[[Notes]] - Topics: [[Productivity]] - People: Ali Abdaal - Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-46Vyiwat_Y --- ## Summary - [[Become practiced in fundamental execution]]. - [[Planning supplements Instinct. Practice develops instinct.]] - [[Tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, then tell them what you told them]]. - Expand your context to gain access to a wider and richer content. - [[Absorb what is useful, discard what is useless, and add what is specifically your own]]. ## Notes ### Introduction - Two stages to this method: 1. Creation. 2. Memorization. - **Creation** - "Create first-class essay plans for every conceivable essay title that they could throw at us in the exam." - **Memorization** - Commit these plans to memory by using **active recall**, **spaced repetition**, **spider diagrams**, and flashcards. - When the exam happens, you should be able to execute most of the topics from memory (instinct). If the topic isn't memorized, you will be able to generate a first-class essay from scratch due to your familiarity and practice with other topics. - [[Become practiced in fundamental execution]]. - Your breath of knowledge will help you colour your execution and enable you to perform within a wider context. ### Creation stage - 1. Choosing which essays to plan. - 2. How to plan the essay. - 3. How to make the plan really good. - Planning must be done for things you cannot do instinctually. - [[Planning supplements Instinct. Practice develops instinct.]] - [[Plans are useless, but planning is indispensable]]. - Find essay titles that cover the entire scope of the syllabus. Start with your past papers. - "What's a good essay title that I have not yet asked about?" - Try to think of things that may come up. Think of things you may not be prepared for. - [[Identify what is unfamiliar by first identifying what is]]. - Create many essay plans for the various topics. Use those plans as a foundation for research to answer those questions. - Learn from sources beyond what you are given. This gives you more access to information; information that is more diverse and perhaps richer in content. - To make a good essay plan, you need: 1. Structure. 2. Actually answering the question. 3. Having a bit of flair. - The introduction is the most important. It should signal to the reader that you've done all 3 of these things. - [[Tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, then tell them what you told them]]. - When researching, [[Absorb what is useful, discard what is useless, and add what is specifically your own]]. ### Memorization - Systemically memorize your content. - **Anki** - Spaced repetition and active recall. - **Spider diagrams** - Active recall. - A spider diagram is similar to a mind map, but they are not the same. Mind maps use colours and have rules. There are no rules for laying out a spider diagram. - Create spider diagrams from memory often. They are a good way to see what you know (memorized) and what you don't. - **Retrospective revision time table** - Track spaced repetition and active recall. - Provides Insight on how well you know the content and what you need to study next. ### Wrapping up - Doing these exercises is hard. It requires a lot of time, dedication, and discipline. - It's worth it to know these techniques and to be practiced in them, even if you currently aren't using them. - When the need arises, you will be able to do them. ## Original ![[The essay memorization framework-1.jpg]] ![[The essay memorization framework-2.jpg]] ![[The essay memorization framework-3.jpg]]