The Ultimate Study Scheduling Tutorial (the GROW method)

Summary

In this engaging and insightful video, Koi introduces viewers to the GROW method, a strategic approach to study scheduling. Unlike traditional prospective revision schedules that can quickly become chaotic, the GROW method offers an adaptable system based on confidence levels in various topics. Using tools like Excel or Google Sheets, the method guides learners in efficiently allocating study time, ensuring focus on weaker areas. With its focus on adaptability, it helps students maintain clarity on what to study next, ultimately aiming for confidence across all topics just in time for exams.

Highlights

• The GROW method helps distribute study time efficiently, avoiding overstudy of easy topics and understudy of hard ones 🌟.
• Color-coded systems in GROW enhance clarity on what to focus on next, aiding effective study habits 🎯.
• This method allows for quick adaptation and focus on weakest topics, keeping study sessions productive 📈.
• GROW embraces simplicity, using common tools like Excel to maintain organization 🔧.
• Koi's tutorial includes creating a practical example to make implementation easier for viewers 📌.

Key Takeaways

• The GROW method revolutionizes study scheduling with an adaptable, confidence-based approach 🌱.
• Traditional schedules can be chaotic; GROW method alleviates this by focusing on weakest topics first 📅.
• Use tools like Excel and Google Sheets to implement the GROW method effectively on a grid layout 📊.
• Keep track of your progress and adjust focus as needed using color-coded confidence ratings 🎨.
• The ultimate goal is to have all topics be as 'green' as possible by exam day 🎯.

Overview

The video presented by Koi introduces an innovative study scheduling technique known as the GROW method, which aids students in distributing their study time more efficiently. This method replaces chaotic prospective schedules with a more adaptable system that adjusts according to the student's confidence in the subject matter, thus ensuring thorough preparation for exams without unnecessary stress.

The GROW method encourages the use of common tools like Excel or Google Sheets. Viewers are guided through setting up a grid-based schedule where topics are color-coded based on confidence levels. Red indicates topics that need more attention, yellow for intermediate levels, and green for those confidently understood. This system allows students to visually track and prioritize their study sessions effectively.

Koi's approach promises a straightforward yet highly effective way of planning study time, leveraging adaptability for each learner's needs. By consistently revisiting and revising every topic's confidence level, students can focus on their weakest areas first, ensuring thorough preparation and gradually turning their grid green—indicating full preparedness by exam day.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction to the GROW Method The chapter introduces the concept of using AI to track study progress, manage schedules, and optimize revision sessions. Although such technology doesn't exist yet, the chapter emphasizes building a personal system that provides these functionalities. It introduces the GROW method, inspired by Liam Dolls' retrospective revision timetable, aiming to streamline study processes and enhance the efficiency of study routines. A template for implementing the GROW method is also promised at the end of the video.
• 00:30 - 01:00: Prospective vs. Retrospective Revision This chapter discusses the concept of prospective versus retrospective revision. It introduces the idea of an adaptable review schedule that can change based on a student's confidence and familiarity with the material. The chapter critiques the prospective revision schedule, which involves planning reviews in advance. It points out the drawbacks of this approach, such as unpredictable events that can disrupt the plan, including taking more time than expected on certain lectures, unexpected errands, or sudden illnesses. Such disruptions necessitate a reevaluation and adjustment of the schedule.
• 01:00 - 01:30: Problems with Prospective Revision The chapter titled 'Problems with Prospective Revision' discusses the challenges of adhering to a predetermined revision schedule. The transcript reveals the author's struggle with an inflexible study routine that exacerbates personal stress and health issues, specifically diarrhea. The author emphasizes that not considering their existing knowledge when planning revision can lead to inefficient use of time. For instance, if they are already confident with certain lecture material, revisiting it is unnecessary, akin to pointless effort in a game scenario. Conversely, difficult or high-yield topics may be neglected if time is misallocated, resulting in poor exam preparation. This chapter highlights the need for a flexible, knowledge-based revision strategy.
• 01:30 - 02:00: Overview of the GROW Method The GROW method is an acronym designed to help efficiently distribute study time across various topics. It compares each learning topic to a plant or tree, suggesting that some topics are more difficult and need more attention (water and sunlight). Recognizing the limited time before exams, the GROW method provides a strategy for scheduling reviews to avoid overstudying certain topics.
• 02:00 - 02:30: G for Grid The chapter introduces the 'G for Grid' method as a strategy for managing study time effectively. It emphasizes focusing on topics that are challenging or that you feel less confident about by dedicating more time to them. The method involves creating a grid using platforms like Microsoft Excel or drawing it by hand, with an option to use a ready-made Notion template. For each exam, a unique grid is created where all the topics for that exam are listed in the left column. Each time a topic is reviewed, the date is recorded next to it. The following section, which introduces the concept of a rating system ('R' for Rating), is anticipated but not detailed within the provided transcript.
• 02:30 - 03:00: R for Rating System This chapter introduces a color-coded rating system to evaluate our confidence level in different topics, using a 'traffic light' approach with red, yellow, and green. Red indicates a low understanding, signaling the need for more study, while green means the topic is well understood. The goal is to have no topics marked in red by exam day, maximizing the number of green topics. Additionally, 'O' stands for overall outcome, and 'W' stands for identifying the weakest topic to focus on.
• 03:00 - 03:30: O for Overall Outcome The chapter 'O for Overall Outcome' discusses the benefits of a system that automatically prioritizes what to study based on the weakest topics at any given time. This approach is seen as advantageous because it eliminates the need for pre-planning study sessions, which can become disrupted if progress is slower than expected. Instead, the 'grow method' allows for flexible study scheduling, where one can focus on addressing 'red' (high priority) and 'yellow' (moderate priority) topics. The system's adaptability ensures that study sessions are always aligned with current learning needs, simplifying the process and reducing frustration associated with traditional pre-planned schedules.
• 03:30 - 04:00: W for Weakest Topic The chapter titled 'W for Weakest Topic' discusses the method of focusing on the weakest topics during reviews. It emphasizes the importance of iteratively reviewing the topic with the least recent review to ensure that the overall knowledge 'grid' is as strong (or 'as green') as possible. A practical demonstration is provided using tools like Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel, illustrating how the GROW method can be used effectively. In particular, the transcript details Step One: 'G' for grid calendar, highlighting how tools naturally formatted in a grid can assist in organizing and systematically reviewing weak topics.
• 04:00 - 05:00: Using the GROW Method in Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel The chapter discusses the application of the GROW method within spreadsheet tools such as Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel. It specifically addresses how these tools can be beneficial when organizing and reviewing topics or lectures, particularly in an educational setting. The transcript includes an example scenario using an anatomy class to demonstrate this application. It highlights the ease of creating a separate GROW table for each class by duplicating sheets, thus enhancing the organization of study material on these platforms.
• 05:00 - 06:00: Adaptability of the GROW System This chapter discusses the adaptability of the GROW System in helping students streamline their study process. The author explains how the system allows them to easily identify and focus on weaker topics that need more attention. They illustrate this by describing a typical study session, mentioning the ability to see all classes at once, and selecting which lectures to review based on the date, like on November 30th.
• 06:00 - 08:00: Conclusion and Template Link The chapter discusses the importance of having a rating system to assess one's confidence level after reviewing lectures, as part of the Chrome framework. The suggested system is a simple 'stoplight system': red indicating high difficulty, yellow indicating moderate understanding, and green indicating strong confidence. Specifically, the narrator mentions not feeling very confident about cranial nerves, hence assigning it a yellow rating, and proceeds to explain how to apply this rating using a tool or software by selecting the fill color for the rating.

The Ultimate Study Scheduling Tutorial (the GROW method) Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 how cool would it be to have a personal AI track all our studies we're tracking how well we know each topic to scheduling review sessions for us so we always know what to be doing at any given moment yeah that Tech doesn't exist yet at least not yet but in today's study skills episode I want to show you how to build a system that does everything I just mentioned to save you time and give you peace of mind to know exactly what to work on at all times and yes you can grab the template for yourself at the end of this video so we call it the grow method and it's based off all Liam dolls retrospective revision timetable the idea of the grow
• 00:30 - 01:00 method is to build an adaptable review schedule one that changes based on our confidence and how well we know the information before using the system I would plan ahead of time when I would review each individual lecture one by one like on Monday I'll do lectures one two three on Tuesday four five six and so on that's a prospective revision schedule and it has some issues first nothing goes according to plan like what if it takes me a lot longer to do lecture three or I need to take Pepe to the vet or I come down with explosive diarrhea then I have to shift my entire
• 01:00 - 01:30 schedule around which gets chaotic and I get overwhelmed and that makes my diarrhea a lot worse second a prospective revision schedule doesn't consider how well I know what topic if I'm super confident in lecture one then reviewing it is a waste of time it's like farming with level 100 Diglett it's already maxed out and say lecture six is high yield and tough but I don't get to it because I wasted all my time reviewing the previous lectures then I double screwed myself for the exam I wasted time reviewing stuff I already knew and I didn't review the stuff that
• 01:30 - 02:00 I didn't know so the grow method avoids both these problems and here's how it works Crow is an acronym that explains the method step by step the general idea here is to consider every topic as a plant or a tree some topics are harder to learn than others and require more time and attention you know more water and sunlight problem is we only have a certain number of days until the exam which means we don't have unlimited water so the grow method helps us distribute our water efficiently we schedule our views in a way that prevents over studying topics we find
• 02:00 - 02:30 easy and understudying topics we find challenging basically spend more time with topics we're less confident about here's how it works G stands for grid this method uses a grid calendar or table type layout you can use Microsoft Excel you can draw it out by hand we also built a notion template that we'll Link in the description below we want to make one grid per exam list all the topics for that exam in the left column and then every time a topic is reviewed record the date to the right R stands for rating system we want to come up
• 02:30 - 03:00 with a color-coded system to rate how confident we feel about each topic for example you could use this red yellow green Traffic Light rating system so every time we review a topic we want to highlight that date with the color based on our confidence level so if I didn't know this topic well I'd mark it red so I know to spend more time and attention on it next time o stands for overall outcome the goal of the grow method is that by exam day we want zero topics to be read and has many topics to be green as possible W stands for weakest topic
• 03:00 - 03:30 with this system we don't have to worry about planning what to study ahead of time because we'll always decide on studying the weakest Topic at that moment which I think is pretty nice because if I took the time to plan all of my review sessions ahead of time and then I fall behind then I have to shift everything forward and it kind of ruins the entire schedule and it gets annoying but using the grow method I can study whenever I want and just look at what red topics or yellow topics I need to address and if there are multiple red topics and I can't decide which one to
• 03:30 - 04:00 review then I'll go with the one with the least recent review date we keep reviewing our weakest topic until our overall grid is as green as possible okay so now I'm going to do a very quick demonstration about how to use the grow method in a simple app like Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel something that I know you all have access to and I'm going to leave the grow acronym somewhere on the screen over here so you guys can follow along and know which Step I'm actually tackling so Step One is G which is the grid calendar so the cool thing about Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets is that it's already organized in a grid so on the left side of the grid I'm going to put all the
• 04:00 - 04:30 topics or lectures and across the right is going to be the date that you actually reviewed them so let's just make an example that this is going to be anatomy class what do people what do we learn Anatomy can't think of anything else on the top of my head the cool thing about using Google Excel I mean Google Sheets is that you can duplicate each sheet at the bottom for every single Cloud you're taking you're probably going to want to make one grow table for each class you're taking
• 04:30 - 05:00 and so when I'm preparing to study for the day I can just easily see every single class and quickly find the weakest topic that I need to study for but I digress I'm getting ahead of myself there let's get back to Anatomy here let's say that uh today's date which is November 30th I reviewed this lecture and maybe I did this one as well and um this one because why not
• 05:00 - 05:30 so moving on to the next part of the Chrome framework is our rating system so I want a way to actually rate my confidence after I reviewed each lecture so very easy to use rating system would be something like the stoplight system where red is super hard yellow is kind of in the middle and green is super confident I know that's like the back of my hand so for cranial nerves I'm not super confident in it so I'll give it a yellow and you can do that by just going up here to the fill color I'm just going to do yellow for that one sits muscles for
• 05:30 - 06:00 some reason I just got it easy so I'm gonna give it a green and neck muscles oh these guys are pretty tough if anyone has studied Anatomy there's a lot of neck muscles in there kudos to my ENT boys and let's say that tomorrow I'm gonna review these other three lectures that didn't touch yet so 12 1 22 I'm just gonna copy this and put them in these two cells and once again we're going to use the R rating system and let's say that for some reason not the best day I'm gonna give this a yellow I'm going to give this a red and
• 06:00 - 06:30 I'm also going to give this one a red Maddie's got a lot of work to do anyways moving on to O which is the overall outcome of what we want we want to see as many of these become green as possible and I'm going to see that happen as I continue to review more and more and more each coming day so let's fast forward Dawn of a new day I just drank some coffee revved up maybe a little bit anxious sit down at my desk and I wonder what should I study today I'm gonna go with W in the framework which is weakest topic first I'm going to take a look at everything I have here the weakest topics are the ones that are
• 06:30 - 07:00 in red and the ones that I should prioritize are the ones that I haven't looked at in the longest time it's going to be neck muscles which I would look at first and if I still have time I'm going to hit abs and then we're going to hit legs because we don't skip leg day right so as I review my weakest topics I'm once again going to color code them using the rating system and let's say that all of these were a little bit better so we're going to be yellow and then I'm just going to continue this process right
• 07:00 - 07:30 and look we're getting to the point now where they're all turning green cool but that doesn't mean I should stop studying right because if my exam is next week and I still want to have these fresh on my mind weakest topic just ends up being the last one that I reviewed so for example if I was going to continue studying for anatomy to keep it fresh before my exam the weakest topic would now be the sits muscles because this was the longest to go that I reviewed and what's cool about the grow system is that it's adaptable right it changes
• 07:30 - 08:00 with how confident we are so because I didn't look at the sits muscles for almost a week maybe today as I reviewed it I actually felt less confident than I thought I did so just because it was green ones doesn't mean it can't go back to yellow or doesn't mean it can't go back to red right because our confidence changes as time goes on maybe we learn some new information maybe we did some practice problems and realize that oh maybe I didn't really understand abdominal cavity or brachial plexus as well as I thought and I can change the confidence rating system accordingly but
• 08:00 - 08:30 Yep this way I always know what I need to be studying each time I sit down because I have the grow system in place but seriously we don't need super fancy Tech to schedule our reviews we keep it simple using notion you can keep track of all your classes track your confidence levels with each topic if your rookie or your Ranger and you know exactly what you need to study next so to get the newly updated template just check the link in the description and if you want a guided tutorial on exactly how to use it just stick around a little
• 08:30 - 09:00 bit longer and check out this video right over here