It’s hard to study effectively. This is mostly because we’ve never really learned how to study the right way, even after years of university in some cases! In this chapter we will show you some of the most important strategies to learn in a way that is much more time efficient.
As this course is very demanding, this is critical to get through the program successfully. In fact, many successful experts that require focus and concentration for their craft (programmers, writers, artists, scientists, craftsmen, etc.) share one thing in common: they are very serious about how they learn. This chapter will give you a short introduction into how you can study most effectively.
The first part of studying should be to make a study plan.
Your homework will consist of various components. You will need to:
Every week consists of the homework of the previous week and the reading material for the following week. Before you start doing anything, it’s good to plan your week ahead. Divide the large amounts of tasks into small pieces, and think about how much time you expect spend on each task by having a quick look at it.
It is advised to watch some parts of the lecture again and practice with the examples/exercises provided in class. Change the values, variables and other aspects of the code to improve your understanding of the practical use of these concepts. In addition to the videos, you can go through the reading material of the previous week.
We have a certain number of articles and videos that we share as part of the curriculum. However, it is important to read and watch them effectively. Again, try to follow the examples and code them yourself. Also, you are free to look for your own reading material and videos. There is a lot of good material on the internet, which you can make use of. Also, if you find a resource that you think is better than what we offer in the curriculum, please let us know.
As explained in the previous section, reading about code, or listening to your teacher about code, is not the same as actually studying code! It is incredibly important that you try out the concepts that you have learned, and that you try to apply it in multiple ways in order to become comfortable with it. There is no way around this.
We recommend that when you study something, directly try it out in your code editor by running the examples and writing your own examples and see how it works in practice.
Only this way you will truly understand it well, and gain the ability to turn ideas into code.
One more tip: Write code with pen and paper. Try to write down the basic concepts including some simple examples. Yes, this can also be done on the computer, however research shows that writing things down with good old-fashioned pen and paper provides cognitive benefits that you cannot achieve when typing on your keyboard. By the way, some companies will ask you to do the same during their interview process – good practice indeed!
Learning and programming are both less fun alone. Planning group study sessions will make your time studying more fun and more productive.
One great way to work together is Pair Programming, this is a technique where two people code together on a single computer. Take a look through these references then give it a try with your classmates:
Sleep is incredibly important for your brain’s memory capability. If you study a lot, but don’t sleep enough, part of all the hours you put in are useless. On average the recommended time of sleep is ~8 hours. If you go much below this, it will most likely decrease your performance as a student.
We recommend that you do not look at any screen the hour before you go to bed, as this improves your overall sleep quality. Your brain thinks that the light of your screen is natural light, and this will make you stay awake.
Try to take 10-15 minutes breaks in between studying sessions of 90 minutes, as this re-energizes you and improves your focus. During these breaks, some form of physical exercise is highly recommended. Take a walk outside, stretch, dance…get moving!
More generally, we recommend you eat healthy and do sports. There is a large body of evidence that shows exercise helps memory and thinking through both direct and indirect means. Directly through a reduction of insulin resistance, inflammation, and an increase of chemicals in the brain that affect the health of brain cells, the growth of blood vessels in the brain, as well as the survival of new brain cells. Indirectly, exercise improves mood and sleep, and reduces stress and anxiety.
The goal whilst studying should be to reach a state of ‘flow’. Flow can be described as the complete immersion in an activity. By doing so, you lose your sense of space and time. There is quite some research about ‘flow’. This research shows that not only your learning curve increases significantly, also the level of joy increases. In other words, if you are fully concentrated whilst programming you feel way more satisfied as a result.
To reach this level of optimal concentration and create a state of flow, distractions should be shut out as much as possible. The two most common enemies are described below.
Social media is incredibly bad for your focus and therefore it decreases your ability to learn complex concepts. In order to understand programming concepts your brain needs full focus. Every time it is interrupted by a phone or a message online, your brain has to switch its attention. To go back to your code after that will cost a lot of energy. In fact, studies have shown that just having a phone in the same room, reduces your ability to study significantly.
We highly recommend you: when you are studying, put your phone away and use your study time for studying only.
Many of us are not living by ourselves. You might have children, or family members asking for attention. The challenge here is to try and create a quiet space, where you will not be interrupted. Of course, this is not always possible if you are a parent. But perhaps you can ask your partner or a friend to keep an eye on your children at least for a few hours a day, while you go to a local library, or study in a quiet room at a friend’s house.
Obviously, this chapter only provides you with a very basic introduction. If you are interested in learning more about how to learn effectively we recommend you to read more about deliberate learning and deep work. Studying effectively – although NOT easy- is a superpower you can use for the rest of your life!!! An excellent read about the value of working without distractions (and how to achieve it) is the book Deep Work by Cal Newport.