I finally found someone explaining note taking properly and not trying to make me buy another set of pastel highlighters to increase my productivity. thanks!
Try to read "make it stick" it helps to understand how to remember things you study. Then you can watch a lecture called "study less study smart" you can find it on UA-cam.
Maybe my thinking is a little bit different, but the reason for his content being underrated is because of the UA-cam Algorithm, which always promote random entertaining videos which attracts more people, but underrate these forms of youtube channels full of wisdom, experience and real advices to students (I find his channel is even more detail and helpful than those "studying tips" on both Tiktok and on some UA-cam channels). Studying - focus contents are mostly undervalued on UA-cam, and I knew that these tips only get to a certain number of viewers who seek for studying methods or researching methods in college and highschool. It is unbelievable how his content is so low in viewers - these tips he informed us really useful and it helps me saving so much of my time for searching academic sources and running deadlines. May be on Earth, regardless of environments where we are, diamond always hard to find than dirt and stone, but once you find it, you will never regret the time - consuming process that leads you to obtain those diamonds.
Just so i can come back later for myself and read this comment: Don't need to read every last thing and memorise. First skim read little subcategories, highlight key points/facts/things which stand out or general ideas (or write down) Come back later (i just like doing this so i can see if i have missed any and to let my brain refresh) and highlight little details which relate or help glue the whole ideas together to develop a more deep understanding so it clicks. The facts or ideas learned can really help to use just in every day life.
1. Inspectional reading --> do a general reading and highlight key phrases for you, maybe make little notes 2. Analytical reading --> construct your understanding like a structure with details. Things start making sense.
Made a summary~ 1. Inspectional reading (Find the "lightning bolt" moment) 2. Analytical reading (Scouting) 3. Taking notes (Backbone --> Trivial connections) For real, though. Thanks for the video. I have a shitty memory when it comes to remembering things that make no sense to me. Through some unfortunate events due to ignorance mostly on my part, I found myself stuck with having tons and tons of facts to memorize due to joining a medical university. Still, I figured I might as well push through it since I ended up here. So, I did it. For a whole year and a half. But that was it. I couldn't do it anymore. I hated how I wasn't actually learning anything. I hated what I was turning into. The idea of cramming textbooks blindly, *knowing* that I was going to forget everything, made me give up on an entire semester and rethink what on Earth I was doing with my life. In those couple of months I had to myself, I met a lot of people and gained a lot of experiences and life lessons I know I wouldn't have learnt if I had taken that semester. I don't regret skipping it one bit. I did a lot of self-reflecting during that time and realized that becoming a doctor was not the kind of future I wanted. That didn't mean I knew what I did want. But I knew for a fact that becoming a doctor wasn't one of them. And for me, it was a start. Even now I still wonder if I have it in me to reach some level of academic prowess due to how many times I've failed at passing the biased modules set by education institutions to measure the knowledge we've acquired. I know that I have a passion for learning, but I also know I have flaws that come with it. I'm a perfectionist and expect myself to be able to remember everything even when I know it's impossible. I tend to overthink a lot. Thinking about the future- which leads to anxiety and me getting overwhelmed, and eventually giving up prematurely and procrastinating till I run out of precious time. All that coupled with how bad I am at memorizing bulks of facts really puts me at the end of my rope and makes me feel like I'm really not meant to be a part of the intellectual community. However, I know my memory isn't bad when it comes to memorizing things I find interesting. Whether it's movie quotes, or even entire storylines of novels I've enjoyed reading, I could narrate them easily. Even if I had only read it once. I know it was because I understood it. The things I was trying to recall made sense to me. I could build up a story because as I progressed through it, I'd remember more and more details which I can add due to all the sequential cues I get while passing each checkpoint of the story. I've always racked my brain trying to figure out a way to utilize this ability when it came to studying things I couldn't easily motivate myself to read and enjoy because of how much of a chore it all felt. Up until now, I had no idea how. But, your technique, although you did say it might not work well for everyone, makes me really want to try it. Even if it's going to be hard and possibly going to take me a while to get used to. I really liked it when you said that notes would no longer be things we refer back to, and instead simply be a representation of our internal thought process. I don't want to lose my passion for learning just because it seems like I have no other choice but to cram things to pass exams. I can tell that your idea could actually work in preserving something in the long term. I'm willing to try this method and perhaps modify it to suit me better. So, thank you for being the first person who showed me a way to learn something and remember it without asking me to blindly cram it. I'm immensely grateful.
This spoke to me! I know exactly what you mean, when it comes to a movie or something I can find passion in remembering details is simple. My memory is atrocious but I knew that there must've been a better way for me to learn. The school system I'm still going through is driven by your ability to recall empty facts and over the years my passion has been fading. To me this video is inspiring, I'm happy to know there is another way to learn and I'm ready to give it a try. You are most definitely an intellectual, best of luck finding what makes you passionate, and don't mistake it for your purpose!
@Fyo Felt like you were talking about me here. This was me in medical school but I stayed reluctantly and stumbled through it somehow. I have just recently developed an interest in literature and came across this video while doing some research. I hope you find your calling and all the best
The people who always did super well on tests despite never studying were the people who naturally learned by this elaborative memory. I remember a teacher explaining it after people kept getting upset that I (a pretty ho-hum student who partied) still killed it on exams. I didnt realize it till they explained it. To best learn and remember, you must see how it connects and fits contextually into your world and the world at large.
"So firstly, the first thing first!" Haha, but I genuinely do appreciate these videos. I was one of those (former) gifted kids, and now looking to teach my own kids in a few years! Unfortunately, bad memory and years out of study led me down this path of personal reflection and ultimately reeducation. Videos like yours really help to motivate and remind me how exactly to study and learn (and teach!) the right way! Thank you and keep it up!
As a person who doesn’t have a strong memory, I wish I came across you while I was in school. I will be teaching my children these these techniques while they’re still young! Thank you!
Hey man! Great video and channel, really love your ideas. Regarding non-fiction, what I can also recommend is using one's own, self-created "note-taking legenda/system" by making a list of particular symbols/abbreviations that mean particular things. This, for me, makes my note-taking more efficient as it structures my notes better, it improves my memorization of the material, and it makes me a more active reader as for each writing I have to think: "What does this really mean/what is this an instance of?" Some examples I created (and borrowed) that I think can be used for any non-fiction book (but of course, be inventive in creating your own system: you can think of anything you want!): 1.
As someone who has adhd, this video helped me a lot in terms of learning. The concept of learning is very weird to me like how does a person learn and how to learn learning things and concepts if that makes any sense. And also not to mention the way you are talking about these things, such a passionate person!
1. Do a broad survey of the entirety of the book - briefly skim it to have an understanding of the content at a whole. 2. While speeding through the book, note whatever sticks out to you and jumps out to you immediately. This will vary for people, as we're all sensitive to different types of information. 3. After your inspectional reading and your very quick survey, this is when you can return to the book to reread it in a more analytical fashion. What will happen is all of the content you're reading will eventually congeal with the few trivia pieces you highlighted. It'll start to make sense! 4. When things start to come to light and you're being bombarded by lightbulb moments aplenty, begin the note taking process in a flow state fashion. Start with the important trivias you initially highlighted and start to fill in the gaps, in your own words and your own thoughts. Rather than memorizing every single piece of detail you read and trying to cram it into your cranium and overwhelm yourself, you'll instead have a conceptual and elaborative understanding of the topic rather than a surface level maintenance understanding, where all you're able to do is recite facts that you care for and understand little of.
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I am a grown-ass-man and I'm finally getting a quick and easily digestible explanation on how I should have been studying by a kid. Dear god, fuck my schools.
You made me savour every aspect of making sense of what we read; from building up the skeleton nodes to diving into the sea of facts; and connecting the dots to make sense of every piece of information in a conceptual way. This video is prudent piece to actually know what we read.
As an engineering student one of the things that I do is highlight while I read, write it down and then using that information to make a dynamic sheet with maps and different colors and diagrams and so on.
I need to do this. I was that typical smart kid in high school who just absorbed info like a sponge. I didn't really need to take notes, but I did mainly to get teachers off my back. And then first year of college, I was lucky. Out of all my STEM classes, I only managed one B (literally 3% from being an A, very irksome) and the rest were As. Granted, I didn't study. But that was the first year of really just fundamentals. Engineering isn't easy and I honestly am kinda afraid I'll fail. Comments like yours gives me insite to what I need to do, so thanks
@@spencerlenoir6987 yeah, I was that kind of "smart kid" at school, but eventually, when the subjects became more complex, I had a lot of trouble to adapt, because I hadn't learned HOW to actually study. I think this should be part of the school's curriculum - learning how to learn.
as a math person, I've always been scared of history and english because I'd have to know these facts and stories and connections, this, that, etc. But I would have never thought that I would miss my AP US History class as much as I had the moment I finished my AP exam at home, the last moment that I would do anything related to US history (for a while at least). I think over that specific year in that course, I learned exactly what you are saying, Waldun. Its an incredible feeling, and its so applicable in any area of learning. It's such a natural way to learn, and it is so effective. I believe that this is the right way to learn. Well, at least I believe that's the only reason why I actually ended up enjoying APUSH :)
Interesting. Similar to what I have developed over the years. I find I can get a good understanding of nearly any non-fiction book to which I have an interest in about 4/5 hours. Shorter for smaller books. My approach is below. At the end of it you have all of the book's concepts knowledge mapped in Obsidian(or solution of your choice), a marked up book that you can reference and a summary in your words in your reading journal. I found that I can go back to a book read years prior and get up to speed on its contents within a few minutes by just skimming Obsidian and reading my summary. 1) Read the entire book quickly making a note of anything you think maybe important. I write a star by the paragraph. You now have an overall view of the landscape and probably the main concepts. 2) Go through the book but only reading the stared paragraphs. Determine if they are important to what you understand from the initial reading and highlight only those passages in the paragraph. 3) Go through the book one last time only reading highlighted passages and summarizing each in your own words along with connecting them with other ideas. I use Obsidian for this. 4) Finally, write by hand your summary of the book along with your insights etc. I put this in a large Moleskin journal conntaining summaries of all books I have read. Then put it in Obsidian. Timings: Step 1 probably a couple of hours or so. Step 2 is around an hour. Step 3 is another hour for your summaries and an hour for Obsidian. Step 4 is a half hour since by know your mind has thoroughly processed the book.
1. Broad inspection...quick reading. Inspectional reading. just highlighting stuff that jumps in your face. only highlight the things that give you the lightning bulb moments....or instead of highlighting make little notes. These will be your anchor points to make the connections 2. analytical reading. where we make cohesive connections. read for little details. the details will now actually start to make sense. 3. take notes in a flow pattern. the subtitle will be the highlighted points. and follow your thought processes. the inspectional reading is the backbone and attaching the trivia to the backbone. now, these notes will be like a representation of your thought processes.
I've learned so much about taking notes from this video (and the previous). Thank you so much for the invaluable information you provide for us learners. I really, really appreciate you.
Hey R.C. Waldun, Love your videos and love the fact you're willing to take time off your day to share with us your valuable knowledge, but I would like to ask you. What would your advice be to teens ( or anyone ) in general, who struggles in trying to read a book especially when it comes to an era of full of distractions like social media, video games, tv etc..?
1: find a book you actually care about. 2: read for a period distraction free. At first maybe 20 minutes a session, but the time will eventually stretch and extend. (My maximum focus is 3 hours a sitting) 3: develop a habit for reading. Small bits every single day. Overtime you will love it more. 4: just have fun. Books will become apart of your life later down the track.
If I may, for the sake of people watching this video and reading comments late like me. Unless you're in a career that is directly related to social media, quit (quit social media or at least reduce it to the bare minimum that keeps you in touch with people you would actually call or text on a regular basis). There's nothing to be had by social media that could not be achieved by other means that are richer and stemmed to real life interactions.
@@programSense youtube is the only social media i spend time on but along with the very helpful and educational videos that i watch come other junk. I can’t quit UA-cam.
@@myrtila yeahh same, even though i learn a lot about my interests on UA-cam and gain new knowledge, I still watch tOnS of useless distracting stuff here, and it's taking up most of my time
I was reaching the bottom at college bc of online classes and my lack of motivation, I'm "procrastinating" binge-watching your videos, and tbh, YOU JUST HELPED ME SAVE MY SEMESTER:) Thank you so much.
Something that helps me is looking at whatever I’m learning as a FACT OF LIFE. It’s not some abstract idea, it is a concrete fact of the world I live in. I’ve found integrating whatever I’m learning into my day to day life makes it more concrete.
"I haven't done much scouting myself... because I am nerd." 😀 Love that. By tge way great video. Helped me a lot, because I can't memorise things. The only way something stays in my head is when it's connected enough to things I actually care about.
Hi, I'm Chilean, I study architecture and most of the time I have trouble reading fact-based books. But after I watched this, I'm saved. Thank you very much and Thanks for making this quite easy-understanding even for non native english speakers :D THAAANKSSS
I learned how to read and take notes only later much in life after studying music (viola/piano) for decades. In learning a new piece of music, first you do a visual scan to take note of key signatures, time signature, repeats, etc, in other words the skeleton of the piece. Second, you read through it straight through and take mental notes of the areas that need more study/practice. Third, you practice the sections independently, then in context of the phrase. And fourthly, you start working on putting the entire piece together. Steps 2-4 are frequently repeated for mastery.
This is so well explained, I've just binge-watched your channel its so helpful and good for just living my every day life in studies! Seriously i want friends like you 😂
This all seems so complicated and hard trying to tackle it from a memorizing standpoint, but the way you spelled everything out for us make it all so simple. It honestly makes me feel stupid for not realizing that fact based material can be learned best as a concept instead of trivia.
That is great advice, find anchors in a first run through, then come back. In graduate school we learned to skim by reading the abstract, first and last line of every paragraph, and then conclusion. But calling those things and the other things that catch your eye "anchors" is a helpful way to conceptualize it.
What jumps out at you... yes I agree as I unintentionally found this to be true when perusing thousands of English texts and articles in my doctoral research. Every word is not read but the landscape is the first stage for sure.
I have completed in my master degree in history .I m from India and here this subject is look down upon.I have recently get to know about your and instant I feel like connected with you . I wish to meet you one day 😌and have a worthwhile conversation.
so i know that as people get old, their ability for conceptual learning increases and the ability to memorize facts is decreasing. damn i must be a 100 years old judging on my learning experience.. i think about that like every week
I read but.... Light novels/mangas/newsletter and articles And I guess anything is good for reading until and unless you are having fun it is helping you in any way....like these help me in improving my English vocabulary and to acquire some new phrases.
The thing with the repetition method that schools like to teach all the time is that as much as it CAN make me memorize something, the moment I do the test or presentation I memorized it for, all of that information spills out of me in the fraction of a second after I'm done, my brain deems it as useless immediately and trashes the information
You explained this so much better than my teacher, thank you so much. Not only does this help my grades but it also helps me appreciate the book more. :)
This boy should do podcasts! Really enjoy listening his life experiences and advice. When are you going to bless us explaining some of the main philosophy bases?
One thing that's really helped me with history is to split history into broader global "eras" to make it easier to get a general sense of events of that time. Don't just choose a single event, choose a 10-20 year period then research what happened across different countries in that time. There will be tonnes of contextual overlap between events and countries which will give you anchors to latch on to for your knowledge as a whole. Then you can zoom in and better know certain events because they are surrounded by historical context that you're aware of. I.e reading about Europe in the 1820s? Well I know the whole of Europe just got through being blown up by Napoleon for example, you'll see signs of that in the history you're reading. Reading about the late 1800s to early 1900s? (very fascinating era for me) WW1 is on the horizon, Tesla is blowing minds, (btw I HIGHLY recommend his book "My Inventions and other writings", it's simply amazing watching his mind think. A real visionary, he precisely predicts pocket cell phones in 1905). The early 1800s, the Napoleonic wars were occuring and a lot of Europe was at or preparing for war. The 1850s, the American civil war was brewing and the western expansion to places like the texas-mexico border was happening, it was near lawless and had a lot of bloody battles between indians and scalp hunters/soldiers.. At that same time in Russia many classic russian authors were writing great books like Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. Just my opinion. As you learn more about a period in time, the more context and knowledge you'll have when learning about events that came out of or gave birth to those events. History is dope and highly enlightening.
Yeah maaaaaaaaan 😍 I really want to find a way to take notes--which is a thing that I cannot help, cause I need to let out all of that enthusiasm and geekiness in some way, and the way I do it is taking notes, jotting down stuff, highlight, circling, drawing little symbols on the margins 😍😍 BUT if it ain't working, it ain't working, so I will definitely give this a try. Perhaps it's just what I was looking for, whether it leads to another path or not. 🍀 I got my "The Highly Sensitive Person" book today, sooo.. *not so evil laughter*
Thanks, haven't tried it yet. But i was literally thinking of a method like this i just couldn't figure out how it's ought to be done. You know, like you said, not just memorization for tests but to observe information and knowledge. And you have put it in to words. I appreciate you a lot and 'God' bless you.
i think the most important step was using the knowledge - in this context the text ppl tend to forget putting out the knowledge out of your brain rather than just collecting facts is important for understanding and the memory
My biggest problem is needing to do rote memorization before I could begin to do elaborative learning. Once everything is in my head, I analyze and pick everything apart while washing dishes, taking a dump, or in between sets in the gym.
Everyone of us has an evolving 'world map' (or mapamundi) in our heads. That map guides our particular philosophy. Someone's map may cover more details, or different aspects, of 'the world' from another's. Without such a map we would be idiots, and could not function in life.
If we are a product of what we consume... Then sir, your content is what I intend to use as a map to better reading practices. Thanks for sharing these quality insights.
I would like to request you one thing. Please make a dedicated playlist about the reading and books etc. if possible because it makes the viewer difficult to scroll down and identify the parts...
This explains how teachers make powerpoints. I always remember being annoyed at not knowing how much space to leave in my lecture notes under each “backbone” thing :p
hey would you please make videos about SAT reading?? I literally watch your reading techniques videos just to do better on the SAT. but the thing is most of your reading techniques videos (if not all of them) are about whole books, but the SAT reading section consists of passages. So i'd really appreciate you making a video about how to tackle such passages and get the most information out of it in the shortest time possible. thanks
Tip: your content will age better (retain value) if you link to other videos you refer to. "Last week" was easy to find 2 years ago but less easy to check out now 😊
Thanks, this was helpful. One thing however remains ambiguous. In the section on analytical reading it is not clear what the backbone or structure is exactly. You gave the example of how you ought to structure your notes on the french revolution but is this structure intuited from the general structure of the book or is it based on the highlights from the first stage? For example, its not clear to me that i would highlight that Robespierre was a radical Jacobin because i already know it. Should I aim to take notes on what the book is trying to tell me (for good or for ill) or should i aim at pulling out what i find interesting? This is doubly difficult because we also don’t know what we find interesting until we actually understand the text. You gave the example of The Wealth of Nations as a fact based book when it is really a theoretical book. Are we trying to understand Adam Smith or are were just trying to get out of it what we can and ignore what we don’t (like parasites!). You published this video 5 years ago so im sure you’ve developed this method. I’d be really interested in your thoughts and where you are at it now.
Hi. Started following your channel today and have been watching your videos since. I'm interested in literature, philosophy, history, political theory and sociology and I am good at writing but I always find myself doubting whatever I write and end up getting anxious. I take a good start but am not able to go beyond a 100 words or so. This started only a while ago. I read a lot, I try writing but it seems that I've lost confidence. Do you ever feel the same? What would you recommend to gain the confidence back? Would be very grateful if you reply! Again, i love your videos
I finally found someone explaining note taking properly and not trying to make me buy another set of pastel highlighters to increase my productivity. thanks!
Ahah
Try to read "make it stick" it helps to understand how to remember things you study.
Then you can watch a lecture called "study less study smart" you can find it on UA-cam.
I take pastel advice :)
Lolololol
lol, That reminds me how tiring these fancy long nailed women tryna show their notes for every 5 seconds and almost all of them focuses on aesthetics
Bro, you need a podcast. This content is gold, I could listen to this for hours.
literally.
YES
hmmmmhn that would be a good idea but this is nice too. its thought out and well written, and not too much rambling
100 % .
Good God! Why is this channel so underrated? You are saving my life. GOD BLESS YOU. Love From India.
Just give it time
True
@María de los Ángeles Mena He's hardly a 'kid' - he's a young man!
Maybe my thinking is a little bit different, but the reason for his content being underrated is because of the UA-cam Algorithm, which always promote random entertaining videos which attracts more people, but underrate these forms of youtube channels full of wisdom, experience and real advices to students (I find his channel is even more detail and helpful than those "studying tips" on both Tiktok and on some UA-cam channels). Studying - focus contents are mostly undervalued on UA-cam, and I knew that these tips only get to a certain number of viewers who seek for studying methods or researching methods in college and highschool. It is unbelievable how his content is so low in viewers - these tips he informed us really useful and it helps me saving so much of my time for searching academic sources and running deadlines. May be on Earth, regardless of environments where we are, diamond always hard to find than dirt and stone, but once you find it, you will never regret the time - consuming process that leads you to obtain those diamonds.
Just so i can come back later for myself and read this comment:
Don't need to read every last thing and memorise.
First skim read little subcategories, highlight key points/facts/things which stand out or general ideas (or write down)
Come back later (i just like doing this so i can see if i have missed any and to let my brain refresh) and highlight little details which relate or help glue the whole ideas together to develop a more deep understanding so it clicks.
The facts or ideas learned can really help to use just in every day life.
1. Inspectional reading --> do a general reading and highlight key phrases for you, maybe make little notes
2. Analytical reading --> construct your understanding like a structure with details. Things start making sense.
Made a summary~
1. Inspectional reading (Find the "lightning bolt" moment)
2. Analytical reading (Scouting)
3. Taking notes (Backbone --> Trivial connections)
For real, though. Thanks for the video. I have a shitty memory when it comes to remembering things that make no sense to me. Through some unfortunate events due to ignorance mostly on my part, I found myself stuck with having tons and tons of facts to memorize due to joining a medical university. Still, I figured I might as well push through it since I ended up here. So, I did it. For a whole year and a half. But that was it. I couldn't do it anymore. I hated how I wasn't actually learning anything. I hated what I was turning into. The idea of cramming textbooks blindly, *knowing* that I was going to forget everything, made me give up on an entire semester and rethink what on Earth I was doing with my life. In those couple of months I had to myself, I met a lot of people and gained a lot of experiences and life lessons I know I wouldn't have learnt if I had taken that semester. I don't regret skipping it one bit. I did a lot of self-reflecting during that time and realized that becoming a doctor was not the kind of future I wanted. That didn't mean I knew what I did want. But I knew for a fact that becoming a doctor wasn't one of them. And for me, it was a start.
Even now I still wonder if I have it in me to reach some level of academic prowess due to how many times I've failed at passing the biased modules set by education institutions to measure the knowledge we've acquired. I know that I have a passion for learning, but I also know I have flaws that come with it. I'm a perfectionist and expect myself to be able to remember everything even when I know it's impossible. I tend to overthink a lot. Thinking about the future- which leads to anxiety and me getting overwhelmed, and eventually giving up prematurely and procrastinating till I run out of precious time. All that coupled with how bad I am at memorizing bulks of facts really puts me at the end of my rope and makes me feel like I'm really not meant to be a part of the intellectual community.
However, I know my memory isn't bad when it comes to memorizing things I find interesting. Whether it's movie quotes, or even entire storylines of novels I've enjoyed reading, I could narrate them easily. Even if I had only read it once. I know it was because I understood it. The things I was trying to recall made sense to me. I could build up a story because as I progressed through it, I'd remember more and more details which I can add due to all the sequential cues I get while passing each checkpoint of the story.
I've always racked my brain trying to figure out a way to utilize this ability when it came to studying things I couldn't easily motivate myself to read and enjoy because of how much of a chore it all felt.
Up until now, I had no idea how. But, your technique, although you did say it might not work well for everyone, makes me really want to try it. Even if it's going to be hard and possibly going to take me a while to get used to. I really liked it when you said that notes would no longer be things we refer back to, and instead simply be a representation of our internal thought process. I don't want to lose my passion for learning just because it seems like I have no other choice but to cram things to pass exams. I can tell that your idea could actually work in preserving something in the long term. I'm willing to try this method and perhaps modify it to suit me better.
So, thank you for being the first person who showed me a way to learn something and remember it without asking me to blindly cram it.
I'm immensely grateful.
You'll find your calling eventually.
This spoke to me! I know exactly what you mean, when it comes to a movie or something I can find passion in remembering details is simple. My memory is atrocious but I knew that there must've been a better way for me to learn. The school system I'm still going through is driven by your ability to recall empty facts and over the years my passion has been fading. To me this video is inspiring, I'm happy to know there is another way to learn and I'm ready to give it a try. You are most definitely an intellectual, best of luck finding what makes you passionate, and don't mistake it for your purpose!
Hey, how is it going? experience update? I could connect with your comment!
Did it help you?
@Fyo Felt like you were talking about me here. This was me in medical school but I stayed reluctantly and stumbled through it somehow.
I have just recently developed an interest in literature and came across this video while doing some research.
I hope you find your calling and all the best
The people who always did super well on tests despite never studying were the people who naturally learned by this elaborative memory.
I remember a teacher explaining it after people kept getting upset that I (a pretty ho-hum student who partied) still killed it on exams. I didnt realize it till they explained it. To best learn and remember, you must see how it connects and fits contextually into your world and the world at large.
That's great advice.
how can* u say someone is a ho-hum student?
who's a ho-hum student?
Comin'to know this term the first time
Best UA-camr out right now , so much bs out there nowadays
Agreed
So true
I use a notebook alongside my books, especially philosophy.
"So firstly, the first thing first!" Haha, but I genuinely do appreciate these videos. I was one of those (former) gifted kids, and now looking to teach my own kids in a few years! Unfortunately, bad memory and years out of study led me down this path of personal reflection and ultimately reeducation. Videos like yours really help to motivate and remind me how exactly to study and learn (and teach!) the right way! Thank you and keep it up!
As a person who doesn’t have a strong memory, I wish I came across you while I was in school. I will be teaching my children these these techniques while they’re still young! Thank you!
How on earth are you this underrated?
Hey man! Great video and channel, really love your ideas. Regarding non-fiction, what I can also recommend is using one's own, self-created "note-taking legenda/system" by making a list of particular symbols/abbreviations that mean particular things. This, for me, makes my note-taking more efficient as it structures my notes better, it improves my memorization of the material, and it makes me a more active reader as for each writing I have to think: "What does this really mean/what is this an instance of?" Some examples I created (and borrowed) that I think can be used for any non-fiction book (but of course, be inventive in creating your own system: you can think of anything you want!):
1.
This is very useful, thank you! ✨
As someone who has adhd, this video helped me a lot in terms of learning. The concept of learning is very weird to me like how does a person learn and how to learn learning things and concepts if that makes any sense. And also not to mention the way you are talking about these things, such a passionate person!
I like the notion of linking one idea to another. Its puts a string of ideas into context and makes it easier to understand.
1. Do a broad survey of the entirety of the book - briefly skim it to have an understanding of the content at a whole.
2. While speeding through the book, note whatever sticks out to you and jumps out to you immediately. This will vary for people, as we're all sensitive to different types of information.
3. After your inspectional reading and your very quick survey, this is when you can return to the book to reread it in a more analytical fashion. What will happen is all of the content you're reading will eventually congeal with the few trivia pieces you highlighted. It'll start to make sense!
4. When things start to come to light and you're being bombarded by lightbulb moments aplenty, begin the note taking process in a flow state fashion. Start with the important trivias you initially highlighted and start to fill in the gaps, in your own words and your own thoughts.
Rather than memorizing every single piece of detail you read and trying to cram it into your cranium and overwhelm yourself, you'll instead have a conceptual and elaborative understanding of the topic rather than a surface level maintenance understanding, where all you're able to do is recite facts that you care for and understand little of.
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I love how I identify myself with you and how you answer my questions about knowledge.
4:43 map
7:46 sub chapters
to have a map in your brain with backbones that connect rhings which helps u understand cohesively
I am a grown-ass-man and I'm finally getting a quick and easily digestible explanation on how I should have been studying by a kid. Dear god, fuck my schools.
God bless you
Hard same!
We all feel embarrassed he’s so young.
You made me savour every aspect of making sense of what we read; from building up the skeleton nodes to diving into the sea of facts; and connecting the dots to make sense of every piece of information in a conceptual way.
This video is prudent piece to actually know what we read.
Enthusiastic explanation of the SQ3R-method: survey, question, read, recite, review.
That analytical reading he is referring to can also be implemented into SQ3R - Survey, question, read, recite, review
Dr. Marty Lobdell
first time ive ever been excited to binge watch a youtuber's videos
As an engineering student one of the things that I do is highlight while I read, write it down and then using that information to make a dynamic sheet with maps and different colors and diagrams and so on.
I need to do this. I was that typical smart kid in high school who just absorbed info like a sponge. I didn't really need to take notes, but I did mainly to get teachers off my back. And then first year of college, I was lucky. Out of all my STEM classes, I only managed one B (literally 3% from being an A, very irksome) and the rest were As. Granted, I didn't study. But that was the first year of really just fundamentals. Engineering isn't easy and I honestly am kinda afraid I'll fail. Comments like yours gives me insite to what I need to do, so thanks
@@spencerlenoir6987 yeah, I was that kind of "smart kid" at school, but eventually, when the subjects became more complex, I had a lot of trouble to adapt, because I hadn't learned HOW to actually study. I think this should be part of the school's curriculum - learning how to learn.
@@julianapegas2043 exactly!!! there are just so many things school should have but rather choose to ignore
as a math person, I've always been scared of history and english because I'd have to know these facts and stories and connections, this, that, etc. But I would have never thought that I would miss my AP US History class as much as I had the moment I finished my AP exam at home, the last moment that I would do anything related to US history (for a while at least). I think over that specific year in that course, I learned exactly what you are saying, Waldun. Its an incredible feeling, and its so applicable in any area of learning. It's such a natural way to learn, and it is so effective. I believe that this is the right way to learn. Well, at least I believe that's the only reason why I actually ended up enjoying APUSH :)
Interesting. Similar to what I have developed over the years. I find I can get a good understanding of nearly any non-fiction book to which I have an interest in about 4/5 hours. Shorter for smaller books.
My approach is below. At the end of it you have all of the book's concepts knowledge mapped in Obsidian(or solution of your choice), a marked up book that you can reference and a summary in your words in your reading journal. I found that I can go back to a book read years prior and get up to speed on its contents within a few minutes by just skimming Obsidian and reading my summary.
1) Read the entire book quickly making a note of anything you think maybe important. I write a star by the paragraph. You now have an overall view of the landscape and probably the main concepts.
2) Go through the book but only reading the stared paragraphs. Determine if they are important to what you understand from the initial reading and highlight only those passages in the paragraph.
3) Go through the book one last time only reading highlighted passages and summarizing each in your own words along with connecting them with other ideas. I use Obsidian for this.
4) Finally, write by hand your summary of the book along with your insights etc. I put this in a large Moleskin journal conntaining summaries of all books I have read. Then put it in Obsidian.
Timings: Step 1 probably a couple of hours or so. Step 2 is around an hour. Step 3 is another hour for your summaries and an hour for Obsidian. Step 4 is a half hour since by know your mind has thoroughly processed the book.
1. Broad inspection...quick reading. Inspectional reading. just highlighting stuff that jumps in your face. only highlight the things that give you the lightning bulb moments....or instead of highlighting make little notes. These will be your anchor points to make the connections
2. analytical reading. where we make cohesive connections. read for little details. the details will now actually start to make sense.
3. take notes in a flow pattern. the subtitle will be the highlighted points. and follow your thought processes. the inspectional reading is the backbone and attaching the trivia to the backbone.
now, these notes will be like a representation of your thought processes.
Cutie with knowledge and mindfulness, cannot ask for a better youtuber out there!
I've learned so much about taking notes from this video (and the previous). Thank you so much for the invaluable information you provide for us learners. I really, really appreciate you.
Hey R.C. Waldun,
Love your videos and love the fact you're willing to take time off your day to share with us your valuable knowledge, but I would like to ask you.
What would your advice be to teens ( or anyone ) in general, who struggles in trying to read a book especially when it comes to an era of full of distractions like social media, video games, tv etc..?
1: find a book you actually care about.
2: read for a period distraction free. At first maybe 20 minutes a session, but the time will eventually stretch and extend. (My maximum focus is 3 hours a sitting)
3: develop a habit for reading. Small bits every single day. Overtime you will love it more.
4: just have fun. Books will become apart of your life later down the track.
If I may, for the sake of people watching this video and reading comments late like me.
Unless you're in a career that is directly related to social media, quit (quit social media or at least reduce it to the bare minimum that keeps you in touch with people you would actually call or text on a regular basis). There's nothing to be had by social media that could not be achieved by other means that are richer and stemmed to real life interactions.
@@programSense UA-cam is social media
@@programSense youtube is the only social media i spend time on but along with the very helpful and educational videos that i watch come other junk. I can’t quit UA-cam.
@@myrtila yeahh same, even though i learn a lot about my interests on UA-cam and gain new knowledge, I still watch tOnS of useless distracting stuff here, and it's taking up most of my time
I was reaching the bottom at college bc of online classes and my lack of motivation, I'm "procrastinating" binge-watching your videos, and tbh, YOU JUST HELPED ME SAVE MY SEMESTER:) Thank you so much.
bruh why is this meeeeeee.
1. skim
2. scout
3. create backbone (structure, main points)
4. add hair follicles (dates, facts, evidence, minute details)
Something that helps me is looking at whatever I’m learning as a FACT OF LIFE. It’s not some abstract idea, it is a concrete fact of the world I live in. I’ve found integrating whatever I’m learning into my day to day life makes it more concrete.
"I haven't done much scouting myself... because I am nerd." 😀 Love that. By tge way great video. Helped me a lot, because I can't memorise things. The only way something stays in my head is when it's connected enough to things I actually care about.
Hi, I'm Chilean, I study architecture and most of the time I have trouble reading fact-based books. But after I watched this, I'm saved. Thank you very much and Thanks for making this quite easy-understanding even for non native english speakers :D THAAANKSSS
R.C. Waldun is gifted with rare eloquence, spellbinding eloquence
Read the first chapter from your book!
Where have you been all my life? This helps me a lot! Thank you!
I learned how to read and take notes only later much in life after studying music (viola/piano) for decades.
In learning a new piece of music, first you do a visual scan to take note of key signatures, time signature, repeats, etc, in other words the skeleton of the piece. Second, you read through it straight through and take mental notes of the areas that need more study/practice. Third, you practice the sections independently, then in context of the phrase. And fourthly, you start working on putting the entire piece together. Steps 2-4 are frequently repeated for mastery.
This is so well explained, I've just binge-watched your channel its so helpful and good for just living my every day life in studies! Seriously i want friends like you 😂
Thank you for being consistently uploading videos for us. It really helps me to understand more how to read these books. Thank you so much💕
This all seems so complicated and hard trying to tackle it from a memorizing standpoint, but the way you spelled everything out for us make it all so simple. It honestly makes me feel stupid for not realizing that fact based material can be learned best as a concept instead of trivia.
glad I could help. :)
The scout analogy is beautiful. Thank you.
That is great advice, find anchors in a first run through, then come back. In graduate school we learned to skim by reading the abstract, first and last line of every paragraph, and then conclusion. But calling those things and the other things that catch your eye "anchors" is a helpful way to conceptualize it.
This is very helpful. I think this kind of content is an example of how edifying UA-cam videos are capable of being.
Can someone reccomend more channel like this? I badly need it ❤️
Survey and questioning always works like magic
This makes so much sense. Man, thank you fr
He's better than all of my high school and elementary school teachers. Listen and take notes. He will save you aggravarion.
What jumps out at you... yes I agree as I unintentionally found this to be true when perusing thousands of English texts and articles in my doctoral research. Every word is not read but the landscape is the first stage for sure.
I agree,one must get the overview of the subject first ,find the nodal points and weave the overall web to make it palatable .😊
the fact that your video have less to no cuts is showing how incredible you are ;)
Where have you been all of my reading life?
I usually put these long videos at 2xspeed.
This time I didn't noticed that I watched a complete 18mint video.
Keep up with the great content man!
I have completed in my master degree in history .I m from India and here this subject is look down upon.I have recently get to know about your and instant I feel like connected with you . I wish to meet you one day 😌and have a worthwhile conversation.
I could listen to you all day
I lI'm also an intuitive and conceptual learner. I need to see the overall picture of things to understand!! This advice is just wonderful~!
so i know that as people get old, their ability for conceptual learning increases and the ability to memorize facts is decreasing. damn i must be a 100 years old judging on my learning experience.. i think about that like every week
I read but....
Light novels/mangas/newsletter and articles
And I guess anything is good for reading until and unless you are having fun it is helping you in any way....like these help me in improving my English vocabulary and to acquire some new phrases.
10:11 inspectional reading
15:58 -16:21 That's what notes actually are for. I never thought about it so deeply. Thanks man :)
The thing with the repetition method that schools like to teach all the time is that as much as it CAN make me memorize something, the moment I do the test or presentation I memorized it for, all of that information spills out of me in the fraction of a second after I'm done, my brain deems it as useless immediately and trashes the information
This advice is amazing! Such original points that I’ve never heard before - thank you so much!
You explained this so much better than my teacher, thank you so much. Not only does this help my grades but it also helps me appreciate the book more. :)
This boy should do podcasts! Really enjoy listening his life experiences and advice. When are you going to bless us explaining some of the main philosophy bases?
One thing that's really helped me with history is to split history into broader global "eras" to make it easier to get a general sense of events of that time. Don't just choose a single event, choose a 10-20 year period then research what happened across different countries in that time. There will be tonnes of contextual overlap between events and countries which will give you anchors to latch on to for your knowledge as a whole.
Then you can zoom in and better know certain events because they are surrounded by historical context that you're aware of.
I.e reading about Europe in the 1820s? Well I know the whole of Europe just got through being blown up by Napoleon for example, you'll see signs of that in the history you're reading. Reading about the late 1800s to early 1900s? (very fascinating era for me) WW1 is on the horizon, Tesla is blowing minds, (btw I HIGHLY recommend his book "My Inventions and other writings", it's simply amazing watching his mind think. A real visionary, he precisely predicts pocket cell phones in 1905). The early 1800s, the Napoleonic wars were occuring and a lot of Europe was at or preparing for war.
The 1850s, the American civil war was brewing and the western expansion to places like the texas-mexico border was happening, it was near lawless and had a lot of bloody battles between indians and scalp hunters/soldiers.. At that same time in Russia many classic russian authors were writing great books like Tolstoy and Dostoevsky.
Just my opinion.
As you learn more about a period in time, the more context and knowledge you'll have when learning about events that came out of or gave birth to those events. History is dope and highly enlightening.
Yeah maaaaaaaaan 😍 I really want to find a way to take notes--which is a thing that I cannot help, cause I need to let out all of that enthusiasm and geekiness in some way, and the way I do it is taking notes, jotting down stuff, highlight, circling, drawing little symbols on the margins 😍😍 BUT if it ain't working, it ain't working, so I will definitely give this a try. Perhaps it's just what I was looking for, whether it leads to another path or not. 🍀 I got my "The Highly Sensitive Person" book today, sooo.. *not so evil laughter*
Thanks, haven't tried it yet. But i was literally thinking of a method like this i just couldn't figure out how it's ought to be done. You know, like you said, not just memorization for tests but to observe information and knowledge. And you have put it in to words. I appreciate you a lot and 'God' bless you.
Fantastic, I’ve intuitively done this to a point and your perspective he helped me understand what I’ve been doing.
This channel is a find! One of few actually helpful channels on UA-cam ❤️
i think the most important step was using the knowledge - in this context the text
ppl tend to forget putting out the knowledge out of your brain rather than just collecting facts is important for understanding and the memory
Reminds me of what Mortimer refers to as Syntopical Reading. A level above Analytical Reading.
Your content is GOLDD
wow this channel and the content is so precious.
please continue doing what you are doing.
i will let these sink all in.
thank you, means a lot
Finally a channel which discusses non-fiction reading too... Don't get me wrong, I also like fiction.
Man you are an actual genius! This is gonna be so helpful for me thanks so much and God Bless you , kind sir !!
My biggest problem is needing to do rote memorization before I could begin to do elaborative learning. Once everything is in my head, I analyze and pick everything apart while washing dishes, taking a dump, or in between sets in the gym.
Everyone of us has an evolving 'world map' (or mapamundi) in our heads. That map guides our particular philosophy. Someone's map may cover more details, or different aspects, of 'the world' from another's. Without such a map we would be idiots, and could not function in life.
If we are a product of what we consume... Then sir, your content is what I intend to use as a map to better reading practices. Thanks for sharing these quality insights.
I would like to request you one thing.
Please make a dedicated playlist about the reading and books etc. if possible because it makes the viewer difficult to scroll down and identify the parts...
this is the best video on learning
This explains how teachers make powerpoints. I always remember being annoyed at not knowing how much space to leave in my lecture notes under each “backbone” thing :p
More people needs to see this
I'm glad to be here!!!! Thanks for the sharing, it helps me a lot to understand my learning method since I've been searching for it!👍
Thank you very much! Your tips and insights are mind-blowing! I just find your channel out and I think you deserve more subscribers.
Thankyou R.C. Waldun!!!
thank you SO MUCH, you have no ideia how much i need this
hey would you please make videos about SAT reading?? I literally watch your reading techniques videos just to do better on the SAT. but the thing is most of your reading techniques videos (if not all of them) are about whole books, but the SAT reading section consists of passages.
So i'd really appreciate you making a video about how to tackle such passages and get the most information out of it in the shortest time possible. thanks
Definitely will try!!❤️ Thank you
Tip: your content will age better (retain value) if you link to other videos you refer to. "Last week" was easy to find 2 years ago but less easy to check out now 😊
wow you are wise, this is the same advice from alot of older professors too like jpeterson or smth
This channel is amazing❤️
I'm so glad I found your channel. I love this kind of videos 💙
15:30 I strongly agree!!! 👏
excellent explanation.very helpful. Thank You.
Now forth I'll be looking up to you!
Thanks, this was helpful.
One thing however remains ambiguous. In the section on analytical reading it is not clear what the backbone or structure is exactly. You gave the example of how you ought to structure your notes on the french revolution but is this structure intuited from the general structure of the book or is it based on the highlights from the first stage? For example, its not clear to me that i would highlight that Robespierre was a radical Jacobin because i already know it. Should I aim to take notes on what the book is trying to tell me (for good or for ill) or should i aim at pulling out what i find interesting?
This is doubly difficult because we also don’t know what we find interesting until we actually understand the text. You gave the example of The Wealth of Nations as a fact based book when it is really a theoretical book. Are we trying to understand Adam Smith or are were just trying to get out of it what we can and ignore what we don’t (like parasites!). You published this video 5 years ago so im sure you’ve developed this method. I’d be really interested in your thoughts and where you are at it now.
Hi. Started following your channel today and have been watching your videos since. I'm interested in literature, philosophy, history, political theory and sociology and I am good at writing but I always find myself doubting whatever I write and end up getting anxious. I take a good start but am not able to go beyond a 100 words or so. This started only a while ago. I read a lot, I try writing but it seems that I've lost confidence. Do you ever feel the same? What would you recommend to gain the confidence back?
Would be very grateful if you reply!
Again, i love your videos
such a great teacher
i feel like this is it the quality side of learning that has been lost in the current test and result based education system
I love this video. This is just what I was looking for