What 0.1% Of TOP STUDENTS Do (And Why You’re Copying The Wrong Things)
Summary
TLDRThis script challenges the notion that copying the habits of top students guarantees academic success. It uses the analogy of car factories with identical materials but different outcomes to illustrate that it's the 'how' of studying, not the 'what,' that matters. The video aims to equip viewers with a framework to evaluate their study techniques based on evidence, not just mimicking habits. It warns against survivorship bias, where only successful examples are considered, and encourages viewers to question and refine their study methods for optimal results.
Takeaways
- 🧠 Coping the habits of top students might not guarantee the same academic success because it's not just about 'what' they do, but 'how' they do it.
- 🏭 The analogy of car factories with the same raw materials producing different outputs highlights that the process, not just the resources, determines success.
- 📚 Simply copying habits can be misleading; it's crucial to understand the effectiveness of study techniques through evidence-based evaluation.
- 👩🎓 Zoe's story illustrates the potential pitfalls of adopting study habits from top students without considering individual differences and the broader context.
- 🔍 The concept of survivorship bias is introduced, warning against relying on success stories without accounting for those who tried the same methods and failed.
- 🤔 A critical question is posed: What do top students do differently from others that actually contributes to their success?
- 📝 The importance of mapping out one's entire learning process is emphasized to identify gaps and inefficiencies.
- 💯 Confidence in study techniques should be based on evidence and research, not just personal belief or the success of others.
- 🧐 It's important to consider the failure rate of techniques to understand if they are truly effective for the majority of students.
- 📈 The script encourages a data-driven approach to studying, using questions and research to refine and optimize one's learning system.
Q & A
What is the main message of the video script regarding studying habits?
-The main message is that simply copying the habits of top students may not lead to the same success. It emphasizes the importance of understanding the underlying processes and thinking patterns that lead to academic excellence rather than just mimicking actions.
Why might copying the habits of top students not be effective?
-Copying habits might not be effective because it doesn't account for the individual differences and unique circumstances that contribute to a student's success. Additionally, it overlooks the potential for survivorship bias, where only the successful outcomes are visible, and the failures are not.
What is an example used in the script to illustrate the importance of processes over materials?
-The script uses the example of two car factories, both with access to the same raw materials but producing vastly different outputs. This illustrates that it's the processes employed that lead to different results, not just the materials available.
What is the significance of the story about Zoe in the script?
-Zoe's story is significant because it demonstrates the potential pitfalls of blindly following the advice of top students. Despite adopting the practice of using practice papers, Zoe's grades did not improve as expected, highlighting the need for a more evidence-based approach to studying.
What is survivorship bias as mentioned in the script?
-Survivorship bias refers to the tendency to focus on the successful outcomes and ignore the failures. In the context of studying, it means that students might only hear about the techniques that worked for top students, without considering those who used the same techniques but did not succeed.
Why is it important to understand the learning process from start to finish?
-Understanding the entire learning process is crucial because it helps identify any gaps or inefficiencies in one's study techniques. This awareness allows for a more refined and effective study system tailored to individual needs.
How can a student evaluate the effectiveness of their study techniques?
-A student can evaluate the effectiveness of their study techniques by mapping out their learning process, assessing their confidence in the techniques, and examining whether their confidence is based on evidence or just assumptions.
What is the role of research and evidence in determining study technique effectiveness?
-Research and evidence play a critical role in determining the effectiveness of study techniques. They provide an objective basis for evaluating whether a technique is likely to yield desired results, as opposed to relying solely on anecdotal success stories.
How can a student avoid falling into the trap of survivorship bias?
-A student can avoid survivorship bias by questioning the source of their confidence in study techniques, seeking out evidence for their effectiveness, and considering the experiences of those who have not succeeded with the same techniques.
What steps does the script suggest for improving one's study system?
-The script suggests mapping out the current study process, evaluating confidence levels in techniques, identifying the basis for that confidence, considering the prevalence of failure with certain techniques, and aligning techniques with fundamental learning principles backed by research.
Outlines
🧠 The Illusion of Copying Top Students' Habits
The paragraph discusses the common misconception that emulating the habits of top-performing students will automatically lead to academic success. It uses the analogy of two car factories with the same raw materials but drastically different outputs to illustrate that it's the process, not the materials, that determines success. The speaker introduces the idea that simply copying habits may not yield the same results and sets the stage for a deeper exploration of evidence-based studying systems.
🔍 Beyond Imitation: Identifying Effective Study Techniques
This section emphasizes the importance of understanding what sets top students apart from the average. It points out the limitations of adopting habits that may be common even among average students. The paragraph introduces the concept of survivorship bias, which skews perceptions of effectiveness towards techniques used by successful students, while overlooking those who used the same techniques but did not succeed. The speaker encourages viewers to question the source of their confidence in their study techniques and to seek evidence-based practices.
📚 Assessing Confidence in Study Techniques
The paragraph delves into the importance of having a clear understanding and confidence in one's study techniques. It suggests self-assessment by mapping out the entire learning process and questioning the effectiveness of each step. The speaker advises against relying on superficial metrics or the success of a few to gauge the effectiveness of study techniques. Instead, viewers are encouraged to base their confidence on research and evidence, and to critically evaluate the sources of their confidence in their study methods.
📈 Challenging Survivorship Bias in Learning
This paragraph continues the discussion on survivorship bias, urging students to consider the failure rates of common study techniques to gain a balanced view of their effectiveness. It challenges the audience to look beyond the success stories and to critically evaluate whether the techniques they use are truly evidence-based. The speaker recommends resources for further reading and exploration, such as a report on learning by Dr. Justin Sun, and encourages viewers to use these insights to refine their learning systems for better academic outcomes.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Academic Excellence
💡Survivorship Bias
💡Evidence-Based
💡Studying Techniques
💡Confidence in Techniques
💡Top 1% Students
💡Practice Papers
💡Learning Process
💡Efficiency in Studying
💡Fundamental Learning Principles
💡Discord
Highlights
The transcript discusses the myth of copying habits of top students for academic success.
It introduces the concept that the 'how' of studying is more critical than the 'what'.
An analogy of car factories is used to explain the difference between having the right materials and the right processes.
The video proposes a framework to evaluate the effectiveness of one's study system.
The story of Zoe, a student aiming for medical school, is shared to illustrate the pitfalls of blindly following top students' advice.
Zoe's experience with practice papers shows mixed results, questioning the effectiveness of copying habits.
The concept of survivorship bias is introduced, explaining why certain study habits might not be as effective as they seem.
The importance of asking the right questions to get the right answers in the context of study habits is emphasized.
A three-step process is outlined to help viewers evaluate their study techniques.
The first step involves mapping out one's entire learning process to identify gaps.
The second step is about assessing confidence in the effectiveness of one's study techniques.
The third step questions the source of confidence in study techniques, advocating for evidence-based approaches.
The video challenges viewers to consider whether their study techniques are truly unique to top students or common among average ones.
The concept of evidence-based learning is promoted over following popular or traditional study habits.
The video provides a worksheet and additional resources for viewers to refine their study systems.
A call to action is made for viewers to join a public Discord community for further discussion and guidance.
The video concludes with a recap of the key points and a reminder to be critical of study advice.
Transcripts
ever tried copying the habits of the
smartest kid in class hoping that some
of their genius would just rub off on
you maybe you started eating the same
exact Sero that they did thinking that
there might be some magic in those
flakes now just hold up a second here
what if I told you that the real game
changer isn't in what they do but how
they think and do learning in classrooms
all around the world there's this silent
epidemic in the Quest for academic
Excellence students often look at the
top Achievers to try and make the habits
that they have and they think that they
will make them a top 1% student as well
and if you're one of these students
you're probably thinking hey if I just
do exactly what they're doing I'll be
golden right well let's think about this
with an example let's say there are two
different car factories one of them
produces a state-of-the-art cars at
lightning speed and the other struggle
to satisfactorily create these entry
level models but both factories have
access to the same raw materials however
their outputs they differ drastically
why well it's because it doesn't matter
about the materials that they have it's
about the processes that they are
employed in other words it's the how not
the what in the studying world the same
principles apply simply copying the
habits of top students might not get you
the same results as them so in this
video I will show you a framework that
you can use to evaluate how
evidence-based your studying system is
so you have the highest probability of
using the best system for you before I
reveal the three-step process you need
to understand why simply copying or
conforming to everything that top
students say can be very misleading so
let's rewind a little bit I particularly
remember having this conversation a few
years ago now with this student named
Zoe and she was in grade 11 at the time
now Zoe was a very ambitious student and
she was doing all right with her grades
she wasn't struggling or failing she was
getting around the top 10% of her grade
but for her she had her sites on getting
into medicine a course where you really
do need to have that top 1% result so
with her final year of high school just
around the corner Zoe had to find a
solution to improve her grades quite
fast she really needed something that
was going to take her to the next level
and so she did what she felt most
logical she went ahead and asked the
other top 1% students at her school
about what to do she asked for their
advice and guess what happened a pattern
emerged here each every one of these
High Flyers they swore by this single
technique practice papers and I remember
exactly how Zoe felt she was like this
is it this is exactly what I've been
looking for I've never really done it
much before this must be the key to
getting top grades and so feeling
inspired Zoe dived head first into the
whole world of practice papers that
there are however what happened quite
soon afterwards is that Zoe got these
mixed results from doing more practice
papers for certain subjects she saw a
small boost in her results which was
expected because she wasn't really doing
practice papers before but as Zoe
continued to do more papers she quickly
realized that her grades were now barely
improving and even starting to stagnate
at times she even saw this drop in her
grades and she was super confused as to
why that would even happen because she
was applying the advice that she heard
as a result Zoe felt that her goal of
medicine was just slipping away by the
day and you know what I come across so
many stories like Zo almost every single
day and her story it might even feel
similar to the situation that you might
be in right now but it is so important
to know how to verify the advice that
you hear otherwise you're heading
towards this path that's unknown where
there may be potential disappointment
and frustration when everyone's
Whispering different success formulas in
your ears how do you filter the gold
from what's just glitter so I asked her
some really important questions because
these questions they help differentiate
truly beneficial study advice from
advice that is frankly just misinformed
overly superficial or simply misleading
here's the first question that I ask so
and please ask yourself too do you want
to know what the top 10% of students do
probably answer yes right now what if I
asked you do you want to know what the
top 1% of students do you'd probably
also say yes but what if I said do you
want to know what the top
0.00001% of students do what would your
answer be then still Yes or maybe
now I'm going to tell you the secret
listen very closely they all
breathe and you like what is going on
what is this look here's the thing if
you don't ask the right questions you're
never going to get the right answers
something that's common among top
students could very well be common among
average students too if you're asking
the question what do top students do
it's very likely that you might end up
with habits that are common for even
average students and well those habits
they don't necessarily work for the
results that you want right and
breathing it's this Universal thing it's
not really going to help so the better
question to be asking is what do the top
students do that other students are not
doing you need to identify what top
students do differently from the average
joke you know what habit truly set the
top students apart think about practice
papers yes the top students they do use
them they do get good results but aren't
there also countless students who dive
deep into P papers yet didn't quite hit
the mark well where are they they aren't
sharing their stories just telling
everyone about how it didn't work for
them if it were me I'd probably silently
disappear into the background too but
Zoe can only lend her ears to the
success stories and so she's completely
completely in the dark about how many
more students might have used practice
papers but were not successful and I can
tell you for a fact anyone who is trying
to get good grades is probably using
practice papers so how can Zoe have an
accurate gauge of whether the practice
papers are effective or not if she
doesn't have a reliable way of knowing
if this technique works for everyone
what if for example practice papers
aren't the singular magic trick to
achieving top grades what if top
students who use practice papers are at
the top for another reason this skewed
perception of how effective practice
papers are that's survivorship bias and
survivorship bias isn't limited to just
practice papers it could be about
anything morning routines diet how to
take notes even finer details like using
flashcards time management techniques or
how to train your focus are included
here all of these could be irrelevant to
achieving your top grades because of the
survivorship bias so we need to focus on
doing the things that objectively give
us the highest probability of success
there is no good reason to invest our
time energy and resources in something
that does not change our chances or in
something that actually lowers them so
how are we going to do this by using
these questions I'm going to give you
today you can objectively determine how
effective your studying techniques are
and then you'll be able to prioritize
what improvements you need to make now
for this video make sure to follow along
with the p PF in the description that we
have below so question number one do you
have a clear understanding of what
techniques you use when studying you
want to try and map out what your whole
learning process looks like from start
to finish and really think about it what
studying or learning techniques do you
actually use and so add as much detail
here as you can think about how you take
information into your brain how you take
down notes what questions you're asking
yourself as you hear information how you
relate this information to other things
that you're learning or what you've
learned previously in other classes how
you revise your notes and how you do it
differently or similarly each time if
you struggle to map out your whole
learning process from start to finish
then there's likely many gaps in your
studying process these gaps in your
awareness of the techniques that you are
using they are an inefficiency that you
need to fix and so these gaps they show
that you don't have a fully refined
study process and if you let these gaps
go unol D you aren't using your time and
effort to its full potential imagine for
a moment that you're in a kitchen and
you're just ready to cook up a store you
don't quite have a recipe so you just
throw in some ingredients you're hoping
for the best maybe you put a pinch of
salt in there a dash of herbs and it's
all just a guessing game here if the
dish comes out amazing could you
recreate it probably not now think about
what this means when you apply the same
guess work to studying if you don't have
a solid studying process you're in the
dark about what is specifically working
and what's not it's almost impossible to
strategically prepare for the outcome
that you want and so instead you want
predictably awesome results so you need
a recipe that details every step of that
cooking process especially if you're
just starting out without that you have
a recipe for disaster whether you're in
the kitchen or you're at the study desk
knowing your tools and perfecting your
Technique every single time is
incredibly important question two how
confident are you that the techniques
that you use will produce the results
you want on a scale of 1 to 10 how
confident are you that the learning
processes that you have mapped out will
produce the results that you want for
example you might take notes in class on
your laptop typing out every single word
that your teacher is saying but how
confident are you that this approach is
going to allow you to get that shiny A+
in your exams you may give a score of 8
out of 10 for confidence that typing out
your notes will give you an A+ in your
exams and once you have given it a score
you can now move on to the third
question which is where does my
confidence in these studying techniques
actually come from now that you've given
a score of from 1 to 10 for each of your
studying techniques ask yourself why why
do you give that specific score going
back to the example of typing out your
notes imagine you gave it that solid 8
out of 10 confidence for you getting
that 8+ but I want you here to really
dig deeper why eight is it because
typing out your notes is what the top
student in your class does if that's the
case you might be falling prey to that
survivorship bias because you're
anchoring your trust in the technique
just because you've heard of someone
successful using it this is forgetting
everyone who also uses this but failed
to get the top result or is the higher
reading of confidence due to the fact
that your typing helps you turn out more
notes than others if so this means your
confidence in typing rests on quantity
you have this belief that more notes
means higher grades and so if the roots
of our confidence stem from what other
students are doing or from superficial
metrics like the sheer quantity of notes
or time taken to make those notes it is
a red flag that your techniques are not
so evidence-based or effective maybe you
can't even answer this question you know
where does your confidence come from
this inability also shows that your
studying techniques are probably not
highly optimized and so it's likely that
you start slowly seeing this gap between
what you think is effective versus what
is truly effective which is probably
confidence shattering so instead you
want to do this you want to base your
confidence rating on whether the
techniques you're using are backed by
research and evidence and we'll go
through this in a moment in question
number five your confidence should also
be based on the results that were
produced for the time that you had
invested into it and so question number
three is really helping us dissect if
something actually works at the end of
the day aligning what you believe works
with what actually works can make all of
the difference question four do I know
how many people are using the same
learning processes but are not
successful take a look at the techniques
that you have listed which techniques
were copied from a top student for the
techniques that you've copied ask
yourself this are there other students
who are using this exact same technique
yet still perform lower than expected if
your answer is no then you must consider
the survivorship bias and if it's
present again because you're likely only
hearing the surviving success story
stories and as we've mentioned before
there are probably many study techniques
used by many Toppers but also used by
far more students who are not hitting
those top marks you need to stop copying
studying techniques just because a top
student uses them you really want to
start investigating and questioning the
technique is this technique really
anchored in evidence does this technique
really work when put to the test across
various students and once you start in
investigating you begin to filter and
only use techniques based on science
rather than hear question number five do
more people who use this technique fail
than those who succeed if you've
understood survivorship bias by now
you'll realize how difficult of a task
it is to figure out the failure rate of
certain techniques can you really expose
yourself to those who apply the same
advice and failed unlikely but by asking
this question you'll realize that the
commonly used techniques often lead to
very common results for the masses and
when I say common I mean really average
not the kind that you aiming for by
watching this video day in and day out I
speak with students who clutch onto
mainstream techniques used by rank
Toppers and high achieving students but
these students I speak to still miss the
mark and it's simply because these
techniques are often ineffective or it's
the fact that these techniques aren't
even what you need so what we have done
is that we've saved you from a lot of
the hard work and answered this for you
on this channel on this channel we've
specifically chosen techniques that will
help give you the best starting point to
build a hyper refined learning system
however even though these techniques
they can be groundbreaking in themselves
they are by no means Ultra comprehensive
and fully adapted to meet every
condition that is unique to your
scenario and so that is why I recommend
that you join our public Discord to
continue this discussion after watching
our videos you can find that in the
description below we're pulling back the
curtains on popular studying techniques
on this channel and we're just laying
them be both of their strengths and
their weaknesses and if you fill out the
worksheet below with these questions it
will recommend to you what to do based
on your situation and by watching more
of our videos they will help you make
better decisions about what study
techniques and strategies you should use
for yourself all the conclusions that we
make and draw they are supported by
research where available and they're
also backed up by our experience so
going back to question three to
determine whether or not your learning
processes are actually based on evidence
or not I highly recommend that you read
the report on learning by Dr Justin Sun
the co-founder and head of learning at
ion study and you can also find that in
the description below and there's a lot
of references there if you're interested
in that as well and what you can also do
here is explore the fundamental learning
principles discussed in that report and
see whether or not the techniques you
use are actually backed by these
principles if your techniques are in
line with the fundamental principles of
effective learning that's a great step
forward however for most students in my
experience many of the techniques used
are not really aligned with the
principles discussed and that's
perfectly normal right but refer to the
worksheet for the next steps for you to
upgrade your Learning System okay so
here's a recap in question one I asked
you whether or not you have a clear
understanding of the techniques and the
processes that you have and use when you
study if you've done this you should
have now a full map of your learning
process from start to finish in question
two I asked you about how confident you
are that the techniques you use will get
you the results that you want and then
in question three we explored where your
confidence actually comes from when it
comes to these techniques if your
confidence was purely based on metrics
such as quantity or time or because a
top student is using it then these are
weak metrics and you want your
confidence to come from
strong research and evidence to actually
back up those techniques in question
four I ask you to determine the
possibility of other people using the
same learning processes for not being
successful and this relates back to
survivorship bias as we discussed before
finally in question number five I ask
you to determine whether or not people
fail using a certain technique more than
those who succeed a very strong learning
process and system will realistically
allow most students to use this process
and succeed however if most people are
actually not succeeding using that
technique then this forces us to think
about this technique and really question
if it's truly effective so there you
have it be very aware of the
survivorship bias and from copying
misinformed advice now make sure to
subscribe and check out the other videos
on this channel as we continue to go
through different learning techniques
that are going to help you on your
journey to become more efficient and
effective I'll catch you on the next one
and
[Music]
bye-bye
[Music]
he
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