So The Other Night During D&D, I Had The Sudden Thoughts That:

how to learn new content and never forget it

save this for your next academic year and finals, and it’ll save your grades and time.

1. whenever you read a paragraph with new content, close the book/look away and ask yourself: “what have i just learned?” explaining the concept to yourself right away and asking follow-up questions will change the way you retain new material forever.

2. at first, it’ll be daunting, and it’ll be pretty hard to actually bring yourself to do this. trust me, it’ll be worth it - as this is scientifically proven one of the most effective study techniques.

3. to try this out, set yourself a timer for how long you estimate learning a concept might take. now take away 20% from that estimate. you won’t be able to reach this goal with basic highlighting and re-reading techniques - but with active recall, you will.

4. once you’ve understood the concept, use spaced repetition systems like anki flashcards to force yourself to retrieve this information in a set period of time. this way, your brain will always be reminded of this concept before it could possibly forget it.

5. teach it to others as much as you can. as with the old wisdom “see one, do one, teach one”, one of the only guarantees you’ve really gotten something is when you can effectively teach it.

hope these are helpful for you!!

more content like this on my instagram, @softmedstudent

My favourite used bookstore is opening again and I am hyped. Really want to read The Brothers Karamazov this winter, because winter is Dostoyevsky season apparently, but I refuse to buy it new when I might find a lovely old edition for a third of the price.

all I want is for someone to be incredibly, obnoxiously pretentious at me about the classics so that I can judge them for being so elitist but secretly be swept up and captivated by their passion

In 2021 I will not be Richard-Papening myself over mysterious and sexy snobs I will BECOME the mysterious and sexy snob

What are you studying? Which year are you in?

Thank you for the ask! I am studying physics for school, and I am at approximately third year standing.

Hi!

I am full of poetry now. Rot and poetry. Rotten poetry. 

- Ernest Hemingway, The Snows of Kilimanjaro

(not my pictures)

I can’t help but wonder what The Secret History would have been like to read had I not immediately lost all respect for Julian Morrow as soon as it was mentioned that he had a drawer full of Montblancs. (bc... come on that’s about the tackiest thing I’ve ever heard of)

Julian Morrow is just Lord Henry if Lord Henry were somehow more of a coward, change my mind

Romantic Science Summer