5 Techniques of Every Successful Student

Sharing my system for becoming a successful student.

Every week, I distil what really works for improving results, memory, depth of understanding, and knowledge application from over a decade of coaching into bite-sized emails.

=== Paid Training Program ===

(Designed for busy students and professionals aiming to achieve top results without endless studying. 77% of our students cover the same amount of study material in 30% less time within 1 month.)

=== Notes ===

In the thousands of students I've worked with, there are some fundamental techniques or APPROACHES to studying that tend to produce better results.

These are the 5 techniques and attributes that I have seen to be critical milestones in a learner's development.

Whether you're a beginner looking to become a more efficient student or an already top achiever pursuing even further self-improvement, these 5 steps are things that I think can benefit you.

1. Priming/prestudy - priming as I mentioned is a big topic and shouldn't be thought of simply as "prestudy". Whatever notion you have of prestudy to begin with should be abandoned. See if the way I explain it is the same as how you understand it.

2. Event engagement - in class or lecture. What are you doing to increase your effectiveness in the primary learning event? How much control do you exert here?

3. Post-event review - when do you do it and...

4. Review technique - HOW do you consolidate the information in your post-event review.

5. Pre-exam or test preparation - are you using this time effectively, or just creating an illusion of preparation?

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=== About Dr Justin Sung ===

Dr. Justin Sung is a world-renowned expert in self-regulated learning, certified teacher, research author, and former medical doctor. He has guest lectured on learning skills at Monash University for Master’s and PhD students in Education and Medicine. Over the past decade, he has empowered tens of thousands of learners worldwide to dramatically improve their academic performance, learning efficiency, and motivation.

[JustinSung]

Every week, I distil what really works for improving results, memory, depth of understanding, and knowledge application from over a decade of coaching into bite-sized emails.

[avistang]

Summary:

Threshold concepts - core concepts which, when understood, transform a student's understanding a whole subject; suddenly able to see it in a way that you weren't able to before
- provide a barrier to understanding a concept a certain way
- different from just difficult concepts (concepts that are hard to wrap your head around)
- cause lightbulb moments

Learning is recursive and excursive
- recursive - certain things make more sense the more you learn it
- like puzzle pieces coming together over time

- excursive - a journey that allows for deviations
- don't have to learn everything the best way the first time
- learning is messy and very nonlinear

Active learning - way to tap into threshold concepts (games, quizzes, group discussion, etc.)
- keeps us engaged about the topic, rather than passive learning (letting the information be absorbed just by reading)

1. Priming; prestudy - ability to look at a piece of information and quickly scan the text first, rather than take it all in at once, and get a framework on how to approach learning the material before we even know what to know
- headings, diagrams, important images, etc
- simple wireframe on how to big picture comes together
- don't get sucked into all the detail; you will lose big picture
- will have easier lightbulb moments; faster learning

2. Learning event
- takes effort to learn
- if not paying attention, the information will just be thrown at you, and you won't retain any of it
- ask questions very frequently about what information just came into the brain
- some questions are higher yield than others: try to ask "why" and "how" questions, as they relate back to the big picture

3. Revisions
- optimal time for first revision is within 12 hours of the learning event
- sleep dependent memory consolidation - study before you go to bed so you can "study in your sleep"

4. Technique
- extenuate relationships of small details with big picture
- take info from lecture and priming and create a mindmap with it
- make notes nonverbal (not many words)
- make notes reasonably minimal
- writing too many notes reduces cognitive load (level of confusion in brain); we want to optimize level of confusion
- delayed note taking - keep info in our head, think about it, let confusion set it, ask questions, simplify the info, and write the simplified info down
- can skip initial note taking
- do simplification in head; trains brain to not rely on writing things down to learn

5. Revision
- make sure it is always challenging
- use recall (take from memory alone, rather than just recognizing it)
- revise in a different way each time
- DON'T REREAD NOTES - not challenging; recognition
- rewriting notes purely from memory is good; rerepresenting notes with diagrams, mindmaps, etc. is better
- teaching is very good - forces you to recall, draw and annotate while you teach, look at big picture to figure out what the best way to teach the topic is
- spaced repetition, flashcards, mindmaps, active listening and reading, effective priming

[kk]

Dont know how many people may see this, but this very video of his made me watch all his videos, past streams, and podcasts cause everything he said make sense. Coming into my first semester of uni I finished with a tragic 3.3 gpa (4.0 scale) and realized I had to do better, so I studied mindmaps and put into practice everything he said slowly during my second semester for the first 2 months. During those 2 months, I was implementing new techniques and basically changing up my whole study methods which took so much energy and brain power, but after the struggle it was worth it. Ive definitely gotten better and more familiar with mindmaps and how to think big picture and was able to carry that till the end of my first year. I ended second semester with all A's (3 A+'s) and finished a spring class being top of the class (A+ as well). I cant thank you enough Justin. Gl to those who seek improvement, hang in there and be consistent.

[loicdesroches]

The true game changer is : YOUR MINDSET

Once you realize you have a once in a lifetime opportunity to learn, it changes forever

[humester]

If a book has questions at the end of a chapter, it is best to read them first before skimming through the chapter as you suggest. Reading the questions first primes you for what is considered important by the author, so that even when just scanning through the chapter for the first time those questions will prime your brain to catch those important points right away.

[embrace]

The delayed note taking reminds me of one of my physics teacher who always told us to first listen to what he was teaching so he wouldn't let us make notes while he was teaching a topic, after he is done with it then only he would give us few minutes to write everything down

[klkiley]

This channel is gold. Can't believe more people aren't subbed lol

[ingore]

Here's a summary:
Core questions:
- How do you have deep learning?
First, what is deep learning? Deep learning is trying to find more creative connections between different concepts.
How is important? It allows us to remember the concepts better, increase the enjoyment within the particular subject, and it shows that we understood the material. A way to apply this is through the use of mindmaps, which are sorta like a tree where the leaves are the concepts, the branches are the connections, and the trunk is the core concept.
- Understand core concepts
What are core concepts?
These are concepts, once understood, allow you to view the material in a different light.
How are they important? This is basically information that is integral to what you are learning, such as in Calculus the integral concepts would be: Integrals, Derivatives, and Limits and once you understand those, the rest of the subsets of those concepts would be much easier to understand.
- So what is the learning process?
First, we need to understand that learning is recursive.
What is recursive learning? Learning isn't linear which means that you might understand something better by reading a textbook from back to front then front to back. Since the textbook isn't the way that everyone best understands the material, it's how best the person writing it sees the material. Also when you are stuck on a problem, it may help to go back to another problem which different concepts and try and find the connections, because there's a possibility that the connections found from this different concept are the ones that you need to use to solve the current problem.

[santiagomelero]

You’re literally the first person that actually has education on this topic and God it’s insane how I can notice it. Thank so much for your advice. I’ve been trying to apply some of this principles and it’s been going great.

[itsximin]

To add on to delayed note taking, sometimes during on-the-job training, we have to learn a lot about the workplace policies and how to operate their softwares. It can be overwhelming to write everything down. Being in the moment, trying to learn by clicking the buttons and how they work can help grasp the concept by actively learning!

[Blackasthenightsky]

I'm a student whose grade are usually As and Bs, From watching this video I've realized that everything you've said is what I do when studying and learning new stuff, I never noticed it before, i sincerely thought all people learned, studied, analyzed and had the same thought process as me.

[forbbidenname]

7：55 principle :

Threshold concepts: learning is naturally a recursive process at the beginning but excursive in order a breakthrough.

1.skimming by using mind maps
2.identifying threshold concept to connect everything
3.be inquisitorial to capture the informations by asking why and how
4. set 12 hours gaps before your next revisionto consolidate your memory and u can do so by writting a summary sheet .
5.make it challenging by self testing

Pitfall:
lengthy notes that cause cognitive loads.
re-read your notes as it is not challenging your mind to retain it.

[MrSaemichlaus]

Priming raises a context for questions so that once the answers come in, they can be hung onto this contextual tree. It avoids mind clutter and helps keep good order in your thoughts from the beginning.

[haraldcarlsten]

I am a double degree old guy who always been very interested in learning and the way we learn. I would just like to make some reflections on this. Firstly: I believe that you need to find your own study technique. Mind mapping for example has been help up very high for many decades now. And for some people it might work. But not for me. I wasted time when studying following this technique. I am more a note and drawing kind of person. My mind do not go well together with these large schemas. But my mind really appreciate this big picture view technique you started with. That is essential and somewhat scary (done the right way). That you explore the subject before you start studying. With it comes interesting effects. You are half way through the material and suddenly you start to grasp things you haven't really read because that was things which you stored kind of subconsciously (even though I don't really believe in such a thing...) when doing this overview reading. Justin, keep up the good work!

[sinceyouwereinyourmamaswom]

For those who can't catch what he's talking about due to his faster speaking, you can play the video at 0.75x speed.. :)

[deslbyt]

Priming. That is why when I miss the first 10 minutes or so of a class on a brand-new topic, I get confused the whole class. This not only shows the importance of this technique, but it also shows how much I rely on this technique while not knowing about it. It makes a lot of sense why priming is fundamental to learning, and it also stunned me how I never thought of this. It happened so many times!

While priming is the step I'm good at, the event, revision, revision techniques, and pre-exam revision are all things I really need to work on. I don't actively ask why/how questions in my mind during classes. Most of the time, I just try to understand. I don't do revision, like, at all, let alone revision in 12 hours. The techniques. Sure, I use recall, but I believe there's more. Pre-exam revisions. Who would have known the best way to do that is not recognition but recall?

[andreang.]

I watched a bunch of videos about learning techniques like space rep, taking notes and write down yourself questions to review, … and have applied them too but it just help a little bit and I’m still struggling to get the results that I want. This video really dives deeper into to the techniques of learning and help me to figure out why my way of learning didn’t work and how to improve. Thanks Justin.🎉

[jeffzhang]

As a long-time college professor, I fully agree, and am constantly excited by Dr Sung’s excellent points and tips- I am enlightened on improving my own teaching. Thank you, Dr Sung!

[ImprovementGang]

For the #2 tip, make sure that you give yourself permission to “feel” that you dont know anything. The point is to identify what you DONT know

[vips]

I was reading a topic(I'm in med school) and I followed the first 4 steps in this video(the 5th will be anki/practice Qs for me) and the topic might be the easiest I've ever studied! I combined everything in this video with the mind mapping technique in your other video.

You've become my favourite study YouTuber in just about a day! Thank you😁