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The article touches on something that helped me excel at university: I consistently scored high grades, but compared to others around me I seemed put in less ti

The article touches on something that helped me excel at university: I consistently scored high grades, but compared to others around me I seemed put in less time and effort. However, I don’t think I was significantly more capable or brighter than the majority. After spending several years studying alongside classmates, I do think the way I studied and ‘learnt to learn’ was quite different to the status quo. Like the article mentions, being able to answer every question means that you’re not pushing yourself. I spent the majority of my time attempting questions that I didn’t think I’d be able to do, while many classmates would spend their time attempting questions they thought they would know. It forced me to constantly ‘solve hard problems’, and become better at doing so. A lot of the time I couldn’t successfully answer the questions I attempted, but in doing so I’d learn a lot anyway. The article content is great, but I’d add that practice is an essential part of learning to solve hard problems. If you’re studying too, I’d really recommend the learning technique I used, at least to some degree - it will help you become a quick learner and good problem solver.

applecrazy 8y ago
Thanks for the advice. I go to a top500 HS and all my peers seem to spend half the effort to get higher grades than me, and it seems I need to push myself harder in terms of the difficulty of the mathematics practice I do. Side note: I used to think that the solution was expensive tutoring, but after attending a few tutoring sessions with little benefit, I slowly realized that tutoring (at least in my area) is for the unmotivated student who needs to be pushed by someone else. Just wanted to share my experience and say that it’s almost never the expensive prep classes that make a successful student.
- jordansmithnz 8y ago
  No worries - I should add that I didn’t attempt problems that were too difficult either, e.g. if you’ve got absolutely no idea where to start then it’s not a valuable use of time. All the best with your study.
- CBLT 8y ago
  Funny thing about how I became a math major: I skipped precalculus in HS. All my peers that were as bright (or more) in my school were turned off by the year-long deathmarch of pointless bullshit[0] while I was taking more intuitive classes like Calculus and Linear Algebra. We both challenged ourselves, I just took the more fun challenges. [0] https://socratic.org/questions/how-do-you-evaluate-sin-pi-5 https://socratic.org/questions/how-do-you-evaluate-sin-pi-5
  - applecrazy 8y ago
    Wow, this is exactly what I’m thinking. The advanced precalculus course at my school is actually harder than the college level calculus course and has much lower enrollment to the point where the course is being phased out.
- saagarjha 8y ago
  > I go to a top500 HS and all my peers seem to spend half the effort to get higher grades than me Let me assure you, this probably isn't the case: they've put in a significant effort as well, except they did it much earlier than you. This allows them to coast to schoolwork, since it's all easier versions of things they've done years ago–but they're probably working just as hard as you to get ahead in more advanced material.
arijo 8y ago
Thanks for sharing your learning approach - could you elaborate a little more with some examples on how you tackled difficult subjects?
dood 8y ago
Make a Mess, Clean it Up! http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Make_a_Mess,_Clean_it_Up!.txt http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Make_a_Mess,_Clea...
ItsMe000001 8y ago
A good way to learn is to become a TA. A few years ago I took an MIT chemistry class on edX. I had done zero chemistry since highschool, and even then I only learned for the tests - I knew I'd study CS so I was not particularly interested in learning any more chemistry then I already knew. Whenever I was done with all the week's problems I scoured the (very active) forum for questions of other students. I tried to solve as many as I could, doing a lot (really a lot) of "Google-research", so I got to read lots of sources other than just the course. Then I presented the answer with as many sources as possible, and as well explained as I could. After three weeks I was made a TA, and I remained the only one to the end of that course. The only difference between me and any other student was that I tried solving problems, and using the ones other students had was the "cheapest" way to get enough of them, and also helps to stay on topic and not get distracted by doing too much too far outside of the current course. I used that same method in a few other courses (and was offered the TA role a few more times but declined). I hope that makes up for my failure as a TA/teacher back at university, where I got to lead a "CS work group" (not sure how to translate the original German word) at a local high-school - and saw my class dwindle from ~30 to 2 kids before I quit... teaching is hard!

applecrazy 8y ago

Thanks for the advice. I go to a top500 HS and all my peers seem to spend half the effort to get higher grades than me, and it seems I need to push myself harder in terms of the difficulty of the mathematics practice I do. Side note: I used to think that the solution was expensive tutoring, but after attending a few tutoring sessions with little benefit, I slowly realized that tutoring (at least in my area) is for the unmotivated student who needs to be pushed by someone else. Just wanted to share my experience and say that it’s almost never the expensive prep classes that make a successful student.

jordansmithnz 8y ago
No worries - I should add that I didn’t attempt problems that were too difficult either, e.g. if you’ve got absolutely no idea where to start then it’s not a valuable use of time. All the best with your study.
CBLT 8y ago
Funny thing about how I became a math major: I skipped precalculus in HS. All my peers that were as bright (or more) in my school were turned off by the year-long deathmarch of pointless bullshit[0] while I was taking more intuitive classes like Calculus and Linear Algebra. We both challenged ourselves, I just took the more fun challenges. [0] https://socratic.org/questions/how-do-you-evaluate-sin-pi-5 https://socratic.org/questions/how-do-you-evaluate-sin-pi-5
- applecrazy 8y ago
  Wow, this is exactly what I’m thinking. The advanced precalculus course at my school is actually harder than the college level calculus course and has much lower enrollment to the point where the course is being phased out.
saagarjha 8y ago
> I go to a top500 HS and all my peers seem to spend half the effort to get higher grades than me Let me assure you, this probably isn't the case: they've put in a significant effort as well, except they did it much earlier than you. This allows them to coast to schoolwork, since it's all easier versions of things they've done years ago–but they're probably working just as hard as you to get ahead in more advanced material.

arijo 8y ago

Thanks for sharing your learning approach - could you elaborate a little more with some examples on how you tackled difficult subjects?

dood 8y ago

Make a Mess, Clean it Up! http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Make_a_Mess,_Clean_it_Up!.txt http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Make_a_Mess,_Clea...

ItsMe000001 8y ago

A good way to learn is to become a TA. A few years ago I took an MIT chemistry class on edX. I had done zero chemistry since highschool, and even then I only learned for the tests - I knew I'd study CS so I was not particularly interested in learning any more chemistry then I already knew. Whenever I was done with all the week's problems I scoured the (very active) forum for questions of other students. I tried to solve as many as I could, doing a lot (really a lot) of "Google-research", so I got to read lots of sources other than just the course. Then I presented the answer with as many sources as possible, and as well explained as I could. After three weeks I was made a TA, and I remained the only one to the end of that course. The only difference between me and any other student was that I tried solving problems, and using the ones other students had was the "cheapest" way to get enough of them, and also helps to stay on topic and not get distracted by doing too much too far outside of the current course. I used that same method in a few other courses (and was offered the TA role a few more times but declined). I hope that makes up for my failure as a TA/teacher back at university, where I got to lead a "CS work group" (not sure how to translate the original German word) at a local high-school - and saw my class dwindle from ~30 to 2 kids before I quit... teaching is hard!