How to Study for Exams - The STic Framework for Effective Learning

Summary

This video introduces the 'STICK' method for effective studying, emphasizing the importance of Spacing, Testing, Interleaving, and Categorizing. It highlights how testing oneself significantly boosts exam scores, spacing out study sessions enhances long-term retention, categorizing information aids in structuring knowledge, and interleaving different topics improves learning efficiency. The video also features insights from David Epstein and recommends 'Make It Stick' for further reading on these evidence-based techniques.

Takeaways

• 📚 The 'STICK' method stands for Spacing, Testing, Interleaving, and Categorizing, which are four principles for effective studying.
• 📈 Testing (or active recall) is the most crucial component for boosting exam scores and should be integrated into the learning process from the start.
• 🔍 Spacing involves distributing study sessions over time, allowing for some forgetting before restudying, which is more efficient than massed practice.
• 🌳 Categorizing information helps in structuring and retaining large amounts of data by building a 'tree of knowledge' around a subject.
• 🔄 Interleaving, or mixed practice, involves mixing different types of tasks or problems, which can be more challenging but leads to better learning outcomes.
• 🔑 The 'Make It Stick' book emphasizes the importance of testing, spacing, and interleaving as game-changers in effective learning.
• 📈 The forgetting curve is a natural phenomenon where memory decays over time, and it's countered by retrieval practice and spaced repetition.
• 🤓 David Epstein's book 'Range' discusses how generalists can excel in a world of specialists, with implications for learning and studying techniques.
• 💡 Active recall or testing can be applied even before learning a topic to prime the brain for better retention of information.
• 📈 A study showed that spaced practice intervals led to remembering 250% more information compared to massed practice, even without further study.
• 💡 The video suggests that learning should be difficult and mentally taxing, as this indicates that the brain is effectively encoding new information.

Q & A

What is the STICK method mentioned in the video?

The STICK method stands for Spacing, Testing, Interleaving, and Categorizing, which are the four most important principles for effective and efficient studying according to the video.

Why is testing considered the most important principle in the STICK method?

Testing is considered the most important because it involves active recall or retrieval practice, which significantly boosts exam scores and helps information stick in the long term, as supported by numerous studies.

What does the term 'active recall' mean in the context of studying?

Active recall refers to the process of testing oneself to retrieve information from memory, which is a more effective learning technique than passive rereading or highlighting.

How does the 'spacing' principle work in the context of studying?

Spacing involves leaving intervals between study sessions on the same topic, allowing for some forgetting to occur before revisiting the material, which enhances long-term retention.

What is the 'hyper correction effect' mentioned in the video?

The hyper correction effect is a phenomenon where getting an answer wrong and then learning the correct one leads to better retention of the right information.

What is the significance of the 'forgetting curve' in memory research?

The forgetting curve illustrates the natural decay of memory over time, emphasizing the need for retrieval and re-encoding of information to counteract forgetting.

How does the 'categorizing' principle aid in learning?

Categorizing helps in structuring information by creating a system or 'tree of knowledge' around a subject, making it easier to understand and remember large amounts of information.

What is 'interleaving' in the context of the STICK method?

Interleaving, or mixed practice, involves mixing different types of learning material or tasks during a study session, which can be more challenging but leads to better understanding and retention.

What is the relationship between difficulty in learning and the effectiveness of learning?

The video suggests that when learning is difficult and mentally taxing, it indicates that more effective learning is taking place, as the brain is working harder to encode the information.

What is the role of Skillshare in the video?

Skillshare is the sponsor of the video, offering an online learning community with various classes and providing a two-month free trial for new users through the link in the video description.

Why should one consider using the 'retrospective revision timetable' mentioned in the video?

The retrospective revision timetable is a technique that helps ensure the use of active recall, spacing, and testing in studying, making the study sessions more efficient and effective.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Introduction to the STICK Method for Effective Studying

The video introduces the STICK method, a study technique based on four principles: Spacing, Testing, Interleaving, and Categorizing. The presenter emphasizes the importance of testing oneself as the most crucial step for boosting exam scores, backed by research. The concept of active recall, or testing, is explained as integral to the learning process. The video also mentions David Epstein, author of 'Range,' who supports the effectiveness of these techniques. The presenter plans to discuss each principle in the order of Testing, Spacing, Categorizing, and Interleaving (TSCI), considering it a hierarchy of importance.

05:01

🔍 The Science Behind Spacing and the Forgetting Curve

This paragraph delves into the concept of spacing, which involves distributing study sessions over time to enhance long-term retention. The presenter discusses the 'forgetting curve,' a well-known phenomenon where memory decays over time if not retrieved. A study by David Epstein is highlighted, showing that spaced learning significantly outperforms cramming. The presenter also recommends watching a dedicated video on spaced repetition for further insights and suggests a 'retrospective revision timetable' as a practical application of spacing and testing.

10:02

🌳 Building a Categorization System for Efficient Learning

The presenter introduces categorization as a key study technique, advocating for the creation of a structured system to organize information, rather than simply memorizing it. Studies are cited that show the effectiveness of categorization in enhancing both short-term and long-term retention. The presenter shares a personal example from medical school, where creating a 'tree of knowledge' for Hematology helped in understanding and retaining complex information. The idea is to build a conceptual framework that allows new information to be easily integrated and retrieved.

🎯 The Benefits of Interleaving in Learning and Skill Development

Interleaving, or mixed practice, is discussed as the final component of the STICK method. The presenter explains that interleaving involves mixing different types of problems or topics during study sessions, which, although more challenging, leads to better learning outcomes. The concept is likened to working out with weights; the more difficult the exercise, the more it builds strength. The presenter encourages embracing the difficulty of learning as a sign of effective study and mentions 'Make It Stick' as a resource that elaborates on this concept.

Keywords

💡Active Recall

Active recall is a learning technique where students actively test themselves on material they are trying to learn. It is a fundamental concept in the video, as it is presented as the most crucial method for enhancing exam scores and long-term retention. The script emphasizes that active recall is not just a review method but an integral part of the learning process itself, even suggesting that it should be done before learning a topic to prime the brain for better retention.

💡Spacing

Spacing, or spaced repetition, is the practice of distributing learning sessions over time rather than cramming them into a single session. The video explains that this method is supported by the forgetting curve, a phenomenon where memory decays over time unless information is retrieved and re-encoded. The script provides evidence that spaced practice leads to better long-term retention, with a study cited where participants who spaced their learning remembered 250% more material years later.

💡Interleaving

Interleaving, or mixed practice, involves mixing different types of learning material or tasks within a single study session. The video suggests that this method can be more challenging but ultimately more effective for learning, as it encourages the brain to develop a flexible understanding of concepts and to match strategies to different types of problems. It is presented as a counterintuitive but scientifically supported method for enhancing learning efficiency.

💡Categorizing

Categorizing is the process of organizing information into groups or categories to facilitate better understanding and retention. In the video, it is described as an efficient study technique, especially for large amounts of information. The script illustrates this with the example of creating a 'tree of knowledge' for the subject of Hematology, where new information can be easily placed within an existing structure, thus aiding in long-term retention and understanding.

💡Forgetting Curve

The forgetting curve is a concept in memory research that describes the decline of memory retention over time. The video uses this concept to explain why spacing is important, as it provides time for the forgetting curve to take effect before information is revisited and reinforced. It is a key part of the argument for why spaced repetition is more effective than massed repetition.

💡Hypercorrection Effect

The hypercorrection effect is a phenomenon where making errors during initial learning leads to better retention when the correct information is later provided. The video mentions this effect as a reason why testing before learning can be beneficial, as the brain is primed to retain the correct answer more strongly, especially when the initial guess was wrong.

💡Conceptual Models

Conceptual models are mental frameworks that help individuals understand and organize information. The video discusses how interleaving can help in forming these models, as it forces the learner to match strategies to different types of problems, thus enhancing the ability to generalize knowledge and apply it flexibly.

💡Skillshare

Skillshare is an online learning community mentioned in the video that offers a wide range of classes on various topics. It is highlighted as a sponsor of the video, and the script encourages viewers to take advantage of a two-month free trial to explore the platform's offerings. The mention of Skillshare serves as an endorsement and a resource for further learning.

💡Productivity

Productivity is a theme touched upon in the video when discussing a Skillshare class by Thomas Frank, a productivity expert. The script describes how the class provides insights into productivity systems, email management, and the use of various apps, which can be applied to one's personal productivity routine. It is presented as a relevant topic for those interested in optimizing their study and work habits.

💡Tree of Knowledge

The 'tree of knowledge' is a metaphor used in the video to describe a structured way of organizing information, particularly for complex subjects like Hematology. It involves creating a main trunk and branches to categorize different types of information, making it easier to integrate new knowledge and recall it later. The concept is used to illustrate the benefits of categorization in enhancing learning and retention.

Highlights

The introduction of the 'stick method' for effective studying, which stands for Spacing, Testing, Interleaving, and Categorizing.

Spacing and Testing are identified as the most important principles for efficient learning.

Interleaving and Categorizing are discussed as additional concepts for effective studying.

Author David Epstein's research on effective learning techniques for exams and sports.

The importance of active recall or retrieval practice for boosting exam scores.

Evidence showing that testing oneself is more effective than rereading.

The concept of 'hyper correction effect' where getting an answer wrong can lead to better memory retention.

The idea of spacing out study sessions to improve long-term memory retention.

The 'forgetting curve' and its impact on memory decay over time.

A study showing the effectiveness of spaced practice intervals in long-term memory retention.

The benefits of categorizing information for better understanding and retention.

Building a 'tree of knowledge' as a method for organizing information in a subject.

The effectiveness of interleaving or mixed practice in learning different types of problems.

The idea that learning should be difficult to be effective, similar to working out muscles at the gym.

The contrast between easy study methods like note summarizing and the mental effort required for active recall.

Skillshare's sponsorship of the video and its platform for online learning.

A shout out to Thomas Frank's Skillshare class on productivity.

The creator's upcoming Skillshare classes on video production, filming, and editing.

Transcripts

this video is conde sponsored by

Skillshare check out the link in the

video description to get your 2 month

free trial hey guys welcome back to the

channel today we're talking about

studying our favorite subject and I want

to introduce you to the stick method for

effective studying

so that's STI and C which are the four

most important principles when it comes

to studying or learning anything

effectively and efficiently S stands for

spacing T for testing I for interleaving

and C for categorizing and if you can

apply these four principles to your

studying it's going to become a lot more

efficient based on the results of

hundreds of studies that have been done

on students all over the world the first

two spacing and testing are probably the

most important ones and then I'll be

talking about two other concepts

interleaving and categorizing that I

haven't really spent much time on this

channel discussing previously there's

basically like five learning packs that

are really supported rigorously by

research and three of them that I focus

on in that chapter are testing spacing

and interleaving that's a guy called

David Epstein and he's the bestselling

author of a book called the sports gene

which is all about the science of

extraordinary athletic ability and he's

got a new book out soon in the UK called

range which is about how generalists

triumph in a world of specialists

apparently I've pre-ordered it on Kindle

can't wait to read it in researching

these two books he's looked at a lot of

the evidence behind effective learning

techniques both for studying for exams

and stuff but also for things like

sports and he concludes much like the

authors of make it stick which is

another really good book that every

student should read he concludes that

spacing testing and interleaving are the

real game changes so I'm gonna talk

about each of these components in turn

but I'm gonna do it in the order T s C I

because I think that's the order that

works personally for me as a hierarchy

of importance but it makes for a less

good LS nice-nice mnemonic so T s CI is

the order in which we're going to talk

about them let's get started if you've

seen any of my previous study videos

you'll know that I love to go on about

this idea of active recall or retrieval

practice which basically just means

testing yourself but they call it active

recall in the scientific research papers

but honestly I think the term active

recall can be a bit confusing I've had

so many messages from students being

like how to apply active recall to this

and what does active recall mean for

that the answer is is just testing

testing yourself is the single most

important thing you can do to boost your

exam scores by a ridiculous amount and

in fact in the book make it stick which

again you should read and I'll put a

link down in the description below the

author's comment that most often when

students come to them

asking for tips about studying and are

not happy with their exam results the

simple answer is that they're just not

testing themselves enough and it's hard

to overstate the importance of this like

some of the studies that I quote in my

active recall video show that just

testing yourself once is a lot better

than rereading the same thing four times

and it's ridiculous just how much of us

think that rereading our notes or

reading the textbook or a highlighting

or even taking notes is a useful way to

study when it's really not all of the

evidence shows that the more you test

yourself the more the information is

likely to stick the commonest objection

whenever I preach this idea if you

should test yourself you should try and

retrieve stuff people often say that

well how do I test myself if I don't

know the stuff already like surely I

have to learn the content first before I

can then test myself on it and my answer

to that is firstly you should check out

my video called how to learn new content

in which I'd give a 12 minute long

explanation about this but the main

point is as I've said that testing

yourself is integral to actually

learning in the first place

in fact testing yourself is so important

that you should be testing yourself even

before you learn a topic for the first

time and here is David Epstein talking

about basically testing is wonderful for

learning in fact you want to test people

before they've had a chance to study

because it actually turns out it Prime's

your brain for when you then hear an

answer to retain it even if you get

stuff actually especially if you get

stuff wrong so there's something called

the hyper correction effect or if you're

quite confident about an answer and

turns out you're wrong you're more

likely to remember the right one when

you get it again there are tons of

studies that show that testing yourself

before during and after studying a topic

is probably the single best way to

actually learn that topic so yeah I

could go on about this for hours and I

have done in my other videos that are

linked down below and up there so you

should definitely check those out if you

care more about the evidence behind it

and about some strategies about how you

can apply testing or active recall to

your own studying but now let's move on

to the second most important component

of effective studying and that is

spacing

spacing or dike all deliberate not

practicing is you want to leave space

between bouts of practice of the same

thing so again if you practice the same

thing over and over and over in one

session you'll see progress right away

but what you really care about is how

long is this stay so as david says

spacing or space repetition is the idea

that you're spacing out your study

sessions such that you've had a chance

to forget some of the information before

you then re study it and hopefully by re

studying it we mean testing yourselves

on that information and this relates to

a phenomenon in memory research that's

been around since like the 1800s called

the forgetting curve and the forgetting

curve is something I'm sure we've all

had first-hand experience with and

that's the idea that over time our

memory just decays so we've all probably

had that experience where we're in a

lecture we like we think we learn

something we think we've understood

something and then we look back at it a

day or a week or a month later and we're

like crap where did all that information

go and in fact since I seem to have

become one of these study tips agony

ants on the Internet

one of the most common queries I go on

Instagram DM is along the lines of I'm

in class that I've made my notes and

I've studied and I think I get it and

then I just forget it the next day and I

don't know why that is and I think I

must be really bad because all my

classmates seem to be getting it

immediately the first time the answer to

that is no you're not bad because this

is literally how memory works you're

supposed to forget stuff over time

unless you re retrieve that information

and re encode it and make it stick and

your classmates are not getting it first

time unless they're the one of the

0.0001 percent of people who have a

genuinely photographic memory they are

also having to put in multiple repeated

sessions of learning to actually learn

something there is no such thing as

someone who just gets it first time

around is a forgetting curve literally

applies to everyone so don't worry if

you find yourself forgetting stuff and

as we're talking about in this video the

best way to get this information to

stick in the long term is firstly again

to read the book make it stick but also

to apply these things of spacing testing

interleaving and categorizing and here

is David Epstein again there was one

study one famous study where two groups

of people were learning Spanish

vocabulary one group got like eight

hours intensive on one day the other

group got four hours one day and then

the other four hours a month later they

had the exact same studying one was just

separated by a month eight years later

they brought them back and the group

that had the spaced practice intervals

remembered two hundred and fifty percent

more with no studying in the interim and

so you have a certain amount you want to

study it becomes more efficient if you

space it out you take

deliberately not practicing so this was

talking about is clearly an extreme case

but you see pretty much identical

results reported across the entire

literature on effective studying and

that's the idea that spacing your study

sessions is much much more efficient

than trying to do everything all in one

go otherwise known as cramming if you

want to know more about spacing you

should check out my 26 minute video all

about spaced repetition and the evidence

behind it and in that video I'll go into

some details about how you can apply to

your own studying but if you don't care

about the evidence and you just want a

very quick method that you can

immediately apply from today you should

check out my video about the

retrospective revision timetable which

is one of my favorite techniques for

ensuring that I'm using active recall

spaced and spaced repetition or rather

spacing and testing to make my studying

as efficient as possible which means I

can then do other things with my spare

time like to make videos like this

thirdly I want to talk about the idea of

categorizing and that is one of my

personal favorite efficient study

techniques I'm working on a proper long

video about this where I fully talk

about some of the evidence and stuff but

in this video I'm just going to give a

general overview and in general the main

point is that if we want to learn large

amounts of information it's far better

for us to try and build a categorization

system for that information try and

build a structure around it rather than

just trying to learn the information

which is probably the default strategy

that a lot of us would default to and

there have been loads of studies in the

literature whereby they get two groups

of students one group of students just

gets told to memorize a list of words

and the other group of students

gets some kind of categorization system

in place for those words or gets told to

create their own categorization system

so they can lump certain words into

different categories and in the vast

majority of these studies you find that

the second group the categorization

group completely destroys the first

group in terms of the amount that the

information sticks both in the short

term and also in the long term now one

way to think about this is to build what

I like to call a tree of knowledge

around our subject around a topic and

that is starting with a like a main

trunk and then building a branches off

it such that anytime we get any new

piece of information we're able to hang

it on one of the branches of our tree

I'll give you an example from medical

school so I used to find the topic of

Hematology which is the study of the

blood quite overwhelming because there's

so much various things that can go wrong

with the blood but then one day I sat

down and decided you know what I'm just

gonna build a tree of knowledge I didn't

call it a tree of knowledge back then

but that's kind of what I was thinking

I'm just gonna sit down and build my

tree of knowledge about hematology and I

realized that looking through the

specific

looking through the syllabus looking

through a few textbooks and online

resources that everything within

hematology can pretty much be

categorized into three things problems

with anemia ie

your hemoglobin levels going too low

secondly problems with clotting and

thirdly there are cancer malignant

hematology stuff and then within those

we've got our own subcategories so

within anemia we've got microcytic

anemia normocytic anemia macrocytic

anemia and within those we've got some

more categories within coagulation we've

got things that make you clock versus

things that make you bleed within

malignant hematology we've got four

things we've got the lymphomas we've got

leukemias we've got the

myeloproliferative disorders we've got

the plasma cell dyscrasia

and a few other things I'm creating my

tree of knowledge and I found that since

creating this tree of knowledge for

hematology I've started to understand

the subject a lot better because now

when I come across I don't know

Waldenstrom's macroglobulinemia I know

exactly where it fits on my little

branch thing and when I come across

Burkitt's lymphoma or something I know

exactly where that fits in my thing when

I come across antiphospholipid syndrome

I'm not thinking oh crap what is that

I'm thinking ah I know that that fits on

that branch of the coagulation tree and

therefore this is what's going on there

and so overall this makes the whole

subject a lot less overwhelming and I

kind of wish I'd been doing this from

day one of medical school for every

single subject and I wish I'd started

doing that before even learning the

subject like when I was scoping the

subject which is what I like to call it

ie just sitting down with the syllabus

and working out what is everything

within cardiology what is everything

within respiratory medicine just taking

those one or two hours to sit down and

build a tree for that subject would have

done absolute wonders for me because

then when I get new pieces of

information I'm not just you know

chucking it into a notebook and hoping

that it sticks I'm hanging it on my tree

of knowledge and therefore increasing

the chances that I'm likely to retreat

there are tons of other benefits of

categorization but I'll save those for

the proper video about it for now if

you're struggling with a subject if you

find yourself getting a bit overwhelmed

by it

try and think about it as maybe a tree

of knowledge I found that really helpful

in my life maybe you'll find it helpful

in yours

and finally let's talk about

interleaving so testing spacing and

interleaving means just or mixed

practice is like mixing up the things

you want to learn and this again has to

do with forming these conceptual models

for knowledge so if you're teaching kids

how to learn a certain type of math

problem let's say actually you have the

same 20 math problems that has five of

one kind five another five another five

another what we usually do is you give

them five of type A five of type B five

of type C five type D you'd be way

better off mixing those all together so

again they will struggle more it'll take

them longer but they'll learn again more

how to match a strategy to a type of

problem so this shows up in all sorts of

learning studies you don't want to get

to a point where you're finding a

certain topic or certain skill easy

because as soon as you start finding

something easy it then means you're not

learning as well as you could be and

this can feel incredibly unintuitive we

all probably have that feeling where

we're learning something and we're

finding it really hard and therefore

well we tell ourselves as oh I must be

stupid I must not understand the subject

enough but actually if you're finding

and learning hard that is when the

learning is most happening well it's

kind of like going to the gym like if

you're lifting weights that you find

easy it's not going to be doing anything

for you but if you're lifting weights

that you find hard then you're gonna be

making muscles and it's kind of the same

with the brain the brain is sort of like

a muscle controversial but sort of like

a muscle going back to this idea of

testing the harder you're having to work

to retrieve information the more

strongly that information is going to

get encoded and therefore learning

should be difficult it should be

mentally taxing to work which is why

things like you know summarizing your

notes from the textbook and highlighting

they feel really productive because

they're easy to do and we feel like

we're I've produced four pages of a4

today and it looks really pretty with

highlights and stuff but if you think

back to all the times where you've been

summarizing notes from a textbook I've

been guilty of this myself far too many

times to count it's it's too easy like

it's a lot harder to actually actually

think about stuff to test ourselves

before looking at the book it takes a

lot more mental strain and therefore we

will shy away from it thinking oh my god

if I'm finding it hard I must know how I

must not be doing it right but in fact

it's the opposite if you're finding it

hard you are doing it right if you're

finding it easy you're not learning

anything at all and again this concept

of interleaving is talked about quite

extensively in make it stick so again a

plug for that book if you haven't read

it you should read it it's really good

before we wrap up with some final

thoughts I just want to give a massive

shout out to Skillshare for being kind

enough to sponsor this video Skillshare

is a massive online learning community

with thousands of classes from all sorts

of topics ranging from

creative odds - entrepreneurial stuff so

things like photography but also things

like marketing and productivity and you

can sign up to the premium subscription

for less than $10 a month and that gives

you unlimited access to all of these

high-quality classes I've recently

enjoyed a Skillshare class hosted by one

of my personal youtube idols his name is

Thomas Frank he's got what's probably

the best productivity themed YouTube

channel on the internet and in this

class he breaks down his own system for

productivity and how he uses quick

capture and how he deals with email and

how he uses various different apps so

I've gained a lot of tips from that that

I'm trying to apply to my own personal

productivity system if you fancy

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interested in that please follow me on

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date when I release new classes so yeah

thank you Skillshare for sponsoring this

video and thank you for watching if you

enjoyed this video and want to see more

stuff about how to make your studying

much more efficient which means you can

get so much more done and also do extra

things with your time you should check

out the playlist over there and that

will contain links to some of my best

videos about evidence based study tips

you know I've had messages from

thousands of students around the world

who've said that those tips have

literally changed their lives and

transformed their study habits so you

should definitely check those out if you

feel like it thanks for watching and

I'll see you in the next video bye