Video summary

Ranking The Best And Worst Studying Methods of All Time

Main summary

Key takeaways

Wellness and Self-Improvement

Key wellness + studying / productivity takeaways (from the video)

Best / highest-yield study methods

Sleep (S tier)

  • Prioritize enough sleep to recharge cognitive capacity.
  • Sleep helps reconsolidate memory, so what you studied “sticks.”
  • Mentioned: REM sleep as the time when the brain “reconfigures neurons.”

Practice questions (S tier)

  • Use problem sets / assignments / tutorial questions as the core learning tool.
  • Benefits claimed:
    • Forces active thinking.
    • Builds exam-like recall through similarity to test questions.

Past papers (S tier)

  • Do under timed exam conditions (countdown timer, no notes).
  • Benefit claimed:
    • Simulates the real exam → reduces exam anxiety.
  • Rule of thumb repeated in the video:
    • “If you practice like you play, you will play like you practice.”

Space repetition (S tier)

  • Treated as a scheduling hack: retest over spaced intervals to combat forgetting.
  • Referenced concept: the forgetting curve, made “flatter” via repeated retrieval.
  • Implementation style (personal):
    • Not necessarily a strict calendar—revisit when you feel you’re about to forget.
  • Mentioned research source/book:
    • A Mind for Numbers (Barbara Oakley), recommending ~5–10 spaced reps.

Strong but more situational

Cramming (A tier)

  • Better if done earlier (about 2–3 weeks before exams in university).
  • If done 1–2 days before, it’s less effective (still “something you have to do,” but not ideal).
  • Rationale:
    • Creates urgency and compresses study to high-yield content.
    • Lets you identify weak chapters earlier and fix them before the exam.

ChatGPT / ChatGPT (A tier)

  • Useful when teachers/lectures are weak, but only if used correctly:
    • Don’t use it to learn from scratch (e.g., asking it to summarize notes).
    • First do the hard work: read/understand lecture notes.
    • Then use it to explain parts you still don’t understand.
  • Bonus claimed:
    • Can generate practice tests (especially on newer/pro versions).

Useful depending on subject type

Flashcards using spaced repetition tools (RemNote / Anki)

  • Best for declarative subjects (facts/memory):
    • Humanities, biology, geography, medicine.
  • Less suitable for procedural/problem-solving subjects (math/physics/programming/CS), because:
    • Flashcards can’t teach how to handle new variations (e.g., doubly vs singly linked lists).
  • Tiering described as “between B and A depending on the subject level.”
  • Tools mentioned:
    • RemNote (personal success in A-levels; used in high school)
    • Anki (noted as used by top students in medicine)

Caffeine (B tier, personal note: C tier)

  • Claimed general benefits: increased awareness and concentration.
  • Personal drawback:
    • The speaker is highly sensitive—caffeine interferes with sleep, so for them it’s less helpful.

Music (B tier)

  • Can help in noisy environments.
  • Claimed limitations:
    • In very quiet settings, the speaker doesn’t use it.
    • Music with lyrics may interfere with reading due to “subvocalizing” / competing processing.
  • Recommended type (as per video claim):
    • Classical instrumental

Lower-value / actively discouraged methods

Pomodoro technique (C tier)

  • Critique: classic 25/5 cycles may be too short to reach deep focus/flow.
  • Breaks (5 minutes) may interrupt flow before real gains occur.
  • Speaker argues it sometimes “worked” in high school when problems were quicker, but not in university.

Fineman / Feynman technique (C tier generally; A tier if used correctly)

  • Not bad if you already have mastery.
  • But day-to-day, the speaker views it as impractical:
    • Explaining continuously without ongoing mastery isn’t efficient.
  • Preferred use-case described:
    • Study alone first, then explain one practice solution to a friend if needed.

Lectures (C tier)

  • Skip if lecturers are poor; instead:
    • Read lecture notes and learn independently.
  • Exception (caveat):
    • Attend the class right before midterms/finals, because professors use it to explain exam structure and testing scope.

Rewatching lectures / rereading notes (D tier)

  • Labeled passive and “pointless.”
  • Argument:
    • Your brain learns what it considers important; the best way to trigger that is active testing, not repeated passive exposure.

“Pretty notes” (D tier)

  • Critique: beautifying notes (colors, stickers, etc.) takes emphasis away from learning.
  • Recommendation:
    • Skip “pretty notes”; do practice questions instead.
  • The speaker even suggests:
    • Possibly don’t take notes at all (in favor of practice).

Presenters or sources mentioned

  • Matthew (the video speaker/presenter)
  • Barbara Oakley (referenced via A Mind for Numbers)
  • RemNote (flashcard software mentioned)
  • Anki (flashcard software mentioned)
  • ChatGPT (used as an AI study helper mentioned)

Original video