Three steps of studying

Hey there,

Story time.

Spring of 2011.

I was 19 at the time, and in the middle of my 2nd year of college, hoping to one day become a doctor.

Now, my time in college was not the happiest.

I was bored.

The classes didn’t make much sense.

I was frustrated all the time.

I hated my classes that year.

(biochemistry comes to mind).

Needless to say, the little amount of studying I did was mostly useless.

Exams came.

And then the results.

Abysmal.

I had failed most of the tests.

As a decent student in high school, this was a new and atrocious experience.

I felt like a loser.

A very stupid, angry loser, to be precise.

This manifested as a very unpleasant feeling of emptiness in my gut.

At the time, I wanted to just quit.

Change majors, choose something chill, put this whole thing behind me.

One big problem.

My parents didn’t take kindly to their only son abandoning the prospect of a medical career.

Their terms were straightforward enough : I could quit, but they wouldn’t support me.

No food, no lodging, no nothing.

I hated it, but I listened to them. I gave it another try.

I could participate in make-up exams, so that whole summer was spent cramming like a madman.

I didn’t fail this time around.

Relief.

Now, spending my summer studying didn’t make me appreciate my major more.

But it did teach me a thing or two.

For starters, cramming for exams sucks.

It's a poor, lousy excuse for studying.

By the day after my exams, I had already forgotten most of what I'd studied.

At its basis, education should teach us to deal with knowledge.

Stuff like networking, diplomas, etc are secondary.

(should be secondary?)

There's 3 steps to process knowledge :

1. Inputs

2. Assimilation

3. Outputs

(as we'll see later, outputs also feed back to inputs)

Inputs is when you absorb new facts.

It's learning, cramming, discovering, searching, researching, observing and every similar action you can think of.

You upload stuff into your consciousness.

Assimilation is when you make sense of the inputs.

You integrate them into an existing framework of knowledge.

You create mental models.

It adds to what you know of the world or forces you to change your views.

It's when you summarize, you connect, you use induction.

The last step is outputs.

Your new representations have an impact on the world.

For example you answer questions and pass an exam.

(big impact for you)

Or you teach what you learnt to someone else.

Or you apply your newfound knowledge in a practical manner.

But there's also a feedback loop from output to input, as you should always compare your mental models to reality.

(kind of like the scientific method)

When you have trouble studying, think of those 3 steps.

One of them is usually the limiting factor and should be your focus.

Difficulties with inputs can be solved with more reading, more cramming, more self discipline.

(more volume)

Assimilation problems can be solved with self testing, flashcards, focusing on making summaries of your material.

Output problems are for example when you know your stuff but can't answer exam questions properly.

You have to find the origin of your problem and adresse it specifically.

Now go study!

After Class.