Med School TOPPER's SECRET to Studying Effectively (Detailed Breakdown)

Summary

This comprehensive guide offers a transformative approach to efficient learning, particularly for students struggling to retain information. The speaker, a third-year medical student, introduces a four-part method encompassing priming information, absorbing, retrieving, and spacing information. Key strategies include creating mental models, active recall through self-testing, and layered absorption of concepts. The guide emphasizes the importance of active learning over passive rereading, leveraging spaced repetition for long-term retention, and balancing active study with relaxed learning to maintain motivation and consistency.

Takeaways

• 📚 The script emphasizes that most people struggle with studying because they haven't been taught how to learn effectively.
• 🔄 The guide introduces a four-part method for efficient learning: priming the information, absorbing the information, retrieving the information, and spacing the information.
• 🧠 Priming involves creating a mental model before diving into a topic, which helps in understanding and remembering the material better.
• 🔍 Absorbing information is about layering the learning process from easiest to hardest and creating recall questions to test oneself.
• 🗣️ Teaching oneself by explaining the topic to a '5-year-old' is a technique to reveal gaps in understanding and solidify knowledge.
• 📝 Retrieving information through active recall, such as answering self-made questions, is more effective than passive rereading or note-taking.
• 📈 Spaced repetition, where revision is spread out over increasing intervals, helps in long-term retention of information.
• 📉 The script also discusses the 'forgetting curve' and how spaced repetition interrupts this curve, leading to better memory retention.
• 🔄 The importance of balance in studying is highlighted, suggesting 70% active studying and 30% relaxed learning to maintain consistency and motivation.
• 📚 The guide encourages the use of various resources like Google, textbooks, and videos for a comprehensive understanding of the material.
• 🤓 The speaker shares personal experiences and insights as a medical student, adding credibility to the advice given in the script.

Q & A

What is the main issue the speaker identifies with people's study habits?

The speaker identifies the main issue as people's inability to remember what they study, largely due to not being taught effective learning strategies and instead expecting to learn passively through reading.

What does the speaker claim is the key to efficient learning?

The speaker claims that the key to efficient learning is creating a mental model of the topic before diving into the details, which serves as a foundation for understanding and remembering information.

What are the four parts of the learning guide presented by the speaker?

The four parts of the learning guide are: priming the information, absorbing the information, retrieving the information, and spacing the information.

What is the purpose of 'priming the information' in the learning process?

Priming the information involves creating an initial mental model of the topic, which helps to build a base for understanding and remembering the concepts and ideas related to the topic.

How does the speaker suggest students should approach reading a new chapter in a textbook?

The speaker suggests students should first skim the chapter, identify key words, and create an unordered list to avoid being influenced by the author's structure. Then, they should look up unfamiliar terms, and finally, create a mind map to understand how the concepts link together.

What is the significance of creating an unordered list of keywords when studying a new topic?

Creating an unordered list of keywords helps to prevent the bias of thinking about the chapter in the way the author has structured it, allowing the student to form their own connections and understanding of the material.

Why does the speaker emphasize the importance of testing oneself before even learning a topic?

Testing oneself before learning a topic helps to identify specific weak areas and primes the brain for the information, leading to better retention and understanding when the actual learning takes place.

What is the role of pre-reading in the learning process according to the speaker?

Pre-reading serves to prepare the mind for the upcoming material by skimming the chapter, creating an initial mental model, and doing the first layer of questions, which helps in laying a strong foundation for effective learning.

How does the speaker define 'layering' when absorbing information while reading?

Layering involves reading the information in a structured manner, starting from the easiest layer of skimming and getting a general sense, to understanding general concepts without getting into details, and finally absorbing detailed concepts one by one.

What is the speaker's advice on creating recall questions while studying?

The speaker advises creating specific recall questions from the important explanations, processes, and details encountered in the material. This not only helps in continuous engagement with the material but also serves as a resource for self-testing in later revision sessions.

Why is teaching oneself or explaining the material out loud considered an effective learning technique?

Teaching oneself or explaining out loud forces the brain to reconstruct the concept into a coherent narrative, which helps in identifying areas of confusion and solidifying the understanding of the material.

What is the importance of spaced repetition in the learning process?

Spaced repetition is important as it involves revising the material in increasing intervals, which helps the brain to retrieve information more effectively and remember it for a longer period by working harder to recall what has been forgotten.

How does the speaker recommend balancing active studying with more relaxed learning methods?

The speaker recommends a 70-30% balance, where 70% of the time is spent on active studying with full concentration, and 30% of the time is used for more relaxed learning methods like light reading or rereading, to maintain consistency and motivation.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Mastering the Art of Studying: An Introductory Guide

Zay Yif, a third-year medical student, introduces a comprehensive guide to efficient learning. He emphasizes the common struggle with ineffective studying methods and the lack of practical guidance on how to learn. Zay outlines a four-part strategy: priming information, absorbing, retrieving, and spacing information. He encourages viewers to actively engage with the content, promising a transformation in their learning process. The first part involves understanding the study topic's structure and creating a mental model to build a foundation for learning.

05:00

🔍 Deep Diving into Priming Information for Effective Learning

The speaker explains the importance of priming information by creating an unordered list of keywords from the study material and looking up unfamiliar terms to build a basic understanding. He then suggests using prior knowledge to create a mind map that links all chapter concepts, fostering a mental model that will guide further learning. This method is contrasted with traditional linear study approaches, highlighting the need for active and effortful thinking to enhance understanding and retention.

10:01

🤓 The Power of Pre-Testing and Pre-Reading for Learning

Zay discusses the benefits of pre-testing with practice questions before studying a topic, which helps identify knowledge gaps and primes the brain for learning. He also advocates for pre-reading as a means to familiarize oneself with upcoming material, creating a mental model that lays a solid foundation for future learning. The speaker stresses the importance of these steps in preventing confusion and enhancing comprehension.

15:02

🧠 Absorbing Information Through Layered Learning

The paragraph focuses on the layered approach to absorbing information. It starts with skimming and getting a general sense of the topics, followed by understanding general concepts without delving into details. The final layer involves tackling detailed concepts one by one. The speaker also introduces the method of creating recall questions while reading, which helps in engaging with the material and creating a list of questions for future self-testing.

20:03

📝 The Importance of Active Recall and Teaching for Learning

Zay emphasizes the significance of active recall in the learning process, suggesting that teaching the material to oneself or explaining it as if to a five-year-old is an effective way to identify gaps in understanding and reinforce memory. He also discusses the process of creating recall questions from the material and the benefits of this method over traditional note-taking.

25:04

📚 Spaced Repetition: The Key to Long-Term Retention

The speaker introduces spaced repetition as a method for long-term retention, explaining that revisiting material at increasing intervals helps the brain retrieve information more effectively. He acknowledges the challenge of implementing spaced repetition for all topics and suggests a strategy of reducing the number of repetitions per topic while ensuring each session is highly effective.

30:06

🌟 Achieving Exam Success Through Efficient Studying Techniques

In the concluding paragraph, Zay summarizes the entire guide, reiterating the importance of efficient studying techniques for exam success. He encourages finding a balance between active studying and more relaxed learning methods, and emphasizes the value of consistency and motivation in the revision process. The speaker also provides links to additional resources for further learning.

Keywords

💡Efficient Learning

Efficient learning refers to the process of acquiring knowledge in a manner that maximizes understanding and retention while minimizing time and effort. In the video's theme, it is the central strategy for studying, with the speaker advocating for active engagement with the material rather than passive reading or rereading. The script mentions creating a mental model and using active recall as part of efficient learning.

💡Mental Model

A mental model is a cognitive framework that individuals develop to understand and interpret information. In the context of the video, building a mental model is the first step in the learning process, where one organizes and connects concepts in a way that makes sense to them personally, which aids in comprehension and recall.

💡Active Recall

Active recall is a learning technique where learners actively attempt to remember information without looking at the material. The video emphasizes its importance for long-term retention, suggesting that students should incorporate active recall into their study sessions by using techniques like recall questions.

💡Spaced Repetition

Spaced repetition is a learning method involving increasing intervals of time between reviews of previously learned material. The video explains that this technique helps to combat the natural forgetting curve and strengthens memory over time, recommending a specific formula for implementing spaced repetition effectively.

💡Priming Information

Priming information is the act of preparing the mind to receive and process new information effectively. In the video, the concept is introduced as the initial step in learning, where one gets an overview of the topic and creates an initial mental framework before delving into detailed study.

💡Absorbing Information

Absorbing information involves taking in and understanding new concepts and details. The script describes a layered approach to this stage, where learners start with a general understanding before moving into specifics, and the importance of creating recall questions to solidify understanding.

💡Retrieval Practice

Retrieval practice is the act of attempting to retrieve learned information from memory, which the video script notes as a method proven to enhance long-term retention. The speaker mentions that even pre-testing on a topic before studying can significantly improve learning outcomes.

💡Layering

Layering is a strategy of building knowledge in progressive stages, from general concepts to specific details. The script uses this term to describe an effective way of absorbing information, where one starts with an overview and gradually adds complexity to deepen understanding.

💡Pre-Reading

Pre-reading is the act of familiarizing oneself with the material before delving into in-depth study. The video suggests that pre-reading is crucial for setting a strong foundation for learning and includes creating a mental model and doing initial recall questions as part of this process.

💡Teaching Back

Teaching back, also known as the Feynman technique, involves explaining what one has learned to someone else or to oneself in simple terms. The video script uses this as a method to reveal gaps in understanding and to solidify knowledge, by forcing the learner to articulate the concepts clearly.

💡Forgetting Curve

The forgetting curve is a concept that describes the rate at which information is lost over time if not reviewed or recalled. The video references this to explain why spaced repetition is effective, as it interrupts the natural decline in memory retention.

Highlights

People often struggle with studying due to a lack of formal education on learning techniques.

The importance of creating a mental model to understand and remember information more effectively.

The four-part guide to efficient learning: priming, absorbing, retrieving, and spacing information.

The benefits of skimming and creating an unordered list of keywords before deep diving into a topic.

The effectiveness of pre-testing or self-testing before learning new material.

The value of using recall questions as a method for active learning and better retention.

The practice of teaching what you've learned to solidify understanding and reveal gaps in knowledge.

The significance of spaced repetition for long-term retention of information.

The practical application of mind maps in creating connections between concepts.

The role of active effort in creating a mental model and its impact on learning efficiency.

The process of layering information from easiest to hardest for better absorption.

The misconception of the illusion of competence and the need for active testing to assess true understanding.

The benefits of explaining concepts in simple terms as a test of deep understanding.

The method of using recall questions to engage with the material and prevent boredom.

The strategy of reducing repetitions per topic while ensuring each session is highly effective.

The importance of balancing active studying with more relaxed learning methods for sustained motivation.

The 70-30 rule for balancing active and relaxed study sessions for effective learning.

Transcripts

people's biggest problem is that they

can't remember what they study here's

the simple truth most of you suck at

studying and it's not really your fault

we don't get taught how to learn we just

kind of expect it to happen when we read

something in fact there's so many study

videos out there but no one shows us

exactly what they do to learn understand

and Ace exams like an exact practical

every step of the way method my name is

Zay oif I'm a third-year medical student

and in this full guide on efficient

learning I will go through exactly what

I do from the second I see topic to

revising to at the end having it fully

engraved in my mind ready for any

question that I encounter in an exam

I've spent 16 hours reading through

countless papers three books all to

create this full guide on efficient

learning and honestly what I've learned

and now understand has taken my ability

to understand topics and remember them

to the next level but here's the catch

this guide is an active guide what that

means is that I won't shy away at all

from asking you to recall what we've

talked about or repeat things in spaced

intervals I'll even give you practical

actions that you can take right now

while you watch this video because this

isn't one of those videos that you have

playing on the side and 5 minutes later

it just goes over your head this is

everything that you will need to

completely transform your learning

process so listen and train your mind in

real time we'll split this guide up into

four parts one priming the information

two absorbing the information three

retrieving the information and four

spacing the information all right

immediately I'm going to ask you to

write down the four steps that I've just

mentioned and think about what they

might mean think about how you use

priming retrieval spacing in your own

studying process and even though you

have zero clue about what I could

possibly include in any of these steps I

can guarantee that you have some idea

about what these words mean and you

already have some idea about how you do

them in your own studying and that's

what's important here you're already

thinking about your own learning process

and thinking about the ways it can be

improved part one priming the

information every time I study a new

topic I've always scoped it out looked

at the subtopics and generally skimm

through it for 10 to 15 minut minutes

before properly diving in but I was

missing something huge an extremely key

part of the process that I've just

started to do in the last few weeks and

it's already increased my speed so much

and completely changed the way I learn

let me explain it properly the way most

of us learn is that we read one piece of

information a couple of times until it

makes somewhat sense then we move on to

the next concept we it for a couple of

times then we move on to the next and by

the time we're on the fourth one we

barely remember what we R in the first

and even after spending hours and days

revising for an exam you still don't

feel 100% confident you still feel like

you're kind of okay with the

understanding bit and that's what

learning is like for most of us it's

inefficient the information is a bunch

of random points connected in your head

poorly understood and that's why you

don't remember what you understand in

the moment so what if I told you the

solution was to flip it around get the

entire structure of the chapter and the

general concepts in your head and then

start to read through it sounds a bit

like what but see when we read something

our brain doesn't just pick up the

information in the exact way we've read

it one fact input next input that's not

how it works we can never take in those

individual points or ideas unless we

have something to metaphorically connect

it to and that's something when studying

a new topic is to create a broad mental

model of that topic or in other words an

underlying way to think about each of

those points and that's what the first

step should be that's the aim of priming

your information to build a mental model

of all the concepts and ideas to do with

that topic in your head it's the base

for all of your future learning to build

upon it's your version of the skeletal

structure of the chapter that you make

before you even start to learn anything

and I'll explain how you can do this in

a three-step practical method notice

that I've started this section off by

giving you the overview first creating

that base for you and now I'm going to

dive into the details the very first

thing you should do when learning

something brand new is to scan the

chapter skim read the different topics

in there the bolded words the key

sentences and side by side write down

all the key words that you notice are

prominent in that chapter it's just a

simple list of 15 to 20 words words but

and this is what I've started to do

differently you can't just copy the

words in the same structure that the

chapter has been written the words you

write down cannot be ordered in a

specific way no neat list of bullet

points so this is the title this is the

subtitle these is this is the key word

to do with this no your list needs to be

completely unordered all the keywords

jumbled up after reading some papers

about the science behind learning and

watching videos from Justin Sun Peter J

Brown I realized that even though I was

doing full overviews skimming the

chapters the subtopics before I started

to learn the mistake I've been making

and that's something that's probably

slowed my learning down a lot is that I

was studying using the author's

structure the way the author has written

out the chapter the way these textbooks

have presented it to us when the reality

is that the author hasn't written the

chapter in a way for it to be best

learned they just wanted to find a

linear and simplified way to present it

but our mind can't absorb information in

this linear way that's the reason when

you read the textbook you actually don't

understand something unless you repeat

it like a billion times cell cycle first

mitosis second and if you can't

understand those things then you can't

move on to anything else that's why you

need to start with your plain unordered

list to prevent the tendency and the

bias to think about the chapters in the

way that the author does and then once

the list is made you look up any of the

keywords that you have zero idea about

like I'm talking zero clue so you Google

them read around them but don't spend

more than 30 seconds on each of the

words just understand what they mean and

how they might relate to the rest of the

concepts on your list don't start

reading too deeply into one specific

concept limit yourself to do this all

for all the words in under 10 minutes

and lastly now is when you use any prior

knowledge that you have to think about

how these different words ideas and

Concepts within this chapter link

together and then once you've thought

about it make one mind map linking all

the concepts of the chapter and not like

a basic bubbly mind map with a billing

connections a lot of words before you

make the Mind map you actually need to

think about how it's going to be

organized you need to split the words up

and group them based on similarities or

differences for example for diseases

categorize them based on what part of

the body they affect how does this

disease relate to this this one what is

the key difference between each of the

groups of the mindmap the point is that

it requires active effortful thinking to

make a good mind map like this and it'll

require you to stand there and think

okay how will this work how will these

Concepts connect with each other how can

I make sense of this in my mind and I'm

new to doing this as well to be honest

to start with I start I used to spend up

to 30 minutes trying to think through

and understand what the best way of

creating this mind map was but literally

after 2 weeks of doing this it's now a

15-minute activity and it's so so worth

it because it now speeds up every single

part of the learning process that I have

to do because then once you've already

created this initial mental model of the

entire chapter you've already actively

thought about how the main concepts of

the entire chapter work and Link

together before you even even read

anything a quick pause before the next

section if you've enjoyed the video so

far could you please leave a like could

you please spam the comments you know

help me out with the YouTube algorithm

of it and tell me in the comments like

what I could improve tell me how this

guy could be made better what guide you

want next all of that and let's get back

to the video the implications of this

method so when you read parts of the

chapter later with every subtopic every

bullet point that you read you will

start to think okay how does this link

to that initial mental model I made is

what I'm reading right now in line with

what I initially thought does it make

sense instead of you reading random

points and forcing yourself to

understand everything you read will

automatically become relevant to your

brain and creating relevance is the only

way that our brain learns if we can

relate the new information to something

and in this case that something is that

us reading every concept every detail

and then relating it back to that

initial mental model that we created

then that'll deepen our understanding

more than anything and at the end

practically I know my mental model could

be completely wrong and I could be

completely wrong about how I think the

topics work but that doesn't matter what

matters is the amount of effort of

active effort that I put in creating

this mental model and thinking about the

ways all the concepts could possibly

link together if I'm right then great

I'll keep on thinking about the Mind map

this way and keep on building upon it

and adding all the details onto it later

and if not I can create a better

understanding why was I wrong why did my

model not make sense how can I make it

make sense how did can I connect this

and understand it in a better way either

way I'm relating what I'm reading to

that mental model that mind map right

from the start this is me priming myself

and doing it like this has given me that

basis to link everything to and there's

nothing that has deepened my

understanding of the the topics and the

clinical knowledge I'm learning these

days more than this step two the initial

questions or pre-testing for the

majority of the people the biggest

reason that you're not getting the

grades that you want to be getting is

because you're not testing yourself

enough according to Decades of empirical

data from learning science Testing or

retrieval practice which we'll talk

about properly promotes much much longer

retention when compared to techniques

like rereading highlighting making

passive notes and interestingly studies

now indicate that students that test

themselves before even learning any of

the topic perform significantly better

compared to students who study double

the amount of time and these students

that tested themselves before the

learning actually ended up getting 95 or

up to 95% of the questions wrong so that

means for example even if you do 20

questions before starting to learn the

topic and get 90 to 95% of them wrong

you will still end up doing really well

on the exam don't get me wrong you still

have to do the testing after you

actually study the knowledge that's the

key part but practically speaking before

I start learning I always start by

testing myself using practice questions

my go-to option is to practice around 15

to 20 mcqs before diving into the topic

all of us have some form of pre-existing

knowledge about the things that we're

studying so it's very very important to

at least attempt to practice these

questions this firstly helps not only

assess how much you know but points out

the specific weak topics and subtopics

that you have no idea or are there you

really struggle with that you need to

give more Focus onto later on and

secondly doing this helps with the way

our brain process information because

now we're linking from these questions

whatever knowledge that we think about

and force ourselves to remember from

these questions we're linking it back to

the initial mental model we're adding to

the foundation and priming our brain

even more with this initial practice

this step three pre-reading before

diving into any new topic in class if

you don't want to be sitting there

confused about what's going on then

pre-reading is something that you have

to be doing is the final part of priming

ourselves before we actually start to do

the learning and to be honest my

pre-reading is mainly just doing the

first two steps and this is the point of

the video where I ask you to pause and

summarize or recall the first two steps

of priming yourself how would you prime

yourself before starting a topic what

would you do this is testing in real

time I know it's effort okay I'm going

to put up the summary right

now

anyways pre-reading is just an important

practice that I think you need to have

and I'm not saying to diligently

pre-read every single day all I'm saying

is that do pre-reading before doing a

difficult chapter or assign one day of

the week where you pre-read all the

information upcoming information of the

week skim the chapter create the initial

mental model put effort into it watch a

5-minute video read through the basic

concept for a little bit it's really not

hard overall if you do it extensively

and do it well it might even take up

less than 30 to 40 minutes because with

this whole pre-reading priming thing if

you think of your mind as a bucket

pre-reading and priming fills the holes

underneath the bucket and if you don't

fill those holes and lay your base then

no matter how much knowledge you keep

pouring down into the bucket it'll keep

falling through that's why it's so

important I'd even say instead of using

that Sunday or Monday night to catch up

on the work that you missed the previous

week I'd say use that night to pread on

the content of the next week because yes

you won't catch up but you'll be in such

a strong position for the upcoming week

that you'll eventually create enough

time and save enough time to do the

catching up later on anyways and when

you finally sit down to and if you've

done all of these steps you'll be much

more relaxed you'll feel less

overwhelmed and then recall much faster

as well and the reason I'm repeating

this so many times before moving on to

the next stage is because school doesn't

teach us how to create a me good mental

model of the chapter before beginning it

doesn't teach us to pre-read and do the

work in a in a way that helps your

learning in the future but the best part

is once I'm done with these steps my

Foundation is now ready for the learning

and I'll be much foster at absorbing

retrieving all of the future steps of

provision part two absorbing the

information now that we've primed

ourselves skimmed the chapter done the

initial questions what do we actually do

while we read the information how can we

best absorb it as we go through it as I

said previously my biggest piece of

advice to both understand and remember

information more effectively is to give

meaning and relevance to it and yes

while you read you could go on and

explicitly keep asking yourself oh why

is this information important what is

the bigger picture how does this relate

to this topic that's how I did it for a

long time and it's helpful but you're

still forcing connections the eight main

concepts of the topic are all separate

they're disorganized in your head and

those true connections and those hot

light bulb moments only end up forming

like hours in days of revision of a

single topic later but now because we've

created that initial mental model a good

mind map of the topic all of the

information that we read automatically

becomes relevant these days I'm starting

to have those aha moments those light

bulb moments every few minutes because

whenever I read anything new any new

idea I think okay what part of my mental

model my structure does this thing link

to because when we read any anything new

now any New Concept we will think okay

how does this link in with that initial

mental model I created earlier that

initial mind map if it doesn't Link in

then why and I'm not saying that as you

read you have to keep on adding on to

that mind map and building on if you

don't study with mind maps I don't

either that's fine the pure Act of

creating that mental model and that mind

map and then thinking about how each

part is organized is enough to

accelerate your encoding and retrieval

process and by the way there's a reason

I keep repeating myself about this

mental model and the initial mind map

that you have to create is because of

how important it is and I will keep on

repeating important principles in spaced

intervals because that will is that is

what will help you learn but the thing

is even if you have built a foundation

so opening up your book and reading from

page one line one isn't an efficient way

to do this that's why you need to read

the information and absorb it in layers

easiest to hardest step one layering and

a practical method to do it I know we're

used to reading the textbook line by

line rereading the pages again and again

until it somehow sticks in our head but

that's just not smart is it being

someone who learns and studies a lot of

stuff regularly I know that you can't

just jump just straight into the details

our brain isn't ready for them yet we

need to add layers to the foundation and

organize the way we take in the

information easiest to hardest and that

means when you're reading a chapter you

start with the easiest layer of

information skimming the chapter looking

up keywords making a general sense of

the topics which is already what we've

done in the priming section then the

second layer of information will now

involve going through general concepts

getting the big overviews but at all

costs avoiding getting into the details

because if you get sucked into learning

and memorizing the details your brain

isn't ready to do that yet and it will

get just get stuck the most effective

use of your time would in this case be

to use multiple resources Google Notes

textbooks videos to get that General

understanding and understand the main

processes that this chapter is talking

about this is also the part where I

usually start to create my recall

questions while I go through the

information side by side but I'll get

into that in a minute after you got the

general concepts in your head the second

layer now is the time when you go

through the the third layer the detailed

Concepts the difficult topics and you go

through them one by one and because

you've already taken in the first layer

and the second layer you'll realize that

taking in these difficult Concepts even

memorizing them isn't that hard anymore

and that's because you have such a good

level of prior knowledge to then

associate these difficult topics too in

fact this is where your learning speed

will actually triple because you already

have that good mental model of the

entire topic that you created earlier so

you don't even need to read every single

bit of the chapter anymore intuitively

what you'll want to do is just skip

through the entire chapter and go to the

topics that you actually want to read

more about what topics will help you

gradually grow that mental model what

doesn't didn't make sense to you in that

mind map you made what which bits do you

want to read about more because once you

invest thought and actively try and make

that mental model initially you want to

either confirm whether it's right or

find out how it's wrong and then expand

it throughout this layering process even

you're building on your mental model

even more step two creating recall

questions this isn't really step two

because I do this while I Wade through

the actual information in the textbook

and the notes in those layers but what I

do side by side is convert all the

important explanations processes and

details that I need to know for my exams

into a list of questions and these are

the questions I will then test myself on

in my later revision sessions an

important caveat here is if you already

have PA papers and question Banks then

creating these questions should be a

supplement to your learning not the main

source of you testing yourself but if

you don't have them then instead of

making notes while going through the

information make questions

I almost always have a document of my

recall questions opened up while I'm

studying every few sentences of me

reading I think what's important here

what sort of questions can be asked

about from this paragraph okay let's

write down two questions down from this

section and I make them very specific I

don't just say oh what is this how is

this I use words like Define name five

of this analyze describe and by the end

of this process I usually have a list of

about 20 plus questions per subtopic and

because I'm continuously making these

questions while I go through the

information a side benefit is that I'm

continuously engaged and I don't get

stuck or bored or at least I'm less

likely to and to be honest after you get

in the practice and the flow of making

these questions while you go through the

information you can do it simultaneously

because I go through the information and

layers I think about how it relates to

my mental model I think about why it's

important give relevance to it do the

whole absorbing bit while I also create

these on the side if you're starting off

then doing it simultaneously feels a bit

overwhelming for most people and that's

completely fine what you should be

focusing on at that point is to

understand and build on those layers

build on the initial concept map and

then make the questions afterwards it's

a bit more time consuming that way but I

think that is the more effective method

for beginners but my point is making

those recall questions the list of those

questions that you can then test

yourself on later takes onethird of the

time compared to making notes and once

they're made you now have the perfect

resource to test yourself on all the

information that you have to learn

whereas with notes you can't really do

that can you step three teaching

everything and the thing is after doing

all this work you kind of think that you

know the topic 100% And I do this a lot

as well but it's a misconception just

because you look at the topic and

recognize it doesn't mean that you have

the ability to remember it long term

that's just something called the

illusion of competence what really

brings you back to the reality of what

you actually know is teaching it's known

as thean technique explaining it to a

5-year-old is the ultimate learning test

isn't it except of course you don't have

to kidnap a kid you can just explain it

to yourself when you start to explain

your mental model of the topic the main

Concepts the details you get to see

exactly where you're confused what part

of the way that you think about this

topic makes sense which parts are you

hesitating to explain so after doing the

reading of the chapter either after that

F very first session or at the start of

the second session I always spend 15 to

20 minutes summarizing to myself

teaching myself about all the main

Concepts that I've learned starting from

my Baseline all the way to every detail

that I remember and it's this sort of

small step that most people don't do

that sometimes even I miss that really

just takes your ability to remember

something to the next level literally

look at the subtopics use analogies

pneumonics describe the main Concepts

describe the disease in layman terms you

making your brain use that concept to

reconstruct it into an analogy or

pneumonic is what really makes something

memorable when you explain something out

loud it allows you to connect all these

different things that you learn into one

coherent monologue and that connects the

points in your brain that are still

unconnected it really solidifies

everything part three retrieving the

information this is an absolutely

crucial part of the learning process all

of the studies from Decades of research

on learning science have shown us that

testing yourself as a learning tool is

far far more effective to help you

remember and understand things when

compared to practices like rereading

summarizing making passive notes

highlighting and there's full studies on

this from the majority of studies on

learning science we know that the

retrieval of information from your brain

or in other words just testing yourself

is something that makes your knowledge

stick for far far longer when compared

to just rereading or re-exposing

yourself to the same material and by the

way for you to remember most effectively

that testing needs to be repeated in

spaced intervals it can't just be a

Mindless recitation of the same thing

again and again and again and I'll talk

about my formula for space repetition

and how I do it in the next section but

out of the libraries of studies about

testing yourself there's this one

important study in 2010 that really

takes this home a group of students were

split into two one study the topic and

then repeated that studying again using

rereading highlighting whatever study

the topic twice while the other group

studied that topic once but then took a

practice test before their exam and

these were the results pretty insane

differences right the group that just

restudied the information didn't do that

well with both facts and Concepts

whereas the group that studied once and

then tested themselves on it did 30 to

35% better improved their Mark by that

much and there are a ton more studies

like this but this really gives us the

importance of incorporating active

recall into your routine testing should

be your main form of revision but not

only that but the biggest mistake people

make is that they think okay I'll

understand everything first and then

I'll do practice questions but I want

you to understand something you learn

through the practice of these questions

so incorporate this retrieval practice

within your actual study sessions as

well when you go through your lectures

and Textbooks For the First Time

layering the information building on the

concept that you had in the beginning

you should continuously be asking

yourself what are the key ideas what

have I just learned which terms here are

new to me what here relates to what I

already know on my pre-existing

knowledge of the topic a lot of what I

was telling you to do in the previous

steps a lot of the internal dialogue

that we were having is also a part of

retrieving the information another

example of testing yourself while you

learn is covering the page and doing the

classic cover page thing where you reme

recall what you've just read my point is

that every step of this retrieval

process should involve testing yourself

however now that we've gone through a

big chunk of this guide we've gone

through exactly what to do when we first

start a topic how to go through it the

first time and a bit of testing

yourselves as well we've gone through in

the first two big sections priming and

absorbing the information so now what I

want you to do is to think about what

we've learned so far and recall it think

about what you remember from them again

active test

this is the summary up for both those

sections now that you know exactly what

to do in that first go through of the

information we can now move on to what

you're going to do to revise the

information in the next sessions and

what I do is I start every single

revision session of mine with the recall

question method the second time I come

back to the topic what I always start

off with is one answering the list of

questions I made without using any

resources I try my very best to answer

them like genuinely spend full minutes

sitting there trying to Rack my brain

remembering what I know because the more

effort you put into formulating an

answer in your head or writing it down

on a paper the better your neural

connections will form together the more

you'll remember in the future and only

after I've tried my best with three to

four questions will I then go through

the content go through the details and

fill in my knowledge gaps my

understanding is better for the next

time I go through the questions you see

the reading of the content and doing the

questions bit aren't two separate

activities they need to be intertwined

in the learning process and then the

third part of this method is that you

keep repeating this you test yourself on

the questions go back to the learning

material test yourself again go back to

the learning material oh and for an

extra optional step is to actually color

code the questions based on the

difficulty just quickly highlight them

red orange green based on how difficult

you actually found them to point out

your weaknesses as soon as you come to

the topic so that in the next revision

sessions you can immediately see the red

questions and start with them rather

than wasting time doing the green

questions again and again and again and

then slowly through the Rion sessions

all of the questions that were read will

turn from Orange to then green my tips

for the recall question method or why

it's better than flashcards as well by

anyone that's usually talked to me or

emailed me about this question recall

method I always get asked should I make

answers with these questions as well and

the thing is yeah people do this with

flash cards but I personally think that

with big concepts with heavy information

that you have to absorb doing and

writing out answers is just a big waste

of time because you've literally made

this list of questions from the textbook

or the notes or a set resource and you

can easily find the answers by going

back to those or by searching them up on

Google and the second big benefit for me

I feel is that when you actually answer

these questions and are forced to go

back to that original Source I feel like

your revision is so much more effective

as annoying as it is to not have your

answers in one like page or place

whenever you do test yourself in a

question you don't you're not just

clicking on the answer clicking the

flash card and looking at one or two

lines behind it you're going back to the

original Source where there's a well

explained answer in context with the

other information you get to understand

how this answer fits in or links in with

the other topics on the page and that in

turn helps create that bigger picture of

yours inter leaving for stem subjects a

lot of people think that this method

doesn't really apply to subjects like

chemistry physics maths and it does

except for one key difference you need

to be able to interad the studying of

different problem types the issue is

that all of our textbooks give you a

chapter on log equations for example

they show you a practice example of how

it works and then they give you 20

questions using the exact same method

and that doesn't really help us does it

it's just Mindless repetition in the

exam and in real life we need to have

the ability to look at the question

identify the method we want to use and

then use that to solve it and the

solution to this for us is simple once

you're at a point where you vaguely

understand the new problem type and know

how to kind of get to the solution move

on to the next problem type and Scatter

this first problem type throughout the

rest of your revision the Practical

action here is to still make that huge

list of recall questions except only

include one or two problems for each

problem type so only one or two of the

sign equations one or two of the angles

of of a triangle type questions and so

on and that's what you use to test

yourself you're encountering different

types of questions constantly you see

exactly what you don't know and then no

one's stopping you from going back to

the textbook and learning and doing 20

of those same questions for the stuff

that you didn't know how to solve and

that's what you should do once you've

tested yourself and realized you don't

know the method to this problem type you

should go back to the textbook and

practice as many of these questions as

it takes to solidify this concept and

truly understand it so that you don't

forget it the next time part four

spacing the information now the final

step to long-term retention is spaced

practice this means repeating and

actively revising the topic but doing it

in spaced intervals where the duration

of repetition is increasing over time so

the core idea is that you would study

something on day one then day four then

day 14 and then day 40 and the reason

this helps with allowing you to remember

a lot more information than usual is

because the more you allow yourself to

forget the information the harder your

brain will have to work and the better

you'll be able to retrieve it and the

reason this works so well with

remembering things long term is the more

you allow your brain to forget the

information the harder it'll have to

work to retrieve it and then the better

you'll remember it our brain forgets 50%

of the stuff we understand within an

hour and 70% of it is gone within a day

and all of us have experienced this you

revise the topic one day and the the

next year's like what huh what did I

even and we can use something called the

forgetting curve to explain this over

time we forget things at an exponential

rate and the only way to learn those

things and to remember them is to

interrupt that curve with repetitions

that basically means testing yourself or

revising a topic just as you're

forgetting it and that's what space

repetition in those intervals helps you

do the problem with typical space

repetition and I know it sounds simple

but the problem the main issue that most

students face with doing this is that

even if you schedule space repetition

and spread out the repetition of your of

the topics that you have to do doing it

with all of your topics is near

impossible possible like it's not really

hard to repeat two or three of the

topics on day one then day four then day

14 but if you think about all the new

things that you're learning per week and

that exponentially growing every time

your repetition is also exponentially

increasing it's not a doable technique

then but there is a smart way to

cleverly space your repetitions out and

the obvious solution I found is to

reduce the amount of repetitions you do

per topic and to make each repetition

session extremely effective this is the

Practical action to be honest I already

have a really good video on how I plan

my space repetition out check it out

right here but the gist of it is before

I have an exam coming up I start

revision four to 5 weeks in advance and

for challenging topics I think the

strategy should be to get at least three

repetitions in when you do your first

repetition on day one then do your

second one on day three or four and then

you do your final one at least 2 weeks

after that for me this works so well

because each interval I have each Gap is

big enough that it allows me to actually

forget the topic that I've learned and

then makes that testing session next

time a lot more effective for Less

challenging topics only give them one or

two repetitions one on the actual day

where I learn it and one maybe 12 to 14

days later the reason I've made the

decision to reduce the repetitions on

the easier topics and not do three or

four repetitions that would make it 100%

and solidify it 100% is because I need

to prioritize my time my weaker topics

need a lot more repetitions than the

easier ones the reality of efficient

studying and active recall increasing my

efficiency and learning these methods

that allow me to study more effectively

has no doubt single-handedly taken my

exam performance to the next level it

allows me to study less score better and

it's probably the reason I'm in med

school right now but the big mistake I

used to fall into was to think that

efficient studying and testing myself is

the only way and the only effective

worthwhile way to revise because yes it

would be incredible if I could force my

brain to put huge amounts of effort 100%

concentration into the work every single

time I revise but realistically if

you're studying week after week there's

going to be days there's going to be

times where you don't feel like going

100% and studying actively and using

100% of your brain and yeah the issue

was that I'd convinced myself that the

only way to make studying worthwhile to

make it a worthwhile use of my time is

if it was active and effective so much

so that I would procrastinate for days

and not catch up on my work because it

was such an effortful task but what I

wish I realized and thought back to

again was that there's easier more

relaxed ways that you could still put

the hours of learning into like Light

reading watching YouTube videos just

even rereading the concept like it is

okay to do sometimes like you're allowed

to just learn in a not strict way you

know and the solution was this was a

balance 70% of the time you do the

active studying you put in the effort

into your learning and then 30% of the

time you do whatever you can that gets

you through the actual revision that you

have to do and in the long run I think

this 70 to 30% balance is what has truly

helped me stay consistent and motivated

in my revision anyways that was the full

guide on how to self-study efficiently

for your exams we started off with how

you should first look at the information

to revising it to now knowing it so well

through so much recall and practice that

I am so sure that you'll be able to Ace

the exams this is another full guide I

made on how any student can learn to

focus for long long hours using the

steps I've given and this is that space

repetition video I mentioned where I go

through my exact formula my exact space

repetition revision timetable that month

before the exam anyways thank you so

much for watching I really hope that

You' gained value from this video I hope

you can use this to improve your own

studying method leave a like spam the

comments below share it with your

friends and I will see you in the next

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