an S-tier method, regarded as the most efficient way to transfer knowledge from short-term to long-term memory.
- ⏲️ The Pomodoro technique ranks B-tier. It helps break studying into manageable chunks, but can disrupt focus when used too rigidly.
- 🏡 The method of loci ranks as D-tier due to its reliance on visual learning, which doesn't work well for everyone.
Q & A
What is the purpose of this video?
-The purpose of this video is to rank the 10 most common study methods in terms of their efficiency and effectiveness, based on the creator's personal experience.
What is the Feynman Technique and how does it work?
-The Feynman Technique is a method of memorization where you learn a complex concept and break it down into simple terms, then teach it to someone who knows nothing about the subject. The idea is that if you can explain it in simple terms, it shows that you understand it well.
Why does the creator consider past papers to be highly effective for studying?
-Past papers are highly effective because they help familiarize you with the exam structure, question types, and marking criteria, and they help you improve time management by simulating exam conditions.
Why is YouTube not rated as an S-tier study method?
-YouTube is rated as an A-tier study method because it can be easy to get distracted and because it's a passive form of content consumption, which may lead to not implementing the learned techniques.
What are the disadvantages of rote learning according to the video?
-The main disadvantage of rote learning is that it's inefficient and tedious. Repeating information without processing it deeply does not lead to effective memorization, and it can be boring, which reduces engagement.
What type of learners benefit the most from using mind maps?
-Visual learners benefit the most from using mind maps because they present information in a graphical way, helping them to better visualize and understand the relationships between concepts.
What are the pros and cons of social learning?
-The pros of social learning include engaging discussion, explaining concepts (which aids understanding), and making studying more fun. The cons are the risk of distraction and getting off-topic, which can make study sessions less productive.
Why is active recall considered one of the most effective study methods?
-Active recall is effective because it forces you to actively process the information, which helps move it from short-term to long-term memory. It is supported by research showing that it is more efficient than passive reading or note-taking.
What is the Pomodoro Technique and what are its advantages?
-The Pomodoro Technique involves studying for 25 minutes and taking a 5-minute break afterward. It helps overcome procrastination, makes study sessions less intimidating, and encourages regular breaks for better focus.
Why is the Method of Loci not effective for the video creator?
-The Method of Loci is not effective for the creator because they are not a visual learner. Although it's a powerful memorization technique used by memory champions, it does not work well for them personally.
Outlines
🧠 Ranking Study Methods: Feynman Technique and More
The video discusses ranking 10 common study methods based on efficiency. The presenter introduces the Feynman technique, which involves breaking down complex concepts into simple terms and teaching them to others. This method is highly effective for deeper understanding and is rated as an 'A-tier' method due to its usefulness, though not quite as impactful as other methods discussed later. The presenter emphasizes the importance of engaging with study materials actively, rather than passively consuming content.
🎯 Project Elon: Transform Your Grades in 30 Days
The second paragraph introduces 'Project Elon,' a course designed to help students improve their study habits and grades within 30 days. The presenter explains the structure of the course, which includes 38 video lessons, quizzes, a workbook, a planner, and access to a community for accountability. The course is focused on helping students actively implement study techniques rather than passively consuming them, and offers personal guidance. The presenter highlights the importance of consistent, actionable steps for effective learning.
🎓 Effective Learning: Active Recall and Pomodoro Technique
This paragraph explores several study techniques, including active recall, which is a highly effective method for moving information from short-term to long-term memory. Studies suggest active recall is one of the best techniques for factual and problem-solving tests. The Pomodoro technique, a time management method, is also discussed. Although effective in encouraging study sessions, the presenter notes its limitations, particularly the interruption of focus. The presenter ranks both methods but highlights that while Pomodoro is useful, it may not suit all study styles.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Feynman Technique
💡Past Papers
💡YouTube Videos
💡Rote Learning
💡Mind Maps
💡Social Learning
💡Active Recall
💡Pomodoro Technique
💡Method of Loci
💡Flashcards
Highlights
Ranking 10 common study methods based on efficiency and personal experience.
The Feynman technique: Explaining complex concepts in simple terms to improve understanding.
Personal experience using the Feynman technique effectively during university by teaching friends.
Past papers: Ranked as the most effective study method for exam preparation.
Benefits of using past papers include familiarization with exam structure, language, and time management.
YouTube as a study resource: Helpful for motivation, concept clarification, and study tips, but prone to distractions.
Rote learning: Ranked low (D-tier) due to its inefficiency and passive nature unless accompanied by active questioning.
Mind maps: Helpful for visual learners, but personally not effective for the speaker.
Social learning: Can be effective for engaging with peers, but easily derailed by distractions.
Active recall: The most efficient memorization technique, backed by research from Dunlosky et al. (2013).
Pomodoro technique: Useful for time management, but interrupts flow for the speaker; ranked B-tier.
Method of loci: Effective for visual learners, but personally not useful for the speaker; ranked D-tier.
Flashcards: Ranked A-tier due to their utility in combination with active recall.
Importance of studying smart, not just hard, by using efficient methods like active recall and past papers.
Final call to action for viewers to implement study techniques and sign up for the speaker's course to transform their grades.
Transcripts
i talk a lot about study techniques and methods on this channel but i've never ranked them in
terms of which methods are the most efficient and worth using and which maybe aren't so effective
so i'm gonna go for the 10 most common study methods and i chose the 10 most common study
methods because there's a good chance that you guys use some of them and i'll give you my own
personal opinion on whether or not they work for me now obviously this is a video based on
my own personal preferences and we all study and memorize information in different ways
so let me know in the comments which study methods you put in the s tier and which you'd put in the
detail the feinman technique the final technique is a method of memorization where you learn
a more complex concept and then you break it down into simple terminology and then you teach it to
someone who knows nothing about the subject the idea being that if you can explain a very complex
concept so that essentially a five-year-old can understand it then it probably means that you
understand it on a good enough level to answer any exam questions that might come up on it
and also the idea of teaching someone something will allow you to learn the information on a
far deeper level too so how effective is it for me personally it was extremely effective a lot of the
time at university i would be asked quite often to explain some concepts that some of my friends
maybe didn't understand and so unintentionally i used the farming technique quite a lot
and because it was so effective i've got to put it as an ats study method there are some incredibly
effective study methods on this list more so than the feynman technique which i explained
later on in the video so i can't quite put this as an sts study method but nonetheless if you've
never tried this method of studying it's super effective so i definitely give it a go and it's
actually kind of fun too explaining to someone and communicating with someone while studying is far
more engaging and fun than reading a thick black and white textbook past papers so earlier i said
that there are some study methods that are more effective than the feynman technique and this is
one of them using past papers go straight to sta and if there was a tier higher than s i'd probably
put it in that but although this method is so effective it was surprising at least to me how
many students didn't actually use exam papers to study for their exams and in my opinion that was
a massive mistake there are so many reasons why you should be using exam pass papers to revise if
you have access to them firstly it allows you to get used to the structure of the exam paper in the
language that they use and the types of questions that might be asked you'll also understand better
the allocation of marks and marking scheme that will be used because a subject's exam papers tend
to have the same exam structure and finally going through a past paper in exam conditions
helps you work on your time management so when it does come to the real exam you know roughly
how long you have for each section and if you mark your answers yourself using the marking criteria
you can analyze to see any gaps in your knowledge that you can then focus on to revision on so exam
pass papers the easiest study method to put on the sta shelf youtube videos youtube is an amazing
resource for studying and i think it's quite an underutilized resource i don't think enough people
know just how powerful youtube can be for exam revision so youtube can be used for a vision in
a number of ways firstly study motivation videos they're great if you're feeling unmotivated or
tired and you just need that extra push secondly if you're having problems understanding any
key concepts in your course or maybe you don't understand something your lecturer talked about
or maybe you want to dive deeper into a particular topic youtube is a great resource in doing that
because there are videos on here about pretty much anything and everything and finally the third way
youtube is really helpful for study tips and it's probably why you're watching this video right now
you can learn how to study more efficiently how to achieve higher grades how to keep your
self disciplined and motivated it really is a ridiculously useful resource so i'm going
to put it as an a-tier resource and there's two main reasons why it doesn't quite reach
the s-tier firstly the youtube algorithm does everything it can to keep you on the platform
so while you're watching educational videos it's really easy to click onto something not
so educational and before you know it you're procrastinating again and the second reason is
because youtube is a passive form of content consumption how many times have you watched
a youtube video on how not to procrastinate but then you clicked off the video and continued to
procrastinate or how many times have you watched a video on effective study methods but then never
actually implemented those methods because it's a passive form of content consumption so that's why
it's an a t a study method rather than an s tier and it's actually one of the main reasons why
i created my transformer grades in 30 days course that will be launched on the 29th of march because
i've realized tens of thousands of you were watching my videos but they're not actually
implementing what i teach it's easy to gain the knowledge on how to study better
and more efficiently on youtube but it's something completely different to put that knowledge
into actionable steps that you implement on a daily basis so i specifically created the project
seal on course with that in mind you can click on the link in the description to find out more and
the course contains 38 video lessons interactive multiple choice quizzes an eight-page workbook
with engaging exercises to work through alongside the video lessons a 28-page productivity planner
an exclusive project elon community to keep you accountable and personal guidance and support
throughout the challenge from me and there's so much more included because that's how we learn
by doing and implementing not just watching passively on youtube so if you're ready to
take the transform your grades in 30 day challenge and take your studying and your grades to the next
level i'm gonna say right now this challenge is going to be hard it's not going to be easy
to transform your grades but i'll be there helping you and providing you personal support
every step of the way so if you're ready then drop your email in the link in the description because
i'm giving a huge 50 discount to the first 300 students that enroll in the course rote learning
so all the study methods so far have been either ata or sta and rote learning unfortunately has
to go in the d to shelf because rote learning is a memorization technique based on repetition the
idea being that the more you repeat the material the better you'll be able to understand it and
remember it the problem i have with this study method is that it's just not efficient i talk
quite often on why it's important to study hard but also to study smart in fact i made a whole
video on it you can click on the pop-up banner above to watch it and wrote learning just isn't a
smart way of learning because when you're reading over the same information again and again and
again it can be incredibly tedious and so you get bored therefore you don't process the information
and that's the problem right there you learn and memorize things by processing the information
and then recalling it at a later date now rote learning has its place if you're using
this method then make sure that you're actively thinking about what you're learning ask yourself
questions about the material why does this happen why does that happen as long as you're asking
yourself questions constantly and thinking about what you're reading then it could be bumped up
to the c or even the b tier but rote learning by itself just repeating the material over and over
definitely on the d shelf mind maps i'm sure most of you know what mind maps are but just in case
you don't they're graphical ways to represent ideas and concepts that help you think visually
and they also help structure information to better analyze and understand it now i'll be honest with
you i didn't use mind maps that much at university i'll tell you why i'm not much of a visual learner
and mind mapping presents information in a visual way so it's a great study method for people that
learn and memorize things visually but for me personally i never used them that much as a result
i'm going to put it as a ct at study method but remember this is just what personally works for me
i know people that swear by mind maps and for them it would go straight to the sts shelf but
for me personally ct social learning and by social learning i mean studying with friends either with
just one friend or in a small study group now this is a difficult one i was going to put it as a b
tier study method because discussing and engaging with other students on more complex concepts or
even just explaining to another student some of the material you are inadvertently implementing
the feynman technique too which is a great study method in of itself and if you have any questions
you can ask the other students in the group which can save you hours of time rather than spending
hours stuck on a problem when you're studying by yourself but more importantly and maybe above
everything else it's just a more fun and engaging way to study and if we enjoy our studying we far
more likely to actually do it and the knowledge we learn is more likely to stick because let's
be honest studying by ourselves all the time can get a bit tedious but this is why i put it as a ct
study method rather than a b to it it's really easy to get distracted often a study session
with a friend or group of friends can start off productive but it's really easy to fall down that
trap of starting to discuss the weekend or plans for the night or things unrelated to studying
that's the one of the biggest downfalls to this study method however if your study partners are
as focused and are as motivated as you are then you will make an effort to keep the study session
on track and on topic social learning can be an incredibly effective study method active recall
active recall goes straight to sta it's a method of memorizing information by first reading it
then closing your eyes and trying to recall it without looking it up if you can successfully do
so then you have just used active recall but if not look it up and learn it and then try again
and like i mentioned earlier in the video just reading a textbook passively or watching a video
passively or attending a lecture or sitting there passively listening it's not an efficient way of
learning it's not studying smart and active recall forces you to process the information therefore
it helps move the material you're learning from your short-term memory to your long-term memory
and i use this study method a lot at university and it saved me a lot of time and according to a
study carried out by researchers dunlos guitar in 2013 active recall is the quickest most efficient
and effective way to study written material at least for factual and problem-solving tests and
it has also been found to be more effective than mind mapping and note-taking for memorization too
so even when you're just reading a boring textbook or reading any book for that matter i think
it's incredibly important to be using active recall throughout to make sure that you're not
just reading it passively but you're reading it actively and actually soaking in the information
so with all that being said easily an sts3 method the pomodoro technique the pomodoro technique is
a time management method developed by francesco cirillo in the late 1980s it's basically where
you set the pomodoro timer for 25 minutes and you study for that 25 minutes then when that 25
minutes is up you take a five minute break so it encourages you to study in 25-minute chunks with
five-minute breaks in between and i like this study method because it's good if you don't
really want to study but 25 minutes of studying doesn't sound that intimidating so it's good to
actually get you to sit down and study in the first place and the fact that it even encourages
breaks too because the human brain can only stay fully focused for 25 to 45 minutes at a time
depending on which study you read so if you're studying for eight to nine to ten hours that day
then it's important to take regular breaks so we can keep studying for longer however there
are some disadvantages when i study i enter into a state of flow where i'm completely 100 focused
on what i'm studying and then when the timer goes off after 25 minutes but the timer forces me to
take a break so i lose my focus so i used to use the pomodoro technique quite a lot but these days
i don't so much for exactly that reason so for me personally i'm gonna put it as a bts study method
because i do still think it has its place but i just don't use it that much anymore method of loki
the method of low-key study technique is a way of memorizing material which uses visualization
of familiar environments in order to better recall the information so for example you might imagine
yourself placing items around a room such as on the sofa next to the bed or on top of the tv
and then in order to recall each item you visually walk around the room and then either pick up
or pass each item that you placed it and that's what triggers your recall for the material you're
learning now like i said before i'm not much of a visual learner so i have tried to use this
method but for me personally it's just not that effective i mean it is an incredibly powerful
memorization technique some of the world champions of the world memory championship use this method
and if they're using it then it must work but i'm gonna have to put this on the dts shelf
because that's just my personal preference and let me know in the comments if you use this study
method and if it's useful for you flashcards i think every student on the planet has used
flashcards in some way or another to study for their exams and i'm no exception i use flashcards
a lot they can be used in various ways but how i use them is i would write down a question on
the front of the card and i'd write the answer on the back of the card and the flashcards can also
contain important pieces of information such as historical dates formulas or any subject matter
so i'm going to put flash cards as an a tier study method because for me flash cards were incredibly
useful during the revision process and i also used them alongside the active recall method as well so
i was kind of combining two studying methods into one and if you don't agree with anything in this
list let me know in the comments where you would rank each study method i'm wondering if you guys
would have a table that looks completely different to mine and if you are watching
my videos but struggling to implement what i teach you or maybe you just need that extra push or some
personal guidance and support from me then check the description where there's a link about the
transform your grades in 30 days course it will be launched on the 29th of march so there's not
long now and the first 300 students will be getting a huge 50 off the standard price so
don't miss out click the link below and if you do i look forward to working with you very shortly
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