#study methods

1. Blurting: 0/10 i could go lower. It's so bad and so boring and it takes a lot of time and I just give up tbh and recall nothing.

2. Flashcards: 5/10 It's good for last-minute revision or sum (they need to be done at first) its fun when done with a friend. But it's not for me, I do it once or twice and I give up.

3. Feynmann technique: 8/10 it's a very effective method but I lose my voice after one hour and my chest starts hurting thats why the 2 points got deducted. I use it for philosophy mostly or when I learn a chapter in any subject.

4. Active recall: 10/10 its a GREAT method for learning terms, preparing for a presentation, etc. Just learning stuff in general.

5. Reading: 0/10 doesn't work at all. I just zone out.

6. Reading and taking notes: 8.5/10 I remember stuff when I read and take notes because i analyse things and it makes me concentrated.

7. Reading and highliting: 7/10 it works for me when im trying to understand something and it activates my visual memory because i use a lot of colors. Idk why ppl say its just passive, for me its quite effective when i dont wanna take notes.

8. Practice tests: 100/10 best method ever. It works so well I use it for EVERY subject.

Difference between Dreamimg Spanish and Refold:

The answer is simple: The information is still fresh in your mind, so its easy to recall things as you write. There's also the rush of 'I need to know this'

Meanwhile(and I did a small test to see both sides btw) those that learn and memorize this stuff like a day or so before don't have the same mindset. Their main thing is 'oh I already know this, I'm just repeating it to be sure' so they may not be as focused, or may forget some things as soon as they close the book(That's not to say the method isn't effective, to each their own)

What follows is a discussion of some strategies to get a familiarity with a lot of words QUICKLY.

SRS apps: anki and many other apps use Spaced Repetition Systems to show you words in gradually less frequency, to help you review a word right before you'd forget it, help you skip unnecessarily frequent reviewing, and remember a word in as little reviewing as possible. SRS systems work great for studying a TON of things upfront in an efficient way. So many Japanese and Chinese learners use SRS apps like anki, because it allows them to learn 1000-5000 words a year to a degree of familiarity, which makes the difficulty curve of understanding stuff in the language much less steep. If you know a few thousands words, or characters, suddenly a lot more becomes at least vaguely recognizable and you are no longer overwhelmed.

You'll see MANY Japanese learners in particular using anki, for various reasons. 1. It's probably the quickest way to learn a few thousand words and start making content for native speakers look 'approachable' if you continue to look up key unknown words to understand the main idea (which is what many Japanese learners do when they 'immerse' in the language - study a few thousand words in anki, then look up new keywords when reading or watching stuff, sometimes adding those words to study in anki). 2. It is probably the quickest way to get a familiarity for 2000 kanji. Particularly if you combine mnemonic stories, a strategy to remember things easier, with a spaced repetition system. 3. Some people who get into studying Japanese, and talk about it a ton, tend to be the kind of people who love organizing and building systems and rigid study plans, and making their own anki decks allows them to build their own study material in an organized way. 4. If you are not a person who enjoys making your own study material, there's learners of Japanese who have ALREADY built great study material for anki and shared it with the public.

MANY people studying Chinese also use anki or some other SRS system (paid Skritter, and free Hanly app being popularly used), because it's a very efficient system to study ~3000 hanzi and get a level of familiarity quickly.

SRS apps like Anki can be done for a short 15-30 minutes daily, for the people who can stay consistent. Or an SRS app can be cram studied for 1-4 hours per day, then followed with no longer using anki and instead 'immersing' in material you understand the main idea of (and looking up words if needed), so you can practice recognizing all the stuff you studied.

Doing Spaced Repetition System without an app: look up the SRS timing of study. I just did and it's something like an interval for reviews of: 4hrs, 8hrs, 24hrs, 2 days, 4 days, 8 days, 2 weeks, 1 month, 2 months, 4 months, and 6 months for finished. So if you wanted to review in an SRS interval way, for a paper word list, you might read it over, then review again in 24 hours, then in 2 days, then in 4 days, then in 8 days, then in 2 weeks, then in 1 month, then 2 months, then 4 months, then 6 months. I've done this before to a degree, on accident, when I studied a 1000 common French words list years ago. I read it over once, then again in a week, then in 2 weeks, then in a month, then I read a LOT of French to 'keep reviewing' since encountering the words in context IS reviewing them, and it worked pretty well. It worked well. If you are encountering the language in other activities besides study, those activities can count as 'reviews' if you had to see and understand words you'd been studying. So if you have materials you want to review in as few reviews as possible while not forgetting, you can space out your reviews in a pattern like SRS.

Looking up words 2-20 times: You can do this when reading, or when watching, or when listening to something. If you are regularly reading, watching, listening to things for an hour or more a day, this may be more convienient or enjoyable for you than using an SRS system. 1. Engaging with the language frequently will naturally force you to review the most common words, and the most frequent words IN the materials you want to understand. 2. You simply look up key words that seem important to understanding the main idea of something, over and over, until you remember the word. It's simple. It requires nothing but a material you're engaged with, and a dictionary or translation app. You can use materials made for learners, or any material in the language you're learning. You can look every single unknown word up (which works but can be slow going), or just key unknown words to understand the main idea of the material (quicker, forces you to practice understanding all the Surrounding vaguely familiar words more often). I have seen many people learn words this way with Chinese, if they're really into reading (like me). You can find several people who learned a ton of words and hanzi this way on reddit.com/r/ChineseLanguage, and chinese-forums.com.

Before I learned how to study and take tests, school was a struggle. Teachers put information up on the chalkboards, then later on screens, and we students tried to drink it all in, as from a fire hose.

We were basically showered in facts and figures, then told to just remember it. Then, if we could spew it back out on the test, we could pass and get more credits toward a diploma.

Some people, like myself, could write quickly, and took a lot of notes. Others, who were not so quick-handed, took fewer notes or brought a recorder to class.

None of our parents had much advice for handling tough subjects, except "read more" or "work harder at memorization."

It was all bullshit. No one I knew, NONE, had any understanding of human performance factors. No one had a clue as to how we learn or what we should do in order to learn more efficiently.

My big break came early in my career, when "the smart guys" gave up some secrets for success. My break got better yet, when I started reading about note-taking and how experts prepare for certification tests and practical exams.

All of the smart ones, who never broke a sweat during practicals and simulations, were studying with "Pomodoro, Zettelkasten, and Feynman" methods!

Get your copy: Light Up Your Grades

They didn't purely follow any study method purely, but leaned mostly into a method and borrowed techniques from the others. Here is a basic breakdown which works:

Use multiple primary sources: lectures, textbooks, videos, and note collections. Put recorded tutorials or lectures on your smart phone and listen while exercising or doing other tasks.

Take notes and revise notes as you learn more. These are not mere copies of the books or lectures, but your own words about the important concepts, facts, and methods of problem solving.

Instead of paper notes, take electronic notes in markdown format. That's right. Create text files, because text will never become obsolete.

Use a note-taking app which allows interlinking notes and images. You can more easily learn the relationships between different items of knowledge.

Learn the basics first, then build your knowledge in steps; never try to "skip to the end" or "eat the whole elephant."

Break study sessions into a few 45 to 60 minute runs, with breaks to stretch, have a coffee, or just chill for a few minutes. Work toward achieving some kind of progress in a session: a new understanding or skill, to recognize when you have made progress.

Switch to another subject after you achieve progress in one. You want to move around among your subjects, not spending too much time in any.

Don't be afraid of weakness in any topic. Recognize it and work to build your knowledge and skills in areas where you are not strong.

Studying for important subjects and taking tests is never easy. Keep some kind of symbol for your goals, to help you keep your "eyes on the prize."

Do a lot of practice exercises, to develop your problem solving skills.

Study with a classmate or two, and take turns teaching the material to each other. You don't really know the material until you are familiar enough to put it into words, or to exercise the skill and explain what you're doing.

Memorization is for things you need to recall immediately, without time to look them up in the books or get from a web search. For other things, know where to find them, so you can go straight to them and see the information.