Hacker News Reader

I had a similar experience in college. In the classes I did best in, I studied for consistently throughout the week, working out problems and reading the book on my own. Then, when test time came, I still studied, but I largely understood the material already.

After a calculus class ended for the semester, I had the professor tell me that I was the only student that understood a certain basic concept of the class. I don't attribute that to me having a masterful intelligence, just that I happened to be diligent in the class and figured out a system based on seeking to really understand the material instead of just pass the tests.

The classes where I heavily procrastinated, I had more trouble with, or at least much more stress. There was one class where I procrastinated and then speed-read 300-400 pages in the textbook the days before the midterm, and aced the midterm...but that was really a freak exception to the rule. It probably did me a disservice, thinking I could do the same for other classes and still succeed.

I did this for a few classes because my teachers had such a thick accent that I could barely understand them. I figured out that if I read the book beforehand, I basically knew what they were going to say and I could follow along much easier.

Same experience. I use to joke about it; “The more crappy lecturer you have, the more you perform.” Understanding that you don’t understand is powerful.

I tried this with my algo class in college, but my prof also just cared about research and made the entire class a focus of obtuse proofs (still kind of interesting) and not vaguely applicable stuff for interviews etc.

In retrospect I probably should’ve eaten $2k and dropped for a better prof. Then again $160 on leetcode has given me more algo knowledge than my $160k degree lol.

Spaced repetition is something that should be taught in every school.

If you were trying to learn something on your and not attending a class, how would you modify your method?

I wouldn't change anything about it. When I graduate and get my first network engineer job, I'll be studying for my CCNP, so I'll probably wake up at 7, read until 8, then get ready for work. After each chapter, I'll spend (2) 1 hour sessions to work on flash cards, then move on to other chapters. This could change though.

Just want to say this is great, you are already ahead of the many. Keep this going even after college. Studying never stops even after you get job.

Thanks man

I think this is this is a great habit to get into early in life.

I will however recommend one thing.

Find out what internal representation of information works for you. I am an extremely visual thinker to whom things click the second they are put into context or situated in a flow chart / graph of concepts.

Since I have started started fitting every new thing into that mental model, I have started found memorizing significantly easier.

IMO, good studying and work structuring habits are among the most valuable long term skills a person can learn.

I'm a very visual person as well! Sometimes when I'm reading a chapter, I'll draw a graph to understand certain concepts a bit better.

How do you translate textbook literature into those visualizations if they aren't provided for you? I struggle with this, even reading news articles at times.

It's funny how a simple infographic on a video can really make things click for me.

It is more of a relation graph.

You identify the root variables/ideas on which the whole premise hinges. These ideas are absolute, assumed true without rationale and independent.

Then you establish dependent ideas and variables which are connected to these base variables along with a few minor isolated assumptions needed to support the structure. ( I mean it is not perfect, so the minor assumptions keep the whole thing form falling apart)

Once you have all the nodes, you connect new ideas as they come and as they fit into this view.

It is almost like a clustering task or think word2ve tsne visualization (https://miro.medium.com/max/3200/0*quUwP6EqEhFmNAqX)

Now you have a visualization, from something that never had any images to begin with. The distance between nodes can indicate how strong the relation is and colors can indicate positivity/negativity.

Once you have that, it becomes incredibly easy to hold very complex ideas in your head and it makes it a breeze to explain something. Just start from the root node and work your way up to the leaf, and the thing explains itself.

Can you expand on your process? or provide the original HN posts that helped you form this process? I've struggled with conceptualizing a proper routine for approaching work/study and incorporating it into my life properly sans dreading it/procrastinating the work.

Not much to it. I use an app on iOS called 'AnkiApp'

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ankiapp-flashcards/id689185915

I just read for an hour every morning, and once the chapter is complete, I go back through the chapter and create Anki flashcards for 30 mins, then study the cards I just created for 30 mins.

So right now my professor will be lecturing us on Chapters 7 and 10 next week on November 18. I did an hour of reading for chapter 10 today. I'll finish Chapter 10 and Chapter 7 by next week on the 17th.

So far, I've covered the material once: I read the chapter.

When my professor lectures us next week, I'll take detailed notes over the material. I write all my notes by hand.

So far, I've covered the material TWICE: I just took notes during lecture

Next week, since I finished Chapter 7 and 10 already, I'll continue my one hour routine every morning, but I'll do 30 minutes of creating Anki flashcards, and 30 minutes of studying those flashcards. Each time I perform an Anki session, it would be my THIRD time going over the material. Each additional time I study an Anki deck, the number increases.

I also realized that I become so much more productive when I started studying/reading first thing in the morning - I have the most energy, and it gives me that "Let's get this done and over with" mentality. I can wake up at 8, read until 9, then head out for class. Once I get home, I can do what I want.. I already studied. Homework is done in the afternoon. My day ends at 5. I treat school like a full time job essentially.