Any RP-like advice for studying?

NYCSPARKLE · 2017-05-23T20:09:24+00:00

Pareto rule.

80% of results from 20% time / effort.

Meaning 20% of your time studying will result in 80% of your success. For me, that was taking several practice tests under conditions similar to what I'd expect for the final exam. I'd also review the reading material and notes, but that took a lot more time and was more ambiguously helpful.

Pace yourself. Don't try and cram for a test. Spread material out over 3,4,5 days of studying.

Don't listen to herd mentality. Study groups are rarely helpful unless you are with the smartest people and you're using it to learn something you fundamentally can't pick up on your own.

Develop social proof. Get to know the TAs, professor, etc. Build networks so you can bargain for a better grade at the end of the semester. I had professors let me retake entire final exams because I knew them well and just asked. Also, had several clear Bs rounded up to As at the end (I had an 87% for example and ended up getting an A).

twatbutters · 2017-05-24T01:37:03+00:00

I learned a lot about my personal study habits when preparing for the MCAT a couple of years ago, and those carried on into medical school. It was a huge and important standardized test, but the general idea was to study smartly as opposed to studying for long periods of time for the sake of it. First you form a plan-- look at the amount of material you need to cover and break it down such that you have daily goals. Meet these goals no matter what. Eating healthy and exercising are key for just setting a routine, not to mention helping you focus (overeating is a big issue if you're fucking around).

Give yourself breaks for sure. For me, this was after every hour or two hours for 15-30 minutes. It doesn't matter what you do, but get your head away from studying so that you're fresh coming back in.

Practice under the same conditions that you'll be tested. Don't go in studying thinking that you can take your sweet time or dilly dally. Remember that everything you're doing now is usually going to be condensed into a short time period where the professors or test makers will be asking questions to test specific knowledge. This meant waking up at the same time early in the morning taking practice tests under the same conditions as the test center for the MCAT. Generally speaking, you want to always do as many practice questions for any given test that you'll be taking as you can. You learn your weak points, and a lot of the time are able to understand concepts that aren't fully fleshed out in the chapter. Read the chapter to get a broad understanding, then hone down on the details through practice questions and review.

It goes without saying, but let's be clear- procrastination will seldom get you far in life. Just like with lifting/dieting, if you don't work at it each day, you're not making any real progress-- at best you'll do well on one exam without learning shit that you need to know down the road.

TheRedStoic · 2017-05-24T12:32:55+00:00

Gotcha bro. Some rules of studying from a guy whose parents taught for 36yrs each, at pretty much every level of education, PhD down to 5th grade.

study 50 minute hours. 50 minutes study, 10 minutes doing NOT study.
study early. The moment you have the material review it that night. Review what you can't remember the next night. Continue.
use the knowledge. If you have to create fake situations, do so. Apply what you've learned instantly. This works best when learning a field which connects to your hobby. You need to apply new info immediately (not just read it every night) to get the best stick.
build positive stress. You do this by setting your own limits. (I have 3 days until the test. If I only had 20% of the, what would I study to get the best grade?) Study that. Only 20% of your effort is statistically the most effective. Simply keep doing that 20%. Save yourself the time and energy by focus.
schedule down time equal to 20% of your up time. If you're studying for 10 credit hours, schedule 2 hours where you will not dare fucking think about the subject.
don't study with people who have higher grades than you. Study with people who have lower ones. but why?! You ask incredulously because the best way to learn is to teach. Period.
figure out if you're a comfort student or a stress student. If the former, study in a comfortable atmosphere. If you're the latter, don't.

Oh yeah, additionally learn memory tricks. Master of memory is an amazing podcast. Check it out to get started.

Most of the rules are simply habit formation. You'll thank yourself if you get them down.

thirdincomestream · 2017-05-23T22:45:33+00:00

Quit being a bitch and put the time in

But really, find out how you learn best. Is it visual? Can you absorb the information by listening?

Copying notes over and over again is how I aced everything. I did that until I felt that I was going overboard, and then I relaxed and got my mind away from it.

Put the time in, but also understand how to best spend that time.

Entropy-7 · 2017-05-23T20:09:33+00:00

I am assuming you are a university student.

Take copious notes in class and study from them when exam time rolls around. Bounce Q&A off of your BFF or colleages, over lunch or even a game of pool.

Throwawaysteve123456 · 2017-05-23T22:27:14+00:00

Set up a behav mod program to improve your studying, small rewards for completing longer sessions, eventually you can just go longer without trying to reward yourself, as your brain automatically knows it and drives you further. Good diet and exercise is critical as well. The key is discipline man, and to start small manageable goals. Don't set a goal to study for 12 hours in a day. Set a goal to get 3 hours of QUALITY studying done, even if it takes 3 sessions, then 3.5 hours, then 4, etc. NEVER set yourself up for failure, make it easy at first. Do your shitty subjects first and reward yourself with the interesting or easier stuff.

Doogaru · 2017-05-24T18:25:29+00:00

Listen to me and take notes. I finished at one of the top law schools with a 4.0 GPA after coming back from severe drug addiction. I'm about to rough it up, but it's for your own good man.

For starters, fuck the scenery, fuck the distractions, fuck the breaks, fuck your social life, fuck your videogames. It's all about having a strong mind. No, changing sceneries every now and then won't make you more performant ; no, taking breaks won't help being performant (it'll only make you feel like you have a ''balanced life'', some bullshit idea you can't stand by in a society like ours today). I could go on and on, but it's about doing you. You seem to perceive the problem as it is solely related to studying. It's related to self-discipline. Have you done the NoFap challenge ? Are you a smoker and/or a drug user, have tried to quit in the past but failed ? If you answered no to the first question and/or yes to the second, try it, and do it for real. Not just some ''one week thing''. Do it. Break the habit like you'd break a glass jar, only this time it'll be with your mental strength, not your physical one. It'll build your self-discipline, something you'll need to succeed into this. If you don't fap and don't smoke and/or use drugs, try developping a new habit a stick to it, such as lifting, or even some daily thing that is benefical to you and/or improves your way of living.

Secondly, and altough you didn't mention it, do not use these bullshit smartdrugs people will tell you about or suggest you. If you do, you give in to weakness again : the power these pills are inside of you, just get it out of you by developping self-discipline. Trust me, you can perfectly succeed without any kind of substance. I personnally only had coffee during my bachelor's and bar school.

That being said, you need to understand you're at school to be professionnaly formed, not to make friends, fuck women or care what others think. You didn't mention it, but put your mind into this: you're here to make yourself better, to gain new skills, to advance in your career, not anything else. What matters at the end of the day, is not if that random chick from class texted you back or not, or even if someone noticed your new shirt : all what f***ing matters at the end of the day, is that you're well and alive, in your bedsheets, and that you've improved yourself professionnally, intellectually, etc. Again, you didn't mention it, but it's an essential part of the process that THIS becomes your daily state of mind. Thus, during exam periods, if some classmate calls you for a drink, what do you say ? You tell him to fuck off (or politely say no if he's a relative or someone you actually respect and/or appreciate and that has earned that respect and/or appreciation), that beer won't save your ass when recruiters will look through your file to see if they interview you or not, but good grades might just get you that interview you need to land a job. Trust me, a LOT of people I know bitch today about having a rough time finding a job ; looking back, these were the same people not giving a fuck, being at school for not the right reasons, just doing ''what they were asked'', not having the balls to get what they want and partying all the time. They actually got what they asked for, and I have absolutely no pity for them;

Now, what I would personnally recommend, is that you pick one or two study spots, that you stick to them and get doing the work you need to do. Your time management problem in inherent to your concentration problem, and your concentration problem is either inherent to a lack of self-discipline, or to an absence of interest for what you're studying. If you don't like it and feel you're waiting your time, and you're sure it has nothing to do with laziness, then do something else, life is too short and money is too valuable for you to waist your time and money on something you don't even like anyways.

Short and sweet: Developp self-discipline as explained, and it'll flow.

Finally, what exactly do you study ? There are various ways to study, some more efficient than others, depending on your field. Send me a PM if you study law, I have some deadly tips to make these exams your bitches.

TryDoingSomethingNew · 2017-05-24T19:30:38+00:00

I found a few things over the years. And a few observations given the ridiculous things people do like "studying" at a Waffle House or Starbucks, which is silly.

Notes:

I listen to masking sounds like rain, washing machine sounds, running water, etc. There are many great YouTube videos which you can listen to and also rip to .MP3 to take with you.
I avoid distracting environments - Ideally where I'm alone and don't have a lot of outside motion or things that periodically interrupt me
Eye/general fatigue: If you're in front of a computer for several hours, you can unknowingly fall into eye/fatigue and will need to go outside and focus your eyes for around 20 minutes on something far away. Really helps!
Taking breaks is important. I try to do like 45-60 mins of work then take a 15-30 min. break, depending on how things are going.
Using 3x5" cards for memorization notes
Group "study" usually is a waste of your time
If it's math/higher math, practicing out the solution and getting solutions manuals so you can really see how the math works. You can understand it way better than others in that case.

Definitely try masking outside sounds. Helps me a lot to concentrate!

One of the best things in my opinion is to get some decent bookshelf speakers with good bass response or earbud headphones with good audio response in order to mask out the human voice or other distracting and annoying sounds. I can really get into "the zone" and focus.

red_reality · 2017-05-24T03:26:06+00:00

This may not be received well here. But the absolute, largest improvement you can make to your studying both in intensity and duration, is stimulants. Adderall, Dexedrine, Ritalin etc. Go to your doctor and get a prescription. If you respect the EVER LASTING FUCK out of them, you'll be fine. Nothing will even come remotely close to helping you focus no matter what anyone says. Meditation, cold showers, diet, exercise, water drinking, no fap, doesn't matter, won't even do 10% of what drugs will do. But, as I said, respect them and do your own God Damn research. Don't depend on doctors to protect you.

Sumsar01 · 2017-05-24T11:04:52+00:00

The average person can keep concentration for 30-45 after that learning dips. The simple way to fix this is 5-10 min break after 30-45 min.

gideon_zotero · 2017-05-24T07:21:00+00:00

It's about brain chemistry. honestly.

Anyone in school would say I had ADD. I fail to even follow a sentence often enough.(works with the girls though)

The sucks in real life. So the best strategies I found to minimise that is sensory depravation. Go on a tech fast. No news, no tv, no internet no games. Just light inputs, that require your proactive input...reading, cleaning around the house, cooking, chill conversations. This slows down your brain's processing. (and it mentally painfull...you don't believe dopamine addiction is a thing until you do this for more than 5 hours straight, do it for at least 3 days and your life will change, your brain will become a sponge for anything you put in front of it after the fast)

The second procedure is to be honest with yourself about your limitation, track yourself and measure yourself. I found that for creative task I can go in batches of 40 minutes, while when absorbing info I barely can break 15 minutes. So I split it up in 15 minute batches...go all out in between batches...again...measure and addapt...I need 20 minute breaks in between output sessions and 40 minutes for learning.

Yes, those are terrible stats. But you learn to deal with them. Because this goes in line with my brain, I can easily pull off a 16 hour learning day...resulting in the 4 hours/ day average that a good student can do.

Note: this requires discipline of steel. You don't get breaks, you don''t get to chill off and call it a day at 5pm. You don't slowly lean in to learning periods. You start the "learning period"counter ONLY when you feel you go into learning mode. It's hard as fuck as you start out...but like lifting...you go into "lifestyle mode" and it becomes second nature(because it kinda is your nature) and then you see results compounding massively over time...this is like strength lifting compared to the bodybuilder super-sets. Way more sustainable for anyone under the pro level.

Title	Any RP-like advice for studying?
Author	gulliverstourism
Upvotes	12
Comments	26
Date	May 23, 2017 7:34 PM UTC (9 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/TheRedPill
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/TheRedPill/comments/6cwyit/any_rplike_advice_for_studying/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/TheRedPill/any-rp-like-advice-for-studying.43445 https://theredarchive.com/post/43445

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