I’m about to study for two IT certifications and I find it hard to study on my own. What are some practices and techniques you guys use?
- Have a fixed routine and fixed time block each day to focus. No distractions. Keeping the rythm is important.
- Don’t rely on tips and tricks. Understand the material. Don’t do rote learning.
- Make sure your understanding is correct. Don’t assume. Verify your knowledge with external reference.
I explain the subject to my cat. Phrasing it helps me to notice gaps in my knowledge, and review them.
What works for me for learning is…
- Start 6am weekdays, no weekends
- Pomodoro technique
- UML class diagrams
- Spaced repetition flashcards
What works for me for good grades…
- Learning professor’s biases and playing into them
- Visible Thinking to make use of the Levels of Processing Effect and to take notes. I also sometimes do the thinking routines out loud rather than writing them down. Although you lose potential notes, it’s faster.
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy to handle my emotions and my behavior
- A Mind for Numbers to understand when and how to switch from and to different tasks
- And Getting Things Done to organize my time and engage with the tasks at hand
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When I studied to become a Radio Officer (Marine, not Navy) I joined a Radar Maintenance class with six guys from various parts of India.
They added a new page to my ‘technique’. I visited them and saw all their notes plastered on their walls. They didn’t sit and revise - they walked around and stared at the walls… it was amazing.
So first of all, we’d do a class - maybe a couple of hours - where I’d mark diagrams (using colours) and take notes (also using highlighters to mark important sections of printed notes).
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After the class, during break, I’d spend the first five minutes just scanning over the whole class one time.
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When I got home later, I’d go over it again for about 15 minutes and basically blu-tac them onto the walls. Then I’d scan across the older notes.
Within a week of scanning them, I could basically scan from further away until I could remember most of what was on them without being close enough to read them.
- Only tidy away what you know - but be sure you know it before you move it to longer term storage. I could basically recite the contents of an A4 sheet by just scanning down the headings at this stage.
When I was sure I’d internalised a sheet, I could take it down and stick it in my folder.
The hardest subjects are the most boring, and often least relevant, parts of the course. I think I must have put in 80% of my efforts into less than 10% of the actual coursework.
- Flashcards are awesome. You should have them in your pocket - Question one side, Answer on the back. You should have them in your pocket always, in the toilet, on a bus, wherever you go. If you do just 5 minute sessions multiple times every day then you’ll know them all at the end of the week.
As a testament to how well this worked, I remember learning hundreds of ‘Q’ codes. If you randomly throw one up at me, I’ll remember every detail…
Stuff I remember learning iin 1984, like
QRA
- Q: What is the name of your vessel/station? orQRK
for 'What is the readability of my signals?` with answers rated from 1 to 5.I never went to sea - so I never used this stuff after I finished College (Margarette Thatcher put the plug on that) but it’s all there.
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i heard lofi music is a good start? also put the the things you dont need away along with ditractions and do your best.
this is coming from a failing highschool student with depression, so yeah.
I just recently discovered how good lofi music is for my productivity when I’m programming. Been listening to a lot of it recently.