How talking to a dead cat got me top grades
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 ก.ย. 2024
- I'm not crazy. Really.
In this video I talk about my theory of learning, which is that truly effective learning and revision takes place in a cycle:
1. Precondition yourself to learn
2. Learn new material
3. Process new material
4. Evaluate your learning experience
You progress from steps one to four, and then use step four to inform how you approach step one in the future. It's like the circle of life, but with more revision headaches.
What I was doing by talking through my days and plans with my cats was exactly the last step in the cycle - just in slightly esoteric form. But if something is stupid and works it's not so stupid, right?
College Info Geek: / electrickeye91
--------- II ---------
I am Simon, a fourth year PhD candidate at the University of Exeter. I upload videos on bits of science which are relevant to what I do, and sometimes just because they're really cool.
Vlogs from Oxford students - / oxvlog
My twitter - / simonoxfphys
My facebook - / youtubesimon
My insta - / simonoxfphys
My goodreads - / simonoxfphys
Thanks to Vlogbrothers for their sponsorship of this video. Money from the Foundation to Decrease Worldsuck contributed to equipment used in this video.
Dedicated to Henry and Snowy. Love you always.
Did you say you had to, CATegorise new material? :D
This guy wins.
:)
I think he also mentioned something about learning new MEOWterial
I think that pun was just PURRfect
furr real though
[I admit I may have googled cat puns, sorry]
To be honest, I expect this behaviour out of someone who doesn't like tea
And here i was thinking this was going to be about Schrödinger's cat. Well... maybe it was actually both wrong and right until the exact moment I watched the video :)
Thomas Bjerre Bojsen heyyyyy
I like what you did there. ;)
Clever joke
Thomas Bjerre Bojsen Me too! x)
only smarts will get this..:)
I suppose this means the cat was both dead and alive until you found out.
oooo a bit of shrodingers cat. i like it
Ooooo Superposition
Schrodinger : Schrodinger's cat ::: Simon: Henry. ( Every hero has a cat behind his success).
I truly absorb myself in studying and material, especially in the run up to exams. The thing that helped me was using an MP3 player to voice record notes or areas I found challenging. Then on the 50min bus journey in the morning, instead of listening to music, I would listen to my notes. I think if you amalgamate your written notes and diagrams, with audio techniques it really helps. Especially when you record your notes on an MP3 player, you must condense the information into an understandable format...almost as if you are lecturing yourself.
I love this idea!
I did the same when studying for my master's and I totally agree with you that the fact that one has to condense the information really helps the learning process. Also I found it quite enjoyable and not tedious at all. When listening to my notes I'd take slow jogs/walks in the park and forest etc. Exercising and studying at the same time? That's value.
daibhidh92 8
I am doing something similar : playing it while sleeping and sometimes while eating.
(but my can't help to notice how much my voice sucks)
What an awesome video, I kind of expected you to talk about Schrödinger when I saw "dead cat" in the title but this was even better, I might start talking to my cat.
I thought the same!
Filip Vlcan same thought!! xd
It 's going to sound strange but I actually do a prayer sometimes before I start studying. That way, I put all my efforts into doing something the best I can. If you are not a believer it might sound nuts. However, i can tell by experience that it works.
Teresa Pérez de Rojas it works honestly
Teresa Pérez de Rojas I do that too! and it really works :)
Teresa Pérez de Rojas it doesn't sound crazy to a non believer like me. it really works for a lot of people but I just can't do it:((
No, dude, you're not crazy. Cat people rule! Hearing this story basically tells me everything I'd need to know about you to evaluate you as to what type of human you might be -- one of the good guys, I can tell you that much. I recently discovered your channel. School was many more years in my past, but I'm finding your channel quite interesting and can apply much of what you say to everyday life. Thank you and good fortunes to you, Mr. Clark.
That's basically what I do all the time! Well, I was repeating everything to myself instead of a dead cat (... I mean, I'm not crazy after all)
In my opinion, the most important thing when learning is that at some point, you just put all your materials away, take a little break and then write down everything you remember.
I know it's quite Simple and Probably an obvious thing to do but it gives you a great overview about what you already know and what you still need to revise.
You know what I really love about your channel? Every single video is just like another stellar essay: perfectly structured, nailing the introduction, and generally really well thought out. It's amazing to see you use your platform to spread your inspiring stories - such a joy to follow your journey! Also, I recently got admitted to the Oxford Masters programme of my choice, and your advice helped a lot, so thank you for sharing!
I know it's really simple, but for my A levels (Maths, FM and Physis) I made a sticker chart of all the available past papers for each subject and stuck them on my wall across from my bed. Every time I did a paper, I'd add a sticker and the date. It really helped me see how much I was actually doing (rather than spending ages procrasting and judging it based on time) and it was really motivating being able to see the progress every night before I slept 😊 I ended up with A*A*A*, which obviously wasn't down to this alone, but I think having a physical record of my progress really helped me keep up with revision and not give up. I do the same thing now at uni, but with textbook chapters instead
I can't believe you thought your cat was dead. You're a physics student..you know it's both dead and alive at the same time
I completely agree with your steps to learning. I like to find out exactly what I have to learn (/understand) and then plan the stages in which I will study it in the time I have available. Planning out my learning is very important for me as it helps me stay motivated as I know exactly what I need to get through. When planning I consider my previous learning methods and adjust them to try to learn even more efficiently (what you call the evaluate stage).
Yes! Reviewing or reflecting on what you have completed is so important. Im old fashion a day use a planner/agenda, I make sure to get a big one with lots of writing space. I break down the day into: appointment, to do list, reflection and meal planning. I find these categories keep me on track. Sometimes all I write in the reflection is having a hard day writing my thesis. It's funny because even if I didn't take progress that normally would stress me out, seeing that makes me sympathize and I feel okay about the lesser progress, and I know a good day will come where I'll catch up. That's my long explanation of what keeps me on track.
Journals/Diaries have been really successful for me. I found that writing down what I learned and did that day was helpful because if I couldn't remember what I did in one of my classes it meant that I had to re-learn the material because it obviously didn't stick with me.
Great video again, Simon!
I do a similiar thing with a bullet journal, after everyday I write down a little summary of what I learnt (in computer science) then what I didn't understand then I make plans to fill the gaps in my knowledge the following day. Took me three years to learn just how important reflection and consistent study is!
Well it''s not really a revision tip but it happens to work for me: I make lists all the time! I always try to plan what I need to revise, and at which time of the day I have to do it. It's kinda like what you said actually, I try to organise what has to be done in the day so that work doesn't pile up.
However I often fail to actually do all I plan to do because sometimes I'm so much into something (especially when studying Engineering Analysis haha) I just won't stop until I get the right answer for example, and so it's time consuming and I end up doing nothing but one thing on the list!
Anyway, your videos are great!
Great video, Simon! I agree on the evaluation part and I do pratice it myself, but for me personally it's not really about what I learned that day, but HOW I learned it and what results it brought me, for example in mock-up tests I create myself. That way I found my own foolproof way of studying and learning new things; I realized that I was an even more visual learner than I thought I was and that I need to be physically active! So incorporating colours and different shapes and forms in my summaries, as well as walking around whilst revising is my secret weapon to success ;)
Can't help but think that maybe your vlogs have become a version of this cat-talk-reflection, but on a slightly different scale.
I think you're right - they definitely spur me on to work harder, and forcing myself to explain stuff to camera means I really need to understand it myself first
I love that you say that we think you are mad from the title then say "but this is an absolutely true story" as if the story makes you seem less mad!!!
That's actually really sweet! And good advice, thanks :)
I usually use hand written notes as they seem to make information stick way quicker. Especially as I have grown accustomed to using symbols as helpers and I usually put little infos about motivation or mood in there or little warnings if something took me longer to understand. When reviewing I know to look out for these symbols. When reading texts I like to write down questions that open up while reading and if they were answered. These questions usually help me staying focused and motivated on stilling my curiosity.
anna b same! There's actually been quite a few studies about how long hand notes result in better information retention vs typing
I really, really needed this advice/chat! I feel so much more motivated after watching your videos. Thank you😁
The thing that has helped me the greatest I'd say (and is based on something Tom Frank mentioned) is using spaced learning and planning.
I'm doing Maths, FM and Economics A Levels.
I wrote down all of the chapters in my Math and FM. I did this part way through the year so like Simon said, I was able to evaluate which bits were big problems for me and allocate more time in the future for them as I knew they were hard.
I ended up with 90 days worth of chapters. I then used Tom's Spaced Learning and put everything in to my calendar for a day, then 1 month after that day and then subsequently 3 months after that day.
The biggest benefits of this were
1. I find it much easier to not miss topics by accident and relieved the stress of planning.
2. I force myself to do a specific topic instead of doing things I already know, (which is just an ego boost)
3. Even though I was forcing myself to do a certain topic, I found this more enjoyable as I didn't spend 4 consecutive days on one topic.
4. I have a massive problem (as I'm sure everyone does) with remembering everything at once. If I spend 4 days on a chapter, I'll know it back to front and perfectly, but that's no good if you fail the other 6/7 of the exam. Rotating the topics more frequently is a bit like spinning plates, but it seems to be working.
I also scheduled time for past papers.
I keep a record of the score I got for the past paper, and the marks for each topic in that past paper. This has helped me see more in depth where my knowledge is failing. 60/70 is great. But If you were able to tell that all 10 of the marks you lost were from a certain topic then it's fantastic!
Don't have anything different to share but loved this video
The learning method you described in this video is called "spaced repetition". One sweet thing about it is there are a bunch of flash card programs out there that have spaced repetition built in, so your review of previously learned material is optimised for recall. I use "Anki" myself, it's free. :)
Great comparison! I may be wrong, but your cats were your first supervisors. And they did a very good job. Thank you for sharing the tips! Hugs from Brazil.
The story at the beginning was really sweet and funny. I never thought about learning as a cycle, but it sounds like a great way to look at it. I'll try to keep it in mind in the future.
The most helpful for me was to find people study with who are the same type of learner. And I explain things to myself out loud. It's a bit weird at first, but really I like it more than just going over things silently.
i enjoyed this, I kinda talk to a mirror about where I'm at and what changes I need to make to improve my productivity, I never realised it's that important, I'll try to do it more regularly, Thanks!
I imagine talking about my day and things I've learned to random people. It's amazing how many times it's helped me to understand something
Really great video! One of my biggest regrets regarding my exchange year was not writing some kind of diary, it makes everything so much more clear and easy to quantify/evaluate.
Always perfect timing
I've always found one of the best ways to learn something is to teach it, your dead cat chats seem to be a variant on this. Every time I've had to teach somebody something (physics, guitar playing, languages, magic, whatever) I've _always_ came away with a deeper understanding of the subject than I had beforehand. Oh, and cats may be great listeners, but not all Kats are (my wife is called Kat) LOL
I grabbed my cat straight after this and I've been ranting about my school day for half an hour to him and he's stared at me the hole time. Tbh I think he's sleeping with his eyes open lol
My main method has always been going through every course and boiling it down to put on notecards. What are the most important theorems, what key examples help me understand things, what do I find easy/hard. Going through it in that detail and deciding what are the most important parts can really help you see the big picture of where you are with the material and help you pinpoint where to focus from there.
It's also a great feeling when you get through a whole book of notes and end up with say 40 keycards as opposed to 140 pages! Makes it feel a lot less intimidating. That's my 2 cents for all it's worth
Hey Simon, I have been following you for some time now, and I greatly appreciate your honesty and passion that you put into your videos! No matter how crazy that story may seem, it is unique, and if it worked for you, I respect that. And I greatly appreciate the concept of your 4 step process. As an undergrad myself, I will do my best to implement it to learn much better.
Best wishes with your research!
One of your best videos
Simon I think you might be my new favourite person in the world - love your videos!
I appreciate you and your thinking and hard work keep going 💕👏🏼
I'm sorry for your lost 😔💔
This is literally the cutest thing I've ever heard of in my life
Loads of love Simon. Love this type of content and do keep popping up with videos that aren't necessarily an hour long.
Budgeting your videos into daily planner gets hard otherwise! :D
What I use to do is to record myself explaining some topics about my daily work. As always it may sound strange, but the fact of explaining things to others makes you realize if you really understand them... in addition, watching me talking about things makes me spot problems I have for exposing my ideas, which is very useful for oral presentations!
I think that your story is very interesting ! That's actually a very good method to separate acheived and futur goals ! =) ( and no you're not crazy)
Essentially your own, bizarre Feynman technique. You are a strange cookie Simon, but we love you.
Interesting video, I've found that something similar works for me as well, I also think that both your lighting and hair are on point in this video.
I use a diary, and it really does work, you're not crazy!
Cool !!! It turns out that I'm not the only sane person who wonders wether he's insane or not . I would and still do pretty much the same but instead of with Henry and Snowy I had Memzy ( she's my teddy rabbit ) and it's really effective as you said . Great 👍🏻👌🏻🙌🏻 You nailed it, and I'm looking forward to more alike videos .
I genuinely enjoy your videos! Greetings from Mexico.
I really enjoyed that!!!👍🏾 it made me laugh and it made me think. thanks
I talk to my cat and sometimes do actual lectures and teachings with my chickens. I know I sound crazy but im not 😂 I feel learning when I write on the white board and do actual calculations and explaining it to them.
Just wanted to drop by and say your green/blue fleece jacket looks very good.
You have just risen in my eyes like 10 times infinity
What I find useful is making studying a game or challenge. What do I mean? Well, I can explain this quite simply: before exams I write a revision timetable, as most people do. However, instead of writing in revision sessions by number of hours and precise times in the day what I do is write a checklist of task I want to complete that day. For instance, one day could be 2 past papers before lunch, 2 after lunch and re-writing sections of revision notes in the evening. The 'game' part is that as soon as I finish a task I tick it off. If I manage to tick off all of the tasks for a week (which often happens), then I get a reward which is usually buying some fountain pen ink/ a fountain pen on ebay- yes, I am a full fledged geek. My main point: incorporating a checklist system of tasks with reward for completion streaks can be very useful. Also, what helps me sometimes is, granted this is quite weird, listening to news in languages I don't know whilst I am revising. I turn the news on in the background at a low volume. I believe this helps me as it increases cognitive strain (as I unintentionally try and struggle to understand what is being said), which increases the mind's ability to absorb new information. This idea of increasing cognitive strain during revision is something I read about in a neuroscience journal and was not proved but just a proposed idea. A similar concept would be hand writing notes instead of typing them as this increases cognitive strain when you decide to read them in the future.
That is not normal. But then if that's what gets you into oxford. I AM GETTING TWO CATS.
Just what I needed for my Chemistry exam on Monday !
I was convinced that this would be somehow related to Schrodinger. Not disappointed though
I think it's most helpful to pretend you are giving a presentation on what you are learning or perhaps forming a study group and actually giving a presentation because it helps me remember the content best...
I'd also add: _actively using what you've learned_ which is related to your 4. evaluate. This is usually done via homework, creating a list of problems to solve, moving to a new setting to learn about the material.
Hello my fellow friends! :)
I used this tip when I was doing my GCE 'O' Levels in Singapore. Whenever there was an earthquake or any geological event, I would highlight the important parts (magnitude, epicentre, focus, country) and cut out that article and paste it on a piece of paper. That piece of paper will then go into a file. That way, I would have a file of recent geographical events to read up about before exams ( especially when I wanted a break from memorising the material). I think it is also helpful for concepts questions use real-life examples( we called these questions source-based questions) :)
studying at night got me A in maths and physics.
simon please like!
Lol I was expecting a video about Schrodinger's Cat, just based off of the title!
I'm curious to know what your shirt says!!Great video,Simon :) Looking forward to the next vlog :D
"I'm not crazy" yeeahhh you sure about that?
eksdee that's what crazy people say :p
I tend to do this not by talking to something or someone else but by talking to and debating with myself *out loud. It may sound crazy but it works :)
ur not crazy at all ... ur more natural than all these strange humans around...communicating with ourselves is a need most of people miss and struggle without it.
Never fail to motivate me to study. Yeay!
Hello Simon, I Absolutely love videos like this from a Ph.D. student like you going to uni next year. Could you make a video talking about your method towards learning Calculus and mathematics in general? it would be a very helpful. Thank you for making videos and being part of youtube.
10/10, I love your videos.
Super informative and super funny! 👍🏽
Even before Ive watched the video that thumbnail has to be the creepiest one I have ever seen
Really engaging video! as always. Can't wait until you do a Ted talk simon :)
I found college info geek to be very helpful, however I found these tips to be quite general and actually some are not really for sciences. I sometimes wonder how top academias learn, is there any chance you can do a video about that?
Wow. A good video as always
Dat thumbnail doe 🔥🔥🔥
That's a funny story, I like this video. And I already follow Tom Frank, I really recommend him, very helpful videos.
this is interesting, i'll try to do the same thing with my dog!
I feel I am your dead cat now LOL. I think doing vlog is quite similar to talking to a dead cat. However, I found the inspiration from your vlogs during your PhD journey and I really need that for my PhD journey. Thanks
Simon, I was just wondering when your next live stream is because I am really enjoying them.
I don't know if it is really helpful but when ever I write my notes;
Titles and Very important things I use red pen,
Examples in green
Key points in black
Explanations/working out in blue.
I just use my four color pen, It helps me when I want to revise as well; more visually appealing XD
At least you talked to a living thing... or a once living thing.
I taught my bedroom wall everything I learned for A Level. My bedtime routine started with "Hey Wall. Guess what?"
I just redo my examples that my teachers gave for science classes such as Physics, chemistry and biology. Other than that I love making review sheets that contain every formulas and other concepts that I need to know before a chapter. And of course I love using visuals and colors in those sheets to make things look more systematic.
okay so me and my dog are going to start having daily night appointments from tomorrow on... and he better be listening like a good boy each and every pompous and bombastic word of my mental summary from the civil code to the articles of the constitution and far beyond📚his lack of colab in this may be the reason i'm not getting those 💯💯🤔
For myself, while I'm revising my notes I tend to say it out loud. Then I'd look away from the notes, and orally answer to myself. This method has been mistaken as craziness😂. But I found it effective of becoming my own teacher.
Henri the existential cat is my spirit animal. That has nothing to do with this video, but it needed to be said.
Hooch is crazy
I kind of did the same for around 6-7 months with my boyfriend. I'd email him at the end of every day the stuff I learned/studied that day.
I make flash cards and pace my house while talking out loud. I started making the flashcards when uni bio books started getting too heavy to carry for very long :P Also the talking out loud means your room mates give you very strange looks, however it works for me!
Not exactly an academically gifted student here..but when self learning I found questions (problems, examples, review questions) help a lot with 'evaluating' and for just getting started.
My issue at this point in college is that schedules seem to get out of hand and by the time it is exam time, topics must be sacrificed (leaving 8-12 marks per question). When I add this with mistakes and errors, it results in mediocre results.
I'm intrigued
For me , l find it easier lf l go over my notes pick out the most important parts, highlight them , write down questions for myself based on the notes highlighted and then l answer them and about 2 hours before l go in for my exam l read over them again . Hasn't failed me yet :)
That's a crazy story haha, I can see how it worked though. More of this stuff in the future perhaps?
Brilliant!
Best story of the week. :D
yeah feynman technique, it's effective to me
I find that studying anything for 2-3 iterations is sufficient to score really good grades if not top grades.
In the first iteration, you are completely new to the material so take notes after reading from the material little by little. Once done with that, start over with your notes. Review your notes atleast for two complete iterations and then you're good.
If wanting to go one step further, explain topics that you find a bit complex to yourself or anyone else who might be interested in listening to you.
I love this video
Not exactly model advice, but never underestimate the power of cramming!
This Video was so fucking Interesting xD
Im sure this video is going to go viral cuz of that title :D
I share my problems with my imaginary psychotherapist and I explain things to a group of imaginary people. It seems like it's helping me to stay somewhat emotionally stable, understand things better and solve some of my problems.
I was planning to get a skull to talk to. Just to make the process look cool and less "I have visual and auditory hallucinations" :D
Humans always do this. It's just that most of them speak to real people. I really don't see the difference.