Learning New Content | Studying Effectively for GCSE's & A-level's
Summary
TLDRThis educational video guide offers a structured approach to learning new content for GCSE and A-level students. The host emphasizes the importance of understanding material during class, suggesting note-taking should be balanced with active listening. They advocate for digital flashcards and note organization using tools like Anki for effective learning through active recall and spaced repetition. The script details creating a study system with Google Drive, incorporating resources like online guides and videos, and refining notes into concise flashcards. The process is designed to be iterative, allowing for continuous learning and adaptation.
Takeaways
- 📝 Taking notes during class helps with attention and future reference, but avoid writing down everything verbatim to maintain focus on understanding the material.
- 🤔 Focus on understanding the content first before trying to remember it, and use the opportunity to ask questions during the lesson.
- 🔄 Alternating between periods of writing and listening can prevent getting caught up in the act of writing and ensure better comprehension.
- 📚 Distractions like neatness and color-coding with highlighters can detract from the primary goal of understanding the material.
- 📈 Diagrams are particularly important, especially in subjects like math and science, as they can summarize a lot of information concisely.
- 📑 After grasping the big picture, it's beneficial to focus on smaller details to build a comprehensive understanding of the topic.
- 💻 Utilize digital tools like Google Drive for organizing notes and flashcards, which can facilitate active recall and spaced repetition techniques.
- 📝 When creating flashcards, keep them concise and focused on key concepts, avoiding trivial information that may not be necessary for higher-level understanding.
- 🔍 Cross-checking notes with various resources like revision guides and online videos helps in reinforcing understanding and filling knowledge gaps.
- 🔄 Regularly review and revise flashcards, refining them as you realize what is useful and what is not, based on practice and understanding.
- 📈 Spaced repetition through tools like Anki is crucial for effective long-term learning and retention of information.
Q & A
What is the main focus of the video series 'Installing Effectively for GCSE's'?
-The main focus of the video series is to guide students through the process of learning new content in a chronological order and utilizing effective learning techniques such as active recall and spaced repetition, particularly for GCSE level studies.
Why is it not recommended to write continuously during a lesson according to the video?
-Writing continuously during a lesson can lead to focusing too much on the process of writing and may cause anxiety if one can't keep up with the teacher's pace. Instead, the focus should be on understanding the content itself.
What is the suggested approach to taking notes during a lesson as per the video?
-The suggested approach is to pay attention and listen to the teacher for about five to ten minutes, and then jot down a few notes or draw sketches when the teacher pauses or finishes explaining a concept. This helps in understanding the material before focusing on remembering it.
Why are diagrams considered important in subjects like maths and science according to the video?
-Diagrams are important because they can summarize a lot of information concisely, making complex concepts easier to understand and remember.
What is the role of digital flashcards and notes in the learning process as described in the video?
-Digital flashcards and notes are used for active recall, which is a powerful learning technique. They help in reinforcing the material learned and testing oneself on the content.
Can you explain the process of creating flashcards from class notes as described in the video?
-The process involves reviewing class notes, adding extra information if needed, and turning them into flashcards. These flashcards are then imported into a program like Anki for spaced repetition, which is an effective learning technique.
What is the significance of using a program like Anki for learning?
-Anki helps in making use of spaced repetition, an effective learning technique that involves reviewing information at increasing intervals over time, which enhances long-term retention.
How does the video suggest organizing digital notes for different subjects and topics?
-The video suggests creating a folder for each subject on a platform like Google Drive, with subfolders for each module. Within these, create documents for flashcards and organize them under specific headings and subheadings related to the course syllabus.
What is the purpose of using resources like CGP revision guides and textbooks in the learning process?
-CGP revision guides and textbooks are used as reference materials to cross-check information and ensure comprehensive understanding of the topic. They are especially useful for getting diagrams and additional details that may not be covered in class notes.
How should one approach the use of videos and online resources for learning according to the video?
-One should use videos and online resources to help understand concepts and ideas, and then explain them in their own words. It's also suggested to watch these at higher speeds if the content is covered too slowly and to add any useful information or diagrams to personal notes.
What is the importance of reviewing and editing flashcards during the learning process as mentioned in the video?
-Reviewing and editing flashcards is important as it helps in refining the content, making it more concise and relevant. It also ensures that the flashcards cover all the necessary points from the syllabus and can be adjusted based on what is useful for exam preparation.
Outlines
📝 Effective Note-Taking and Learning Strategies
This paragraph discusses the importance of focusing on understanding content during class rather than just taking extensive notes. The speaker suggests taking notes in bursts after the teacher pauses, which helps in grasping the concept before writing. It emphasizes the use of digital flashcards and notes for active recall and space repetition, and introduces the process of organizing notes and creating flashcards using Anki, a spaced repetition software. The paragraph also touches on the significance of diagrams in subjects like math and science.
📚 Organizing Class Notes and Utilizing Resources
The speaker describes the process of organizing class notes in a digital format, using tables to separate concepts and bullet points. They mention reviewing the material while typing, using various resources such as online guides and videos for additional information, and the importance of not getting lost in details. The paragraph also covers the use of a kanban board in Notion to manage resources and the strategy of skimming through videos for further understanding. It advises against relying too heavily on textbooks and instead using them for confirming understanding and capturing diagrams.
🔍 Selecting and Combining Study Resources
This paragraph emphasizes the importance of selecting a few high-quality resources for studying, such as CambridgeEvidently and MyChemGuy for OCR chemistry, and avoiding an overwhelming number of resources. It details the process of combining notes from various sources, ensuring no duplicate information, and structuring them for clarity. The speaker also discusses the iterative nature of refining notes and flashcards, and the gradual process of learning through reviewing material, doing practice questions, and engaging with past papers.
🚀 Embracing the Learning Process and Using Anki
The final paragraph addresses the gradual nature of learning, encouraging learners not to wait until they know everything before starting to practice with questions and past papers. It acknowledges the challenges in the learning process and suggests seeking help from friends or online forums when stuck. The speaker also previews the next video in the series, which will delve into using Anki for reviewing flashcards and leveraging spaced repetition for effective learning.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Active Recall
💡Spaced Repetition
💡Notes
💡Flashcards
💡Classroom Learning
💡Understanding
💡Content
💡Distractions
💡Diagrams
💡Revision Guides
💡Practice Questions and Past Papers
Highlights
The importance of understanding material during the first exposure in class rather than focusing on note-taking.
Taking notes should not be an end in itself but a means to aid understanding and later reference.
The pitfalls of writing continuously during lessons, which can lead to anxiety and distract from content absorption.
The strategy of alternating between periods of writing and listening to enhance comprehension.
The suggestion to not be overly concerned with neatness while taking notes to avoid distractions.
The role of diagrams in summarizing complex information, especially in subjects like maths and science.
The process of creating digital flashcards to leverage active recall for effective learning.
Using Anki, a spaced repetition program, to enhance learning efficiency.
Organizing notes by modules and sub-modules for structured digital flashcard creation.
The method of reviewing class notes and adding them to flashcards for active learning.
The practice of cross-referencing notes with external resources for comprehensive understanding.
The caution against relying solely on revision guides without a foundational understanding of the topic.
The approach to combining bullet points and structuring notes for clarity before creating flashcards.
The emphasis on using quality resources and avoiding information overload.
The iterative process of refining flashcards during review to improve their effectiveness.
The integration of flashcards with Anki for consistent review and spaced repetition.
The acknowledgment that learning is a gradual process involving review, practice, and continuous improvement.
The encouragement to seek help when stuck and to utilize community resources for learning support.
Transcripts
hey friends and welcome back to our
series installing effectively for gcse's
nail levels
in this video i will be going through
the process by which i learned some new
content
in a chronological order as well as
including an example
as always timestamps will be in the
description down below so do check those
out during the video
so for most of you the first time you
will learn about a new piece of content
will be during class and the most
natural thing to do is to take notes
during the lesson now whilst taking
notes during a lesson is good
because it helps you pay attention and
gives you something to reference later
i find that many people take this to
extreme and are writing almost
everything the teacher is saying
throughout the lesson now i think there
are a few issues with writing
continuously throughout the lesson
the main issue i found is that by
writing throughout the lesson you end up
focusing too much on the process of
writing and can get quite anxious if you
aren't keeping up with the speed of the
teacher instead we should be focusing on
the contents itself
and not the process of writing down
content our aim when learning about
something for the very first time should
be to first
understand the material and especially
when the teacher is presenting it
because you can ask them questions
during the lesson and only after we
understand material shall we focus on
remembering it so personally what i do
during lessons is that i pay attention
and listen to a teacher for about five
to ten minutes
and when they take a pause or finish
explaining a concept or an idea
then i will jot down a few notes and
draw some sketches explaining the same
concept i find that alternating between
periods of writing and periods of just
paying attention allowed me not to get
caught up in trying to copy down
everything that was
being said but actually allowed me to
focus on first understanding the
material being presented
rather than just writing it all down now
since we should focus on
understanding and as we will be using
digital flash cards and notes as you
will see later in the series
i didn't concern myself with being too
neat i think that trying to be neat
and switching between different colored
pens or highlights is just a distraction
from the whole process of understanding
i think that different colored
highlighters are only useful when
drawing complicated diagrams and marking
work and on that note diagrams are
especially important because for
subjects like maths and science
you can summarize a lot of information
into just a few good diagrams
ultimately this meant that most of my
time in class was
spent on understanding the material and
asking questions and the small amounts
of time was actually
spent on making bullet points of the
information being presented in my own
words i didn't worry too much about
trying to get every little detail down
during the lesson
instead i focused on getting the overall
idea of what was going on in the topic
as you will see later in the video
we focused on smaller details later
after we built up a bigger picture i
then repeated this process for every
lesson during the week
and made an effort to understand the
content presented in each lesson
after a few lessons when a subject teach
had finished teaching a topic
or a large enough chunk of a topic i
usually had a big picture of what was
going on in the topic
investment that can now focus on smaller
details so these are some of my class
notes from a-level chemistry
and as you can see we were learning
about the topic of phenol and its
reactions in class
this is a topic from the second year of
a level country so don't worry if you
haven't seen this before i'm just using
as an example here
now if i were to add some extra
information onto these notes and perhaps
rephrase some things
then this piece of paper is going to get
pretty cluttered besides there's no
point in doing any of that if i'm not
going to then later test myself on the
material
to make use of active recall the goal
here is to add any extra information
that we want to onto these nodes
and then turn them into flash cards so
we can make use of active recall
which as we've established in earlier
videos is one of the most powerful
learning techniques
then we will import these flash cards
into a program called anki
which will help us make use of the over
effective learning technique which is
space repetition
so let's switch over to computer to see
how this is done now i created a folder
for the subjects on my google drive
and i saved the specification into this
folder as well so if i look at the
specification
i can see that i have six modules for
chemistry
and i have made a folder for each of
these modules so if i look up where the
top coffee nose is by
uh doing ctrl f and then search phenol
uh you can see it's in module 6
organic chemistry and analysis and is
in section 6.1 aromatic compounds
carbonyls and acids
so if i then go into module 6
and i create a new document
and i'll call this document flashcards
so after creating this flash cards
document what i do is i write out the
modules
so you can see i have 6.1 aromatic
compounds carbonyls and acids so
just add a dash in here and turn this
into a heading one and then i
use a sub module as well so i have the
sub module 6.1.1 aromatic compounds
so if i just paste this here and turn
that into
a heading two and if i just repeat this
for everything else from the
specification
under this module so so after writing
out all the sub modules and sub sub
modules
i check where phenol is on the
specification
and you can see if i scroll up it fits
under 6.1.1 aromatic compounds
um so underneath aromatic compounds what
i like to do is
i insert a table uh two columns any
number of rows because we can always add
more rows later
and then i make the first column about a
third of the length and the second
column about two-thirds
and then i just pasted this table
underneath for the rest of the
headings what i do now is i type up my
notes from class
under 6.1.1 aromatic compounds
whilst adding more rows to this table if
needs be
i make sure each row is roughly split by
concept
and i bullet point my notes from class
into right hand column
this process is quite nice because it
gives me a chance to review the
information that i
learned from class as i type it up if
there are any diagrams that i need to
use
then i find an image of something
similar of google images
and i copy into here or i would take a
picture of the diagram on my phone
upload it to google drive using the app
on my phone
and then import it into notes after i
finish the process of typing all these
notes i'll make any corrections to any
spelling mistakes and then also
change the font to proxima nova because
i prefer that font
now it's so much easier to add any extra
content i need to
to these notes and it gave me a chance
to review the material as i was typing
up so now what i would usually have is a
list of sources i can cross check with
and i would store these on a kanban
board on notion which i mentioned in my
previous organization video
for example in chemistry for module 6
i have these sources which i need to use
in turn by turn
so i've added some from class and do
bear in mind that i won't
watch all the videos um or use all the
sources
if i feel pretty confident that i
understood something
pretty well from class and i've covered
all the content then i
generally wouldn't use it and i just
skim watch these videos um
like on double or triple speed so now if
i look up the first source which is
camera vise
and then i can find the ocr revision
guides on camera vice because i'm doing
ocr here
and then i would go down to aromatic
compounds
here and let's find phenol on here
so these are the phenol notes from
cameravise and what i would do
is i would just add any extra
information on these onto my notes
from these camera visor notes so if i do
that now
so now that i finished using these notes
to add any extra information that i
needed to which were
a few more bullet points i would go back
to the board
and then see that i also have to add
from
my chem guys so i've added from camera
boys um so now if i search
my chem guy phenol um you can see he has
a few videos in phenol
so i'm not gonna watch this now but
usually what i would do is
i'd watch through this um and i think he
has it on his playlist as well
so ocr module one if i go here
then you can see he has two videos in
phenol and
a few others so usually what i would do
is i'd watch this
and if it's covering things too slowly
then i would
just speed up the video by going um and
setting the speed a bit higher
and then make any more notes from the
video which i would then add
on to these to make sure i've have fully
understood everything
and any diagrams that i like i would
screenshot as well and add it onto
those notes too and i think these videos
are pretty good at generally helping me
understand concepts and ideas
that i can then explain into my own
words uh on the notes
so after i've added some information
from my chem guy
i would go to the cgp revision
guide and because i have the digital
version i can just log in and access it
from here
so you can see this is a phenol section
and it explains more about phenol and a
few other things here and i would
basically use this to cross check any
information i had by reading for it
and i would do a similar process for the
textbook as well um and the reason i use
the cgp revision guide in the textbook
as the final checkboxes um is because
i think the main mistake people make
with cgp revision guides is using them
to learn the content they're meant as
more of a revision guide which means
they're only useful if you have some
understanding
or an idea of what the topic is on about
if you open the cg
revision guide without understanding the
topic and the big picture
and it's quite easy to get lost in a lot
of these bullet points and details and
not knowing what's going on
so here i mainly use a cg provision
guide to make sure i've learnt on the
content
and using it as a reference and getting
any images that i find useful from it by
screenshotting them
but i would never really put too much
effort into using it and
place too much emphasis on like the
mining details in the revision guide and
as for the digital version of the
textbook
i would check that at the end as well to
screenshot any more diagrams that i find
useful and can add onto my notes
but usually videos and online notes
distill the concepts very well
i find that the textbook tends to go all
over the place and in my experience
it wasn't too useful i would often skim
read it and
barely add anything onto my notes after
that because a lot of places like the
videos
and the uh notes on camera voice it's
tended to simplify the information quite
well but unfortunately
most gcse a-level students don't know
what good textbooks are like
as the only time i think people really
put effort into writing the textbook is
for university textbooks
so it's quite easy to sell off with
something mediocre which isn't too
helpful
and using something that ends up causing
more issues than
it actually solves ultimately remember
that if a resource isn't working for you
it isn't your fault provided you're
putting some effort into understanding
it
so all i can say is that if you find the
textbook useful then use it if not don't
bother
personally i only found it useful for
skim reading to make sure i had covered
most of the
main ideas and for screenshotting any
diagrams so after working through the
cgp revision guide and the textbook and
adding any
extra small things onto my notes they
were pretty much done so i can check off
these two boxes
and after writing down all the
information from these various resources
now i can combine many of the bullet
points together because there may be
some duplicate information and then give
the notes a bit more structure
which makes the next step easier which
is this process of turning
these notes into flashcards and during
the combining process
um when combining any bullet points
together it gives me
a chance to actually make sure i have
understood all the material
and can turn it into a more coherent
structure so then when i learn these
later topics as well in class then i
would
repeat a similar process and use these
notes
uh these uh resources that i mentioned
on notion
and obviously uncheck all the boxes and
recheck them again for that topic
uh just make sure i'm doing the order
correctly also i would recommend that
you stick to a few good resources such
as cameravise and mychem guy
if you're doing ocr chemistry rather
than a lot of
poor quality resources and i would aim
for about three to five
because i find any more than that can be
overwhelming and besides for like any
minor detail which is
very important and you may have missed
somehow um because it wasn't in any of
these resources
you will encounter in an exam question
after doing some past papers
if it's that important and then you can
add that onto your notes as well
so now using all these resources to
review and understand the material
next up is turning these notes into
flashcards because there isn't much
point in making notes unless we test
ourselves on them
using active recall and space repetition
and having
flashcards an additional app like anki
is a great way to do both
in case you don't know what ikea is the
following video in the series will
explain anki
and the basics of using it in this video
i will just be
turning these notes into flashcards so
usually i like to stick to one concept
for card and like to ignore any trivial
information by that i mean if you're
doing a level chemistry then there's not
much point in making a flash card
called what is a relative charge
dominant electron because that should be
pretty obvious to you
at that point if you're doing any level
chemistry but of course if you're doing
gcse chemistry and learning it for the
first time then it may not be obvious
and likewise making a flashcard such as
what is phenol when you're first
learning about phenol
uh can be helpful but if you then go
into the chemistry university
then you don't really need that
flashcard anymore because you should
know what phenol is by that point
anyways try not to worry about getting
the level of detail just right in each
flashcard
you always have an opportunity to edit
and trim down the flashcard each time
you review it
and as you do more exam questions in
past papers you get an idea of what sort
of things are useful and what sort of
things will never come up
my flashcards weren't perfect the first
time and sometimes when i was going
through them then i would edit them
and make improvements to phrasing or
make it a bit more concise
i think it's much better to make
improvements on the fly when you're
reviewing the flashcards
uh whenever you realize something rather
than staring at this document for ages
and hoping some
improvements or suggestions come to mind
also turning the content to flashcards
helps me to continue to engage with the
material as i think about how to
rephrase it into a question
so now that i finished telling my notes
flashcards i check again with the
specification
uh underneath the phenol section to make
sure i've covered
all the points they want me to know
about in my flashcard somewhere and once
i've finished checking it it basically
means my flashcards are ready in the
next video we will be learning about
anki and in the one after
i will show you how to add these
flashcards in tanki and use anki for
reviewing the flashcards and making use
of space repetition
so this is essentially a process i would
repeat every weekend or every other
weekend or even on some weekdays
uh depending on my mood and how ahead or
on top i wanted to feel the process was
basically reviewing the material i
learned some lesson by making
notes on my computer and then adding on
to those notes
uh and then turning those into
flashcards which i would then
consistently
use throughout the year so by the time
my nwa exams came around
i basically knew everything i needed to
and it's important to remember that this
process
does not mean you've learned everything
perfectly remember that
ultimately learning as a gradual process
reviewing the content and making and
going through flashcards and doing
practice questions and past papers is
all part of a learning process
it's not like you have to first learn
something before you do
practice questions and pass papers on it
sure you have to know
most of it but it doesn't mean you have
to know everything before you can
um start doing those questions it's not
like there's some
magic off on switch where at one moment
you don't know something and the next
moment you've learnt it and remember
that learning can be a difficult process
too so don't be discouraged
you will get stuck a few times you won't
understand the teacher
or a video and your explanation on the
flash card may be unsatisfactory
in which case it can be useful to ask
your friends or do some research online
or
ask in an online form to um for people
to help you but yeah that's basically
for this video and i'll see the next one
in which i will talk more about using
anki
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