[0:00]Okay, guys, POV, you are a college student, and you also are a bit of an irresponsible little fuck that never wants to do their work and frolics around in the fields all day, going out to party until 2:00 AM, cause you're silly.
[0:15]And then one day you wake up and you look at your phone, and there's a notification that there will be a midterm.
[0:22]That is actually exactly what happened to me about a week ago, and I have lived to tell the tale.
[0:27]How did I study for half a semester's worth of material and content in the span of two days?
[0:34]Well, let me tell you, because I am unfortunately a master crammer, and girl, I've been there, trust me.
[0:39]I know all these study tip videos are always like, oh, like start early, make sure you have a schedule.
[0:44]What if you can't? And what if you suck at making schedules and planning ahead of time?
[0:48]I understand you guys when you're like, Millie, I literally have like two days to study for an exam, and I don't know what to do with myself, cause I do that every time.
[0:54]Yes, it is a fatal flaw, and maybe a habit that we need to break and start working on.
[0:58]However, I prefer to do really awful work for two days, and enjoy the rest of my life like a normal person.
[1:04]So this is a video specifically targeted towards my fellow crammers, and I'm going to give you guys some of my best tips for cramming for that exam that you have coming up.
[1:12]And I'm gonna be quick because I know some of y'all need to go study right now, and should not be watching this YouTube video.
[1:16]But here you are anyway, so you might as well stay till the end.
[1:19]Stay, stay, stay, stay. Here are some basic rules for cramming for an exam that will get you knowing that content without having to take all the time in the world.
[1:27]Let's go. The first thing that I have to say is how you study matters.
[1:31]And what I have found is that time and time again, I perform so much better when I am writing my notes down on paper.
[1:38]Millie, Millie, I've been typing all of my notes for this class on my computer, and it's on a Google Doc right now, and I can't change it.
[1:43]That's okay, don't worry. If you are someone who studies by rewatching lectures, take your notes starting now on paper, as you're rewatching the lectures, or you could take the online document that you typed all your notes on and just transfer it, rewrite it into like a study guide on pen and paper.
[1:58]You can also use your iPad. That's what I use. I do all of my study guides on good notes, and I really like it as well, because you can zoom in and make like really, really tiny script if you are a big fat messy writer like me.
[2:08]Synthesize everything onto one piece of paper at the end.
[2:11]Like, let me show you guys. Where's my iPad? Hold on. For my most recent midterm one day ago, when it was my Asian American history exam, slayed boots down, and it's because I made this timeline.
[2:22]Do you think I write this small and this pretty? Of course not. Actually, I wrote in about this size, and then you just zoom out and it becomes all synthesized on one page.
[2:30]So, right before I enter into the testing location, I'm literally rereading all of these handwritten notes, and then I made a timeline of notable events.
[2:36]Sorry, this looks like insane. This did take me 10 hours to make, but it was so useful and I knew that content like the back of my motherfucking hand.
[2:45]And there are actually psychological studies that have been done on this specific effect, a study that was conducted at UC Berkeley on grad students.
[2:53]Half of the students took notes on computers, typed up, and then half of the students took notes on pen and paper.
[2:59]They had the exact same time to prepare, they could only look at the notes that they took, were tested in the same questions, and the students with pen and paper performed way better on average than the students on the computer did.
[3:10]We're too used to like copying down exactly what is being said word for word, but we're not processing any of it.
[3:15]For writing, I feel like because we have to draw things out, we can create these helpful structures and like visual representations to break things down.
[3:22]Onto tip number two. Tip number two is about study breaks. We all know when we're cramming, we're gonna be seated two hours, three hours, we're fat, okay?
[3:30]We don't get up and we don't look away from our screens, but when we do, it's like five to ten minutes, whatever.
[3:35]But what do you do during those breaks? Sometimes we'll go on Instagram and go on TikTok. If you are at all struggling to even study, do not go on your phone.
[3:42]Let me tell you, do not go on your phone. Go lie down on your bed and close your eyes for five minutes, jumping jacks.
[3:48]Set a five minute timer and read a fun book.
[3:51]Honestly, you can even go on your phone like text people. Just don't go on social media. Spending all your like break times on social media is going to cause dopamine spiking, and it's gonna feel so freaking bad to go back to studying.
[4:01]It's frankly gonna be impossible because the levels of dopamine we receive from like going on social media, going on TikTok, is so high, and studying is not fun, okay?
[4:09]We all know that it's not fun. I'm a Yale student and I do not think studying is fun. If we want to actually make it fun for ourselves, we should probably not go on our phones during our breaks.
[4:18]I really love doing jumping jacks during my brain breaks, because it actually gets my whole body pumping, work almost feels easy compared to like a plank, you know?
[4:26]Tip number three is active recall.
[4:29]This is a concept that's well known within psychology. Active recall is the act of trying to retrieve information from your memory without looking at notes or anything like that, while passive recall is something like just looking at notes, reading through things without actively encoding all of those things into your brain.
[4:44]If you put yourself in a test like environment, you are going to feel way more prepared when you walk into that testing area.
[4:50]Lock in at a table and do a practice test. You don't have to study like this the whole day. Just do like one hour of like concentrated active recall.
[4:58]There's also a psychological study on this where people learned a bunch of different vocabulary words underwater, and then they had to try to recall them one week later.
[5:07]And people actually did better at the recalling task when they were underwater versus like on land.
[5:12]The feeling of being underwater triggered all those active recalls, memorizing those words.
[5:16]So if you wanna like go study at your testing area, one really effective way to test yourself if there's no practice material available is using AI.
[5:25]Honestly, love Microsoft Co-pilot for this.
[5:29]They are so helpful in creating a multiple choice test for any topic of my choosing.
[5:34]You can create a practice test within like five minutes and then do it and have Microsoft co-pilot grade you.
[5:38]Take practice tests, use active recall to your advantage.
[5:41]Four, I want to talk a little bit more about dopamine loading. This concept that I just learned actually recently watching YouTube.
[5:48]YouTube can be helpful sometimes, guys. Maybe I'm an example of that, low-key. Do you all find me helpful or what? I learned it from this video by Matthew Smith and also the monkey brain videos.
[5:57]I will link it so you guys can watch it if you want, but essentially to summarize quickly for you guys.
[6:02]Dopamine is a neurotransmitter in your brain, aka a chemical messenger that specifically has to do with pleasure.
[6:08]It's like your brain's reward system. A high dopamine activity would be eating something really, really yummy, scrolling on TikTok, drinking alcohol, etc.
[6:16]Your brain starts to adjust and adapt to the level of dopamine that you've been giving it, and now it needs more dopamine just to do simple things.
[6:24]Starting your day with TikTok is not the answer if you're cramming.
[6:28]If you have an exam and you wake up in the morning, do not start your day with TikTok.
[6:31]You will cause yourself to experience a dopamine spike unable to sort of be matched by studying or any other activity that isn't as pleasurable.
[6:38]So instead, I would recommend starting your day with low dopamine activities, journaling, writing a to-do list of all the things you have to do today.
[6:45]Just make sure that you start your mornings off right, because the fluctuation of dopamine levels can really affect your productivity.
[6:51]Also, the sun is actively setting as I'm filming this video, so and then slowly work your way up.
[6:56]And you can also set up a reward system to make sure that you're using dopamine to your advantage.
[7:00]Study for two hours, and maybe you give yourself a sweet treat like a cookie, something to incentivize you to get through those two hours of studying.
[7:07]And then by starting with low dopamine activities and gradually raising your dopamine levels till the end of the day, you can be locked in and productive for honestly, like hours and hours.
[7:17]It's that damn phone. It really is that damn phone, bro. Five, final rule, you need to believe something to do it well.
[7:25]If you're constantly having negative self talk, oh, I'm not smart, like I can't do this.
[7:29]I'm so fucked, like it's too late for me, and I'm just gonna fail this test.
[7:32]You are going to actively manifest all those things.
[7:35]Manifestation is real, guys. Believe that you are a good student and that you're smart and that you're capable, and then you're going to do the behaviors that will make that a reality.
[7:44]Okay, hopefully this video was helpful, and hopefully the wisdom that I imparted as a humble little college student who has crammed for way too many exams in the past, like month and a half.
[7:54]God, it's only fucking October. Why are there midterms? Whatever. Anyway, good luck to all of my students locking in. Probably finals coming up soon. I'll come up with some more study tips for you guys if you like this video.
[8:05]I love you guys, and I will see you in the next video. Oh, wait, don't forget to like and subscribe.
[8:10]If you don't, you're a loser, so, okay, love you guys, bye.
