3 Tips to Maximise Long Study Sessions

Summary

This video provides strategies to maximize productivity during long study sessions. It addresses common issues like losing motivation and feeling unproductive by the end of the day. The speaker emphasizes the importance of managing focus, energy, and cognitive load. Techniques such as taking regular breaks, minimizing distractions, and layering learning are discussed to help maintain energy and improve information retention. The video also encourages creating organizational schemas to better understand complex topics. Viewers are invited to explore more detailed methods through an available course.

Takeaways

• 📅 When you have a full day for studying, it's crucial to use that time effectively to avoid feeling demotivated or unproductive by the end of the day.
• 🏃‍♂️ Don't rush through studying or try to force yourself to work faster; instead, focus on optimizing your approach over time with consistent practice.
• ⏳ Identify where time is being wasted in your study routine, and work on improving those areas, such as declining focus or distractions.
• 🔄 Use techniques like 'optimized focus rest timing,' which is similar to the Pomodoro technique, but more flexible and allows for productive break times.
• 🎧 Minimize distractions by creating a focused environment, such as using do-not-disturb mode on your phone, wearing headphones, or setting up a study space.
• 💡 Avoid overwhelming yourself by trying to understand difficult concepts when you're not ready; instead, layer your learning and tackle simpler ideas first.
• 📚 Use a layering approach to study where you first grasp the basic concepts or keywords before diving into the more complex details.
• 🧠 The more you know about a subject, the easier it is to learn more about it, so focus on building a solid foundation of knowledge first.
• 📝 Creating 'organizational schemas' helps in encoding information effectively, making it easier to recall and understand later.
• 🌟 Learning is complex, and while some techniques may seem simple, a deeper understanding of how the brain works can lead to more effective study strategies.

Q & A

What is a common issue students face when they have a long day dedicated to studying?

A common issue is feeling like they didn't get much study done by the end of the day, leading to feelings of stress, demotivation, and the sense that the day was wasted.

Why shouldn't students focus on trying to study faster, especially at the beginning stages?

Trying to study faster can lead to frustration because increasing processing speed takes months of diligent practice. Instead of rushing, students should focus on eliminating time-wasting activities and maintaining concentration.

What technique does the speaker recommend for maintaining focus and energy during long study sessions?

The speaker recommends using an optimized focus-rest timing approach, similar to but more flexible than the Pomodoro Technique, to maintain focus and energy by taking frequent, purposeful breaks.

How can students prevent distractions during study sessions?

Students can prevent distractions by putting their phone on 'Do Not Disturb' mode, using noise-canceling headphones, creating a focused study environment, and even partitioning their room to minimize external distractions.

Why is it important to manage cognitive load during study sessions?

Managing cognitive load is crucial because the brain has limited capacity to process and retain information. Overloading it can lead to exhaustion and difficulty in understanding and retaining the material.

What is the 'layering approach' to learning that the speaker suggests?

The layering approach involves breaking down a new topic into different levels of detail or difficulty. Students should first understand the basic, easier concepts before moving on to more complex details, which helps build a strong foundation and makes the learning process more efficient.

How does creating organizational schemas help in the learning process?

Organizational schemas help by structuring information in a way that makes it easier to understand and remember. By organizing knowledge into schemas, students can connect new information to what they already know, which facilitates deeper learning and retention.

What is the 'snowballing effect' in learning?

The snowballing effect refers to the phenomenon where the more you know about a topic, the easier it becomes to learn more about it. This is because having prior knowledge allows you to make connections with new information, making it easier to understand.

Why do students often understand material better right before a test or exam?

Students often understand material better right before a test or exam because, by that time, they have created schemas and layered their learning through multiple revisions. This process makes the material more familiar and easier to recall.

What should students do if they find certain parts of a topic too difficult to understand during their first pass?

If students find certain parts of a topic too difficult, they should skip those sections initially and focus on easier concepts. They can return to the challenging parts later, after building a better understanding of the foundational material.