How to review lecture notes effectively is a secret that I only uncovered very late in my studies.

But you don’t have to make the same mistakes that I did, and many others still do.

I wish I had known the techniques that I am about to show you much earlier.

In this video, I’ll show you 5 strategies to transform the chaos in your notebook and your mind into structured knowledge and A+ grades.

Why Revising Lectures is the Key to Success

Knowing how to review lecture notes properly is the missing piece to your puzzle. During the lecture, you collect the other pieces—facts, concepts, ideas.

In your revision, you assemble these into a meaningful whole.

This process is crucial for a deeper understanding and the long-term retention of the material.

Active learning is the key here: It’s not just about absorbing information, which you do during the lecture, but truly processing and applying it, after the lecture.

When Should you Review Your Lecture Notes?

The ideal time to revise your lecture notes is as soon as possible after attending the lecture.

Why?

Your brain processes fresh information most effectively. Based on Ebbinghaus’s forgetting curve, you should ideally begin within 24 hours.

Otherwise, according to this curve, you might forget about half of the lecture material within a day.

Starting your revision right after the lecture provides the best foundation for effectively embedding the information in your long-term memory.

Additionally, instructors are generally more available during the lecture period than during the exam period, when suddenly all students come with questions.

If you still don’t understand something after reviewing the lecture, it’s best to ask the teaching staff directly or attend their next office hour.

How Much Time Should You Spend on Revising Lectures?

You might be wondering, “How long should I spend revising my lectures?”

A good rule of thumb is to allocate at least half the duration of the lecture for revision. So if the lecture was 90 minutes long, try to block about 45 minutes for review within the next 24 hours.

Remember: quality over quantity.

It’s not about grinding for hours, but truly understanding the material.

If you find a topic particularly challenging, take more time. If something is clear right away, you can go through it more quickly.

During revision, you might apply techniques like the Pomodoro Technique: 25 minutes of focused work followed by a 5-minute break. Another session, and that’s it.

This helps you stay focused and productive. It’s important that you don’t just spend your time reading the script over and over. Instead, you should actively engage with the material during your revision time.

5 Strategies for Revising Your Lecture Notes Like a Pro

#1 Clarify Uncertainties

If you noticed any uncertainties or had questions during the lecture, now is the perfect time to clear things up.

If the lecture notes aren’t enough, look into the specialized literature recommended by your instructor. Sometimes the topics there are complex but explained from a different perspective.

Look for a YouTube tutorial or ask Perplexity AI.

These sources often present the material in an understandable and beginner-friendly way. And if you still have questions, don’t hesitate to get help from others.

#2 Separate Important from Unimportant – Focus on the Exam Phase

You might be at the beginning of the semester and are just revising your notes from one of the first lectures. But this is exactly when you can be smart and keep the exam period in mind.

Examine your lecture notes closely to see where the instructor placed their focus, where they explained many examples, or referenced further readings.

All these can be clues as to what might be relevant for the exam.

It’s crucial to distinguish between central concepts and less important details to make the most of your study time.

Ask yourself which information contributes to a deeper understanding of the core topics and which is more supplementary.

This way, you can set your priorities correctly, for example, if you want to start your spaced repetition sessions early.

#3 Identifying Key Concepts and Central Ideas

The goal is to organize your lecture notes and check if they are complete. Focus on the main topics and central ideas of the lecture.

Begin by breaking down the lecture content into smaller segments.

Examine each topic or section individually and ask yourself:

• What is the main message?
• Which examples support this idea?

This analytical approach helps you understand the structure of the study material and distinguish important information from less important details.

After you have identified the central ideas, consider how they relate to each other.

• Are there connections between different topics or concepts?
• How do these pieces fit into the larger picture of the course?

Making such connections is crucial for deep understanding and helps you develop a comprehensive view of the material. Try representing these connections with a mind map.

#4 Making Your Lecture Revision Tangible

When revising your lecture notes, try to integrate examples or analogies to facilitate understanding of complex topics.

Ensure that these examples are closely linked to the study materials. Sometimes, using everyday situations can help make theoretical concepts tangible.

For instance, if you are trying to understand a specific economic principle, relate it to real-life shopping behavior in a supermarket.

Such real-life examples help you better understand and remember abstract ideas.

#5 Test Yourself

Pose questions about the study material to yourself and try to answer them without looking at your notes.

Focus on complex questions that require deeper understanding. By attempting to explain the concepts in your own words, you gain a clear picture of how well you truly understand the topic.

A combination that many have found to be key to success is using the flashcard app Anki and the principle of active recall.

Use practice problems or past exams to test your knowledge and see where you stand. If you encounter difficulties, do not hesitate to review those topics again.

Honest self-assessment is crucial. It’s easy to overestimate yourself and assume you’ve understood a topic. But the real challenge is to challenge yourself and admit where more work is needed.

Tools and Resources for Lecture Revision

Having the right tools and resources is indispensable for mastering the question of how to review lecture notes effectively.

#1 Digital Note-Taking Apps

Let’s start with digital note-taking apps like Evernote or OneNote. These digital tools are perfect for organizing your notes, making them searchable, and enhancing them with additional information such as images or audio recordings.

Pull what you need from your university’s Learning Management System, like Moodle or Canvas, and feed it into your “Second Brain.”

This way, everything is in one place.

#2 Research Tools

If you want to dive deeper into a subject, online databases like Google Scholar are invaluable.

Here you have access to a vast array of academic articles and studies. And if you prefer having complex topics explained to you, check out platforms like Khan Academy or Coursera.

They convey complex topics in simple and understandable ways.

#3 Flashcard Tools

For the study sessions itself, try apps like Quizlet or Anki. They make reviewing material with flashcards and clever memory training methods really effective by leveraging Spaced Repetion with personalized algorithms that always suggest you to study a certain topic at the right time.

#4 AI Tools

Moreover, always keep an eye out for the latest AI tools. They can assist you in all areas, from summarizing and researching to reviewing the learned material.

Browse my channel for some ideas for AI prompts you can implement in your study routine.

#5 Other People

Last but not least: don’t forget the social aspect of learning!

Study groups offer a great way to interact with your peers and learn together. Learning is often easier together, and sometimes new perspectives and solutions emerge in a group setting.

Plus, procrastinating together is more fun than alone 🙂

Are you wondering how to be productive without burning out?

Well, I might just have the solution for you.

It’s called “Slow Productivity,” the title of Georgetown Professor and bestselling author Cal Newport’s latest book.

I’ve just finished reading the book, and… I’m impressed. So much so that I can’t resist sharing with you the key lessons.

The book deeply resonates with me because for years, I have been struggling with doing too much at the same time and often feeling stressed out. A PhD, a YouTube channel, writing a book, you name it.

In this video, I’ll introduce you to the three core principles of the “Slow Productivity” philosophy and offer my insights on how you can best put them into practice—no matter whether you are doing your first job, work for yourself, or study in college.

Who is Cal Newport and why should we listen to him?

In my videos, I often draw upon ideas from Cal Newport’s earlier books on achieving success in academia and, of course, his more renowned works “Deep Work” and “Digital Minimalism.”

Cal is a professor of computer science, consistently produces bestsellers, writes columns for The New Yorker, and hosts a podcast. So, if anyone embodies objective productivity criteria, it’s him.

In “Slow Productivity,” Cal shares his latest philosophy on knowledge work productivity, and it’s quite compelling. It’s not about cramming more into less time, which eventually wears us down.

Instead, it’s about accomplishing fewer things over an extended period—but things that truly matter.

#1 Do fewer things

Knowledge work involves using our cognitive abilities to add value to the world. This covers all sorts of tasks and jobs that can be done in an office or, these days, from home. But also, studying could be seen as a type of knowledge work.

What many people overlook is that knowledge work is still influenced by the Taylorist paradigm of the second industrial revolution. This means tasks are split up based on expertise, people come together in one place, and work outputs are measured quantitatively.

The idea of working from Monday to Friday and then spending our paycheck in the city over the weekend also comes from that time.

But knowledge work is changing rapidly. Especially since the beginning of the Covid pandemic, we don’t always gather in one central place anymore. How do you even measure how productive an individual knowledge worker is?

Pseudo-Productivity

According to Newport, this is where pseudo-productivity comes into play, where productivity is measured based on visibility. What’s your level of “busy” during work? How fast do you respond to emails? How many meetings do you have per day, or how often do you participate in lectures?

All of these are metrics that employers and universities use to gauge the productivity of knowledge work.

But that’s nonsense.

True productivity isn’t achieved by merely showcasing visibility and “busyness,” but by working quietly on a few, valuable projects.

To return to this state, Newport recommends a two-tiered system for managing your active projects. Projects are knowledge tasks that can only be completed over an extended period, such as writing a term paper, launching a social media campaign, or compiling a job application portfolio.

Level 1 consists of your 3 active projects

List no more than 3 active projects. Not a single one more. Only when a project is completed does a new one take its place.

Try to work on just one of these projects per day. Mentally switching between them consumes unnecessary energy.

Level 2 is your waiting list of new projects and ideas

Whether it’s your boss, your academic advisor, your client, or yourself coming up with a new project, it goes on the waiting list along with an estimated timeframe for when you’ll get to it.

If you already have 3 active projects and 2 on the waiting list, then this project takes the 6th spot. You can even communicate this if necessary.

#2 Work at a natural pace

By following Principle Number 1 and tackling fewer but more meaningful projects, you unlock an entirely new level of productivity.

What you achieve in 3 months doesn’t matter. That’s not the benchmark. The timeframe that truly speaks volumes is what you accomplish over the next 3 years (for example, the duration of your studies).

Did you know that Isaac Newton, Copernicus, or Marie Curie spent several decades working on their groundbreaking ideas before publishing them? If you were to pick any random month in their lives, they would appear quite unproductive by today’s standards.

They spent a lot of time walking, took weeks off to vacation in the countryside, and dedicated themselves to their work at a moderate pace. Yet, these individuals profoundly influenced human history with their work. They were as productive as we may never be!

So, if you expand your time horizon wide enough, you can afford to take time for other enjoyable aspects of life and avoid short-term stress. The prerequisite, of course, is that you heed Principle Number 1 and choose projects that are meaningful and important to you, so they have the potential to make an impact over a long period.

A short-term tactic Newport recommends in this regard is ritualizing your work. Associate it with something special that inspires you.

If you’re writing a vampire novel, do it at night. If you’re working on a paper about the hotel industry, do it in the lobby of your favorite hotel. These rituals help you get into a natural flow, and the work that matters to you gets done almost effortlessly.

#3 Obsess over quality

By taking on fewer projects with Slow Productivity and only seeing results much later, you’ll inevitably have to pass up short-term opportunities and say “no” to many things.

The things you do, you do them right. And by giving yourself time, you can invest more in the quality of these things.

Examples

In my research discipline, business informatics, there are two top journals. Publishing an article in one of these journals typically takes four years. During these four years, one has to forgo small successes and appears “less productive.” However, once such an article is eventually published, it influences the discipline ten times more strongly than ten small publications one could have made in those four years.

Delaying gratification for your work for so long is incredibly difficult. But if the quality of the result is significantly better as a result, you have achieved much more “productivity.” Just slowly.

Another example is articles on Amazon. A product with 4.9 stars sells 100 times more than a product with 4.5 stars. So, even if it takes 10 times longer to bring the product to this level of quality, you still get 10 times more results than from 10 4.5-star products!

Of course, Cal Newport also has a technique to increase the quality of your projects. Simply double each of your deadlines for a project. But remember, just double. Not more. You should still feel the commitment to complete the project and put in enough work. But with the extended project timeline, you have more room to focus on quality.

But never forget that high quality also requires corresponding effort. With Slow Productivity, you shouldn’t give yourself a free pass to procrastinate. Instead, give yourself enough time to achieve true mastery in your project. Create the necessary space for creativity and the freedom to breathe, so that you can approach your work with passion.

Your results will speak for themselves. Don’t be a hamster. Be a turtle. Slow is smooth and smooth is fast.

Prompt engineering for students might be the most important skill in 2024 and beyond – if you want to succeed in academia.

Have you ever asked ChatGPT or another AI model for advice and felt underwhelmed by the response? You might start to question all the hype—if AI can’t nail the basics, what good is it?

Hold that thought—before you pin the blame on AI, consider this: maybe the way you’re asking is part of the problem.

Yes, you heard that right! The issue might not be the AI itself but how you’re communicating with it.

In the next decade, mastering the art of crafting the right prompts—known as Prompt Engineering—will be crucial to unlocking the full potential of AI.

In this article, I’ll dive into what Prompt Engineering for students really entails and how you can start improving your interactions with ChatGPT and similar technologies immediately. Mastering this skill can not only impress your peers but also dramatically boost your productivity as a student.

Understanding Prompt Engineering for students

In today’s world, AI isn’t just a futuristic idea—it’s a part of our daily lives.

AI appears everywhere: powering search engines, guiding us through apps, and facilitating customer support through chatbots and virtual assistants.

Being able to communicate effectively with AI simplifies life and amplifies your efficiency at work, making Prompt Engineering a critical skill in the modern job market.

Good Prompt Engineering for students hinges on your ability to give precise, clear instructions. Think about it—how much time do you actually spend crafting a prompt for ChatGPT?

If it’s merely 5 seconds, that’s likely not enough. Taking a bit more time to consider your prompt can make a world of difference. A hastily typed sentence can lead to misinterpretations, whereas a thoughtfully crafted prompt, though taking a few minutes longer, can yield results that are ten times better.

How to Formulate Prompts that AI Understands

By learning how to make your requests more precise, you unleash the AI’s potential to deliver exactly the answers you’re looking for.

There are 5 basic principles that can help you successfully communicate with AI models like ChatGPT or DALL-E. These principles are Clarity, Context, Conciseness, Explicitness, and Iteration.

1. Clarity is crucial for the AI to understand exactly what is expected of it. A clearly formulated prompt reduces misunderstandings and leads to more accurate responses. It’s about being unambiguous without leaving room for interpretation.
2. Context provides the AI with background information relevant to answering the query. It helps the AI understand the request in the correct frame and respond appropriately. For example, adding that a text is intended for a specialist audience can influence the type of response.
3. Conciseness aims to keep the query as compact as possible. A long, rambling prompt can confuse the AI. Instead, the prompt should be to the point, without unnecessary details.
4. Explicitness means that specific instructions or expectations are clearly communicated. The more precisely the request is formulated, the better the AI can deliver the desired results.
5. Iteration and Experimentation acknowledge that not every prompt is perfect right away. Prompt Engineering for students is a process of trial and adjustment. You ask a question, analyze the AI’s response, and refine your next inquiry based on the feedback. This cyclical process helps you perfect your prompts, so you receive more accurate and relevant answers.

The quality of your prompts also directly influences how developers train and improve their AI systems. Understanding which types of prompts lead to the desired responses allows developers to more specifically tailor their models to better respond to human queries.

To professionalize your prompts and systematize your Prompt Engineering, consider creating a Prompt Library today.

What is a Prompt Library?

A Prompt Library is essentially a database full of prepared questions or instructions designed to elicit specific and high-quality responses from AI language models.

These collections can range from simple request examples to complex prompt sets developed for advanced applications.

3 Benefits of a Prompt Library

1. Time-saving and Efficiency: Having access to a collection of tested prompts allows you to interact with AI systems more quickly and effectively. It saves you the effort of constantly formulating new prompts by providing proven options right at your disposal.
2. Quality Improvement: The prompts in a library are usually optimized and tested by you or someone else to ensure they deliver reliable results. This ensures greater consistency and quality of responses from language models.
3. Source of Inspiration: A Prompt Library serves not only as a practical tool but also as a source of inspiration. As you browse the library, you might come across new ideas for formulating your AI queries, leading to more creative and effective prompts.

For knowledge workers and students who regularly work with AI, integrating a Prompt Library into their daily workflow can be a real game-changer. Many tools and platforms now allow for the direct integration of Prompt Libraries, simplifying access and use.

Platforms

Some platforms, like PromptHero or PromptBase, offer a wide range of prompts specifically for image generators. Here, users not only share the prompts themselves but also useful information about the creative process and the results achieved. FlowGPT, on the other hand, focuses on prompts for ChatGPT and allows users to try them out directly on the platform.

In addition to using these existing libraries, you can, of course, create your own collection. Simply use an Excel spreadsheet or a Notion page and sort your prompts by category or frequency of use.

If you’ve used individual prompts and maybe made slight adjustments, save the improved prompt each time. This keeps your Prompt Library up to date, and you save valuable time the next time you need the prompt.

Prompt Engineering for students isn’t just helpful in the short term. If you’ve been following my channel for a while, you know that lifelong learning is one of my core values.

Starting to think and act like a Prompt Engineer will not only help you with your next term paper but also in applying for a job next year, your probationary work in 2 years, your important client project in 4 years, and your big career leap in 10 years.

AI is here to stay. Whether you like it or not doesn’t matter. Acting pragmatically means making friends with AI. The sooner, the better.

Why Should You Use Prompt Engineering as a student?

Why should you dive into Prompt Engineering starting TODAY? Here are the reasons why it can be of great benefit to you – whether you’re a student, a creative, or a knowledge worker:

Sharper Research

Students and knowledge workers often rely on search engines and specialized AI-powered tools to gather information. A well-formulated prompt can help filter out more precise and relevant information from a flood of data. This is crucial for academic work, literature reviews, or gathering data for projects.

Soon, companies will use their own specialized language models. These will be integrated into products from companies like Microsoft or SAP and will have access to the databases and systems within the company.

The better you become at Prompt Engineering NOW, the more valuable your skills will be for any company or for yourself.

Save Time and Increase Your Efficiency

Effective Prompt Engineering enables you to save time by generating quicker and more targeted responses from language models and other AI systems.

And time is the most important resource you have.

With good Prompt Engineering for students, you can not only gain a productivity edge but also more time for the essentials. If you work more efficiently, there’s more time for travel, your family, or your hobbies.

Who says you still have to work 40 or 50 hours a week in the future? It’s up to you to define what the future of your work looks like.

Become More Creative

Whether you want to write an original text or design a unique graphic, AI needs specific prompts to generate useful suggestions. Learning how to formulate creative and inspiring prompts can support your creative process and lead to more innovative ideas.

A fairly well-known study by Professor Andreas Fügener and colleagues concluded that humans, in collaboration with AI, make both the AI and the human look old.

Relying solely on AI or ignoring it will cause you to fall behind. The key is to combine your skills with those of AI.

Understand the Mechanisms Behind AI

Learning Prompt Engineering gives you better insights into how AI models work.

This knowledge enables you to use the technology responsibly and understand its limitations.

This knowledge is valuable in an increasingly AI-driven world and can help you better understand and critically examine the ethical, technical, and social implications of using AI. This can help you position yourself as an expert and always be one step ahead of others.

Stay Flexible and Future-Proof

The ability to create effective prompts is a transferable skill that can be adapted to new AI systems and technologies.

As AI development progresses rapidly, it’s important to remain flexible and quickly adapt to new tools.

Maybe ChatGPT will no longer be relevant in a few years. But communication via natural language will remain, regardless of which tools come next.

Here, Prompt Engineering for students offers you a long-term competitive advantage. It’s not just about keeping up with current technology, but also about preparing yourself for what’s to come in the next few decades.

Applications of Prompt Engineering

Generating images and writing texts isn’t part of your job?

No matter.

Prompt Engineering is already making big waves in many areas, not only in creative fields but also in technical professions or the education sector.

In the world of technology, Prompt Engineering enables developers to work more efficiently, whether it’s creating code with tools like GitHub Copilot or automatically troubleshooting software. Researchers use AI to analyze data and make scientific discoveries by using specific prompts that direct the AI in the right direction.

Prompt Engineering is also finding applications in the education sector. It enables the creation of customized learning materials and supports interactive learning experiences that are precisely tailored to the needs of learners. Through targeted prompts, the teaching material can be dynamically adjusted, making learning more effective and interesting.

These examples are just a snippet of the many possibilities that Prompt Engineering offers. It combines creativity with technical solutions in a way that was unthinkable a few years ago.

Act Now! Your Prompt Engineering Challenge

Now it’s your turn!

Use Prompt Engineering to take your next study project, a report for your supervisor, or your side hustle to the next level.

Here’s a small challenge for you: Choose a topic you’re currently working on or a project that’s coming up. Maybe you want to conduct comprehensive research on a specific subject or analyze complex data.

Apply the principles of Prompt Engineering to make more effective use of AI tools.

Start with a clear, context-related request. For example, formulate a prompt asking ChatGPT to give you a summary of the latest research findings on a specific topic, or use an AI tool for data analysis to identify patterns in your research data.

Document your steps, the various prompts you try, and the results you obtain in your own Prompt Library. Reflect on how adjusting your prompts has influenced the AI’s responses and which techniques were most effective.

Share your discoveries and insights with your classmates, in a study group, with your colleagues, or in the comment section under this video.

Let’s discuss together how we can use Prompt Engineering to inspire others with our work.

What’s a Second Brain for students, you might ask?

Imagine, on your way to university today, you listened to a podcast and thought to yourself at several points, “Ahh yes, that sounds interesting and would be a great angle for my next term paper.”

Then, during your lunch break, you read an engaging blog post and watched a YouTube tutorial in the evening – but you’ve already forgotten the interesting facts from the podcast.

Darn it! You really wanted to remember them.

To manage the flood of information you’re exposed to today effectively, you need a system.

The “Second Brain” method has accompanied me through my studies, my doctoral thesis, and while building up this YouTube channel.

In this article, I’ll show you how you can better organize your thoughts and ideas to be even more successful in your studies and all other areas of life.

The Challenges of Information Overload

Do you know the feeling when you’re trying to remember something important, and it just won’t come to mind?

Or when you spend hours searching for a document you were sure you had saved somewhere?

You watch YouTube for hours every week to educate yourself, but what actually sticks?

I know this situation all too well.

The flood of information we are all exposed to today can be overwhelming. Our brain is not capable of absorbing all these details and information but can only store a limited amount of it.

But here comes the good news: You don’t have to keep everything in your head. The solution lies in outsourcing the task of remembering to technology.

The concept of the “Second Brain” allows you to store and access information in such a way that you can easily retrieve and use it later.

Then your “First Brain” is no longer so occupied with storing information but can develop more ideas and be creative.

The Basic Idea of the Second Brain Method

The Second Brain is a term popularized by author and productivity expert Tiago Forte. In his book “Building a Second Brain,” he details a four-stage approach known as the C.O.D.E system.

2.1. The C.O.D.E. System

Capture

The first step is capturing information. This process is crucial because this is where you lay the foundation for your “second brain.” It’s about being attentive and consciously capturing information you take in – whether from books, lectures, movies, or conversations.

That means you really write down the information. Of course, not every piece of information is worth noting. Focus on what truly speaks to you or stimulates your thought process.

In the context of the Second Brain method, you would have definitely noted down the interesting podcast facts from the introductory example.

Use digital tools like Notion, Evernote, or even a simple notebook to capture your thoughts and discoveries. Make notes, draw sketches, save quotes – whatever inspires you.

Organize

After capturing information, the next step is to organize it. Good organization allows you to quickly access your collected ideas and information.

Create categories to sort your notes. This way, you can quickly find everything related to “Psychology” or “Programming,” for example.

Remember: Your system should be simple and intuitive. Complicated structures often lead to frustration. In your digital system, you can also always use the search function (Ctrl+F) to find information even faster.

Distill

The third step is about filtering out the essence of your notes. It’s important to identify the core messages and summarize them in a way that is personally useful to you.

Therefore, it’s best if you don’t just copy notes from a webpage into your Second Brain, but instead process them in your own words once. This not only aids in understanding but also in truly internalizing the information.

Imagine you had to explain the most important points from your notes to someone else – how would you express it? This approach helps to pinpoint the essence of your thoughts.

Express

The final step is expression. This is about transforming your collected and processed information into something tangible – be it an essay, a blog post, a project, or a presentation.

The contents of your Second Brain are of no use if you don’t apply them. In the phases when you are not consuming but creating, you should always have your Second Brain at hand.

By internalizing the CODE system, you turn the collection and processing of information into an active, creative process. Thus, your second brain becomes a tool that can enrich your studies, your sports, or your company forever.

2.2. PARA Method

In addition to the CODE system, the PARA method is a crucial component of the “Second Brain” concept.

PARA stands for Projects, Areas, Resources, and Archive. By organizing your information according to the PARA method, you ensure that you always know exactly where to find what and how best to use the information for specific purposes.

Projects: These are short-term endeavors with a specific goal. For example, a project in your studies could be preparing for an important exam or writing a term paper.

Areas: These represent long-term responsibilities or aspects of your life that require continuous attention, such as your progress in studies or personal development.

Resources: Here, you collect information on topics that interest you or could be useful in the future, like research articles, interesting websites, or specialist books.

Archive: Everything not currently in active use but might be important later ends up here. The archive serves as a kind of memory storage that you can always refer back to. The PARA method organizes your digital information so that you always know where to find what and how to optimally use it.

In addition to his foundational book on the Second Brain approach, Tiago Forte has now also published a second book specifically on the PARA method.

It’s currently on my To-Read list. Which, by the way, is part of my Second Brain.

Tips for Implementing Your Second Brain

To conclude, here are some insights from my nearly decade-long journey with the Second Brain concept. They might serve you well.

Start Small

Don’t feel compelled to capture everything from the get-go. Taking on too much too soon can lead to quick burnout due to the overwhelming nature of extensive note-taking, marking a significant shift in routine. Start by focusing on one subject or a particular area of interest. Gather notes, ideas, and insights focused on this domain. Once this becomes a norm and feels effortless, introduce a second domain (“Area” as per the PARA method).

Leverage Technology

Tools such as Notion, Evernote, or even basic Word documents can streamline your note organization. Explore various applications to discover the most suitable option for you. My journey began with Evernote, transitioning to Notion later on. While Evernote offers simplicity, Notion demands a learning curve but presents unlimited potential. Absolute Second Brain enthusiasts swear by Obsidian, a sophisticated software that enables you to implement your own Zettelkasten method, facilitating a deep, interconnected note-taking approach.

Filter Aggressively

When assimilating new information, ponder its applicability in real-world scenarios. Storing an impactful quote is beneficial, yet its true value lies in future creative applications. Ensure that only information with a realistic potential for future application by you gets included in your Second Brain.

Reflect Regularly

Carve out dedicated time for regular review and reflection on your amassed information to enhance comprehension and connectivity. This practice not only enhances long-term memory but also aids in drawing connections across different knowledge segments. The greatest challenge I face with the Second Brain is maintaining consistent curation, pivotal for maximizing its benefits.

Share Your Knowledge

Actively engage in discussions about your ideas and insights with peers, as sharing perspectives can significantly enrich your understanding and creativity. For collaborative ventures, consider making sections of your Second Brain accessible to peers, allowing them to contribute to and enrich your repository.

The Second Brain transcends mere project utility, evolving into a companion for lifelong learning. Persisting with it over a year or two quickly makes one wonder how they ever managed without it.

Hence, the most important advice I have for you is straightforward: Just start!

The Spaced Repetition Study Method is about to change everything you thought you knew about studying.

Do you usually start studying for exams just 5 days in advance? No wonder you forget 80% of the material by exam day.

Educational research suggests that Spaced Repetition is the solution.

By applying this method before your exams, not only will you spend fewer total hours studying, but you can also continue your daily routines totally relaxed in the week leading up to the exam AND expect a top grade.

In this article, I’ll show you how to implement the method in 5 simple steps.

How Does Spaced Repetition Work?

Early 20th-century psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus, a pioneer in research on human memory, conducted a series of self-experiments.

He attempted to memorize a series of nonsensical syllables and documented his success.

He found that he forgot information over time if he didn’t repeat it.

This observation led to the development of the forgetting curve, which shows how memories fade if not actively refreshed.

The curve flattens over time, meaning the intervals between repetitions can increase to achieve the same level of recall.

This effect is explained by the multi-store model of memory, suggesting that memories move from short-term to long-term memory.

Spaced Repetition is a study method based on this principle, aiming to anchor information more effectively in long-term memory. The key idea is that you retain information better when repeated over longer periods in increasingly larger intervals, rather than cramming in short, dense intervals.

First repetition: Shortly after initially learning the information. Subsequent repetitions: At increasingly longer intervals.

#1 Understand the Mechanics of the Spaced Repetition Study Method

Imagine retaining everything you study not just for the next exam, but for years. Spaced Repetition makes this possible.

By repeating study material at progressively longer intervals, Spaced Repetition deeply embeds information in your long-term memory, similar to muscle training: regular, well-timed training leads to well-developed muscles.

Just like muscle memory, your brain builds strong recollections for your exams with Spaced Repetition.

Why is Spaced Repetition So Effective?

Each time you recall information after a longer interval, you strengthen the neural connection to that information, akin to turning a path in a dense forest into a broad road. These “roads” in your brain help you quickly retrieve information years later.

Studies support Spaced Repetition’s effectiveness, showing that recalling study material at increasing intervals challenges your brain to retrieve information from deeper memory layers (e.g., Cepeda et al., 2008).

This process of active recall solidifies your knowledge more sustainably than repeating information in short, dense intervals.

To outperform 95% of your peers, start studying with short, semester-spanning sessions as soon as you get the lecture notes, rather than cramming at the last minute.

#2 Your Spaced-Repetition Schedule

Moving on to the foundation of the study method: the schedule.

While the science and principle of Spaced Repetition sound great, without a good plan for its implementation, it’s pretty useless.

First, get an overview of your study material and break it into manageable parts. Then, distribute these parts over a period leading up to your exam or the end of the semester, starting as early as possible.

The trick: You don’t repeat each part at regular intervals but in increasingly longer ones, e.g., on day one, then after three days, a week, two weeks, and so on. This may sound complex, but don’t worry—there are apps and software to help (more on that soon).

All you need to do is adjust your schedule for various exams so that the more frequent repetitions at the start don’t all cluster in the first week of the semester. Begin with the material for the exam scheduled earliest at the end of the semester.

Now that you have a plan, it’s time to integrate it into your daily life.

Make Spaced Repetition a (nearly) daily habit by finding a fixed time each day, perhaps in the morning or between lectures, and dedicate this time to your Spaced-Repetition study sessions.

Tip: Pair this session with something you enjoy, like your favorite café or an episode of your favorite podcast afterwards. This makes learning less of a chore and more a part of your daily routine you can look forward to.

Example Spaced-Repetition Schedule: Let’s say you want to learn a specific topic for an exam.

Here’s a simple schedule for applying Spaced Repetition:

Day 1: Study the new topic (e.g., Lecture slide deck No. 1)
Understand and process the information thoroughly. Clarify any questions (e.g., in a tutorial).
Day 2: First repetition. Review the previous day’s learning to solidify it. Use flashcards or software.
Day 4: Second repetition. Repeat the topic to strengthen the memory. Day 7: Third repetition.
Day 14: Fourth repetition. Review the topic again.
Day 28: Fifth repetition.
Day 30: Exam.

Maintain these intervals for all sub-topics (e.g., lecture slide deck). If you can stretch the period even further, to 60 or 90 days, even better.

This schedule is just an example and can be adjusted based on individual progress and needs.

The key is increasing the intervals between repetitions, maximizing the method’s effectiveness.

But in our digital world, you don’t have to create your study plan from scratch; there’s software for that.

#3 Software Tools

Traditional flashcards are great for manually implementing Spaced Repetition. Write a question on one side and the answer on the other.

If you answer a card correctly, move it further back in the stack. Incorrect answers go to the front.

Utilize the Active Recall principle at this point.

As we live in the digital age, you don’t have to make things harder for yourself.

There are many tools like Anki, Quizlet, or Memrise that help organize your study material and automatically adjust repetition intervals. These apps use algorithms to determine when you’re ready to revisit specific information.

In a comparative study among 3 groups (1: without Spaced Repetition, 2: Spaced Repetition, 3: Spaced Repetition with algorithmic personalization), the group with algorithmic personalization achieved the best exam results (Lindsey et al., 2014).

An algorithm can analyze how well you remembered information last time and how long ago that was.

Based on this, it calculates the ideal time for the next repetition, meaning the repetition intervals aren’t fixed but dynamically adjust to your study progress.

A major advantage of these apps is personalization. Everyone learns differently, and these tools take that into account.

If you make faster progress on a topic, the repetition intervals extend.

For topics you struggle with more, they shorten. This ensures you use your time efficiently and focus on areas needing more attention.

Many of these apps also offer tracking and gamification features, allowing you to monitor your progress.

This not only provides transparency but also motivation. It’s incredibly satisfying to see your knowledge build over time and how your efforts pay off.

#4 Time Management and Efficiency: Study Smarter, Not Harder

“Spaced Repetition sounds good, but that means I have to start studying in the middle of the semester. That seems quite laborious.”

Ultimately, Spaced Repetition doesn’t necessarily mean investing more time in studying. You’re just distributing your time differently. Instead of cramming for 7 days and nights before the exam, you study continuously throughout the semester for a few hours each week.

Spaced Repetition is a real time-saver.

Rather than spending hours cramming and then forgetting most of it, Spaced Repetition allows you to learn more efficiently. By repeating information at optimal intervals, you spend less time reviewing things you already know and more time on what you need to learn.

This also means you spend less time studying and more time for other important things – whether for other courses, hobbies, or just relaxing.

Spaced Repetition helps you learn more—in less time.

#5 Combine the Spaced Repetition Study Method and Active Recall

If you combine Spaced Repetition with the study method Active Recall, as hinted earlier, you’ll not only reach your goals faster but also with a deeper understanding and longer-lasting memory.

With this approach, your next exam is sure to be a success. I’ve linked a video on Active Recall here for you.

Further Reading:

Cepeda, N. J., Vul, E., Rohrer, D., Wixted, J. T., & Pashler, H. (2008). Spacing effects in learning: A temporal ridgeline of optimal retention. Psychological science, 19(11), 1095-1102.

Lindsey, R. V., Shroyer, J. D., Pashler, H., & Mozer, M. C. (2014). Improving students’ long-term knowledge retention through personalized review. Psychological science, 25(3), 639-647.