@Architect and everyone else... How do you study/learn?

[boho]

Wondering how you guys self study/learn from school. Do you take notes while reading the book, do you just work on the problems, do you highlight, do you just read and think about it?


I keep taking copious amounts of notes whenever going on to self-learn something and it makes the process tedious and boring... is taking notes useless for intp's when self learning?

Please let me know what you guys do

 

[Haim]

the most effective way for me is to set a problem for myself, and while I try to solve it I use the web to learn things I need.

 

[Puffy]

I don't think my way of studying from books is best, or as efficient as it could be, and would be interested to hear other's strategies.

I tend to skim a book first. I come from a humanities research background and from all the reading that requires came to understand over time that it's not necessary to read the entirety of every essay or document I'm studying. A more time effective strategy is to first extract what it's about quickly from skimming, and if I think it's worth reading then study it in more detail.

1) look at its references, index, or bibliography -- what are the main existing ideas from which the material has been synthesised? (Maybe the source material would be more useful for me? Maybe I already know the source material and the book might not be worth studying?)
2) skim over chapter titles and headings of chapters to get an overarching sense of what the book covers. Read the first and last paragraph of chapters if necessary. Try to identify key words that summarise the core concepts of the book, from skimming or from googling the resource.

If I'm engaged, I tend to write as I'm reading, ideally mapping out and synthesising what I'm reading in relation to knowledge and sources I've already encountered, or jotting notes any time a passage provokes me. Writing is less engaging if it's simply regurgitating what's on the page. Reading (input) is passive, writing (output) is active. I don't see reading, or learning, as an act of passively absorbing information but actively co-creating & synthesising understanding.

I try to write a short summary of the text in my own words once I've finished studying, identifying the key core concepts. I then put the summary in my annotated bibliography (if it's related to an overarching research project) and hyperlink it to other related resources of my research in the bibliography, to aid in mapping out the connections.

 

[EditorOne]

Notes always helped me pin things down because the process of converting material into my own words and sentences kind of forced an understanding of the material. This is even at the very basic level, like spelling. I can futz around trying to spell a new, unfamiliar word like Peleliu, or an oddball like hemorrhage, but once I look it up and write it down, it's mine forever. But everyone's mileage will vary on that.

I surprised myself recently (well, within a few years) by accidentally discovering I could get ahold of some things faster by reading material out loud instead of in my head. I think it might have been the small desire to read expressively that made me approach the words differently, a subconscious attempt to extract emotional value so I could reproduce it with my voice.

Some stuff is much easier to learn by watching, then doing, than learn by studying, like carpentry and other hands-on activities.

I believe that if you can find a willing victim, explaining content to others is a really good way to learn it. You more or less impose a subtle framework of "You must make someone else understand this" on top of the material, which lets you slide into mastering the material yourself.

Hope that helps.

 

[QuickTwist]

God, I still misspell the same god damn words over and over.

 

[Architect]

I don't learn from lectures. Too slow, too little information, they attempt to simplify a subject but I can't get anything from that (exception being some light material that I'm peripherally interested in - like watching a Nova episode about early humans. In this case it's entertainment). So I don't take detailed notes from lectures, I just capture a list of their topics, as it gives insight into what they find important which comes in use for getting ready for the test, and what to focus on.

I learn from textbooks, manuals and the internet. Always been this way, I like nothing better than a densely written manual or textbook. I'll jump around and dive in to understand the topic. I'll use paper to take random notes, make drawings etc, but it's just temporary notes to aid the discovery process, nothing permanent. Once I figure it out it's in my brain so I don't generally need notes, except if the details are important I'll sometimes have those written down (e.g. formulas). Cheat sheets - I like cheat sheets, one page maximum.

The exception was once I took an AI class where it was all done from lectures, they didn't have a textbook. So there I was forced to take detailed notes. Shrug ... it worked, I learned a lot and that style did work for me by brute force, but it's definitely not preferred.

By the way Dario Nardi has found that INTP's and ISTP's use the listening part of the brain the least of any type. Like basically not at all, which explains my indifference to lectures.

So basically when learning anything I come to understand it. It's not unlike what Glenn Gould said about practicing - he never did it. He said that once he understood a piece he could play it. Same for me, once I understand a piece (piano music) I can play it, and when I understand a topic I can use it.

 

[TheManBeyond]

i never payed attention to lectures but i found out after a long time that if you are focused and have a good professor you skip a lot of studying before the examn, like when you watch something that interests you on youtube everything goes much more smoothly, the u only have to read and underline key things
i dunno about mathematics, or physics, i guess just doing a lot of exercises, that was the way i used to do it when i had to deal with them, i sucked at physics but maths were fine, it seemed everything was more straightforward and structured

 

[Grayman]

No notes, no memorization, no listening, no redundant homework, read a good book while the teacher boringly lectures

When home, Read, experiment with new problem, observe results, create/find your own problems to solve to test your new knowledge of the system.

I let myself get distracted by a new thingsI learn as I start looking up things in relation to it and in turn I retain the original information since all the new things I looked up are related or based on it.


Also for many of answers to a test you can just put "ask siri" or "google it you lazy fck" lests not fill my head with the limitless volume of information the world has to offer! A++ extra credit for honesty

 

[QuickTwist]

I don't learn from lectures. Too slow, too little information, they attempt to simplify a subject but I can't get anything from that (exception being some light material that I'm peripherally interested in - like watching a Nova episode about early humans. In this case it's entertainment). So I don't take detailed notes from lectures, I just capture a list of their topics, as it gives insight into what they find important which comes in use for getting ready for the test, and what to focus on.

I learn from textbooks, manuals and the internet. Always been this way, I like nothing better than a densely written manual or textbook. I'll jump around and dive in to understand the topic. I'll use paper to take random notes, make drawings etc, but it's just temporary notes to aid the discovery process, nothing permanent. Once I figure it out it's in my brain so I don't generally need notes, except if the details are important I'll sometimes have those written down (e.g. formulas). Cheat sheets - I like cheat sheets, one page maximum.

The exception was once I took an AI class where it was all done from lectures, they didn't have a textbook. So there I was forced to take detailed notes. Shrug ... it worked, I learned a lot and that style did work for me by brute force, but it's definitely not preferred.

By the way Dario Nardi has found that INTP's and ISTP's use the listening part of the brain the least of any type. Like basically not at all, which explains my indifference to lectures.

So basically when learning anything I come to understand it. It's not unlike what Glenn Gould said about practicing - he never did it. He said that once he understood a piece he could play it. Same for me, once I understand a piece (piano music) I can play it, and when I understand a topic I can use it.

I like lectures cuz then I don't have to read.

 

[HDINTP]

Just try to enjoy it and sort of "live it" Just reading books and taking notes makes me fall asleep fast I realized. So yes try to more think about it. Basically I try to handle it internally instead of externally as much as I can...

As for lectures - Like them often - Great to get idea of what is kind of important in given subject these things are usually repeated throughout the course over and over again... Then again I do not like idea of "covering only parts important for test" to be clear...

If I have to resort to a book then I try to find one that fits me in a way that I like Author's "way of telling the story" so to speak...

 

[EyeSeeCold]

I like to "break" the lesson, if that makes sense. I'll read / hear something and then try to extrapolate it into a new situation, perhaps something current or relevant to my interests. This allows me to see the variables in play. Then I'll reach out and try to get confirmation on my ideas and see where I'm right and wrong.

For strictly lectures, if the class hours are long or too intense I'll just take as many notes as I can and review them later in my own time. Playing catch up would just make me worse off cause I'd not understand half the lecture and would've been too busy to take notes.

Definitely take any tutoring services that are provided at your school. I think 90% of anything can be learned if someone could put in the time to explain in a way that you understand. The problem is college typically moves fast and the student:teacher ratio doesn't allow for in-depth clarification. On the same idea, you can visit your instructor during office hours.