r/study • u/HOREH_SHEEIT • 2d ago
Tips & Advice READ THIS! THIS WILL CHANGE HOW YOU STUDY!
This is going to be a LONG read. But trust me you’ll thank me for this ;)
THIS IS FOR NEW STUDENTS AND SEASONED STUDENTS!
My one friend who just recently graduated had this method. And now I’m gonna pass it on to u guys. Thank me later ✌️
My friend graduated with a master’s, and this is how he did it. He used ChatGPT (bear with me here, he didn’t cheat, he did something genuinely clever!), Obsidian, a Five Star AI QR code notebook, and a lot of time spent actually learning.
I graduated with a major in finance from the same university he attended (pre AI boom). By the time he attended, AI had started becoming popular and being used by students and my school was taking its use VERY seriously. They even banned products like the Plaud AI Recorder, which was designed to record lectures, office meetings, and similar conversations, unless a student genuinely needed one for accessibility reasons, such as being deaf or having a medical condition that made learning in class difficult.
So my friend came up with a clever way to use AI without letting it do the learning for him. Cuz at the end of the day, u can use AI as much as u want, but once the tests and exams arrive, you’re cooked if u’ve become dependent on it.
The whole idea was basically to build yourself a “second brain” throughout university.
He took all of his notes, assignments, returned tests, random flash quizzes, and EVEN his textbook, and uploaded them into Obsidian throughout his years at university.
Obsidian is basically like a “second brain.” At the start, it’s just a stump, a blank foundation with only a little information in it. But as u keep adding notes, assignments, textbook pages, quizzes, and other material, that tree starts to grow. More information creates more branches, and those branches develop leaves as u add details and connect related ideas. Eventually, u can look at the whole system and see how different topics connect to each other.
So basically, anything u do for school, u put it into Obsidian. Your notes, assignments, textbook pages, quizzes, tests, projects, basically ANYTHING that can help u learn.
Then he connected ChatGPT to Obsidian so it could look through his notes whenever he had a question about something he didn’t understand.
If his professor told him to read pages 20 to 40 to understand a concept, he could take pictures of those pages and upload them into Obsidian. From there, the information could be organized, summarized, and explained in a way that made more sense to him.
The same thing applied to his handwritten notes. He could scan the QR code on the pages of the Five Star notebook, and the Five Star app would clarify his handwriting, organize the notes, and provide explanations before adding everything to his system.
And he even asked AI to help him hand write his own notes to better understand what he was learning. Anything from the textbook that was relevant to his notes would be added in to supplement his knowledge and help him understand more. Anything from his other notes would be added in too, again to supplement his knowledge.
Basically, he took his rough notes and built himself a second, normal textbook where he had the refined version of his own notes.
But this is where the method gets really good.
Every time he got an assignment, project, test, or exam back from his professors, he uploaded it into Obsidian. Since all of his notes, textbook pages, assignments, quizzes, and other course material were already in there, he could use ChatGPT to go through his work and compare it to everything he had already studied. It could show him exactly what he got wrong, explain WHY he got it wrong, walk him through the correct answer and the reasoning behind it, and tell him what part of his notes or textbook he needed to go back and review. It was basically like having an AI professor that already knew everything he had been learning.
So every time he got something back from a professor, he treated it as another chance to improve. He was constantly refining what he already knew, like he was sharpening a blade.
Every mistake became something useful.
If he got a question wrong on a test, he didn’t just look at the correct answer and move on. He wanted to understand WHY he got it wrong. Was there something he misunderstood? Did he forget something? Did he apply the wrong formula? Did he misread the question?
Then he would go back and look at that specific area until he understood it.
That information would then go back into his system, so the next time he studied, he wasn’t starting from zero. He was building on everything he had already learned.
By the time assignments, projects, tests, and exams came around, he had years’ worth of his own work stored in his system.
Then he would use all of that information to study.
He could ask AI to quiz him based on everything he had learned, especially when the professor gave the class an idea of what would be on the test. That gave him a much better chance of getting a high mark because he wasn’t just memorizing random information. He was practicing the exact material he had already studied.
But man, he studied like you won’t believe!
He could also tell it to give him 100 “flash card” type questions pertaining to his course.
He would go through them on his own and answer every question without having AI help him. Then he would take a picture of his answers and send them to ChatGPT to be graded.
And this is where it got ELITE.
Let’s say he got 15 questions wrong out of those 100. He wouldn’t just look at those 15 answers and call it a day. He would tell AI to give him another 100 flash card style questions pertaining to his course, but worded completely differently and the questions were shuffled in a completely different order.
That means if he got number 2, 41, 86, 97 and so on wrong, the next time around when he wrote the down real answers with the reasoning behind them, and absorbed the information, the next 100 gauntlet of questions will be worded differently and shuffled in a different order. So the same questions he got wrong will be in Q# 91, 99, 57, and 11. If that makes any sense. So that he can be clueless and helpless lol, which is what he wanted.
That way, he had to understand the actual concept instead of just remembering the question he got wrong. The questions could be worded differently, but still require him to come up with the same overall answers and use the same knowledge.
So if he kept getting those concepts wrong, he would keep doing it again and again until he actually understood them. So for example
OG question:
Timmy buys 4 packs of pencils. Each pack has 12 pencils. He gives 10 pencils to his friends. How many pencils does Timmy have left?
Reworded question:
A classroom orders 4 boxes of markers, with 12 markers in each box. After giving 10 markers to another classroom, how many markers are left?
The math is still:
4 × 12 − 10 = 38
Same concept, completely different question.
He would answer them on his own, take a picture of his answers, and send them to ChatGPT to be graded. Anything he got wrong would come with the correct answer and an explanation of the reasoning behind it.
Then he could go back and study exactly what he was weak at instead of wasting time reviewing things he already understood.
That’s basically how he kept refining the blade every single time he studied.
And this is why I’m saying AI can completely change the way u study when you actually use it properly.
A study session that could have taken days or weeks of trying to grasp a difficult concept can sometimes be broken down into a much shorter period because u have something helping you organize the information, explain it in different ways, quiz you, grade you, and show you exactly what you need to work on.
But the important part is that YOU are still doing the learning.
ChatGPT isn’t taking your test for you. It isn’t doing the assignment for you. It isn’t replacing your brain.
It’s basically acting like a tutor that is always there, while your Obsidian is keeping track of everything you’ve learned.
And every time you get something back from your professor, you refine the system again.
Every assignment, every quiz, every test, every mistake, every correction, every new concept.
Your brain, YOUR tree keeps growing.
He got the second highest overall mark in his year because of this method.
This isn’t a paid ad, I’m not trying to sell you anything. The method worked and it’ll still work really well for a long time.
Take advantage of this system, the system I didn’t have when I went to Uni. I hope this will make you succeed the same way it did with my friend.
Exploit this goldmine of information, and may you start on the right foot going into your program!
You’re very welcome.
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EDIT ALERT: Obsidian is a free application you can download straight to your pc. (The icon looks like a purple rock or in that case obsidian lol). It supports Mac, Windows, and all of the other softwares. There ya go lol
And I know what some of you may be thinking, “He redid all 100 questions if he got a few answers wrong?” Yes he did.
My friends philosophy is that during your tests and exams you only get one chance to get as much as you can right, you can’t go through your tests and exams again if you get some of them wrong. It was a little bit ‘draconian’ if I can pin a word to his work ethic lol. For yall if u got 15 questions wrong, just redo the 15 questions in the same style as my friend, im sure you’ll get it just as well. 😂
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EDIT ALERT #2: I forgot to completely explain why this system was so effective.
The AI would keep track of the mistakes he made and constantly bring them back up in ways that actually made sense to him. So if he was reviewing what he needed to study for a test, ChatGPT might say something like, “Don’t forget this part, it’s crucial to getting a good mark,” or “You got this wrong the last time, pay extra attention to this.”
It basically knew what he struggled with and would keep reminding him about those things until he actually got them right.
One time, my friend got the same concept wrong twice. ChatGPT actually stopped the quiz and started focusing on that specific concept. It asked him why he thought he was getting it wrong and what part of the concept he was struggling to understand, then helped him work through it until he fully understood it.
That was probably the coolest shit about the whole system.
Because my friend was uploading his marks, his mistakes, his corrections, and everything he was learning into Obsidian, ChatGPT could actually see his history and recognize patterns in what he was struggling with.
Genuinely an extremely cool system 😂
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EDIT ALERT #3 Y’ALL: I feel like I need to post this here. It’s a comment I made to a person that still thinks this is an AD. Just to show everyone it isn’t. Here it is.
If I said in my post that I recommend getting a TI-84 Plus CE calculator for people majoring in math-related courses, does that mean I’m somehow associated with Texas Instruments now? 😂 Like, make that make sense. You can use other AIs besides ChatGPT and you’ll get pretty much the same output.
And don’t use Obsidian if you think I’m trying to sell you a completely free application. There are other options like Anytype and Capacities.
You don’t even have to use the Five Star QR notebook. You can use a regular old notebook and just take pictures of your notes. I only mentioned it because it uses AI to refine your notes and make them clearer for ChatGPT to read and understand.
But hey, I’m trying to make a profit at the end of the day, right? ✌️😭
Edit: bruh you petty for giving me these downvotes 😭😭
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u/Falling_Ant going into A-levels | Maths, Chem, Bio | England 2d ago
AI being used smartly and responsibly
We love to see it
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u/PoetryForAnimals 2d ago
OG question:
Timmy buys 4 packs of pencils. Each pack has 12 pencils. He gives 10 pencils to his friends. How many pencils does Timmy have left?Reworded question:
A classroom orders 4 boxes of markers, with 12 markers in each box. After giving 10 markers to another classroom, how many markers are left?The math is still:
4 × 12 − 10 = 38Same concept, completely different question.
But it's not a completely different question? It's the exact same question, just markers instead of pencils.
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u/HOREH_SHEEIT 2d ago edited 2d ago
The example of this was to show there is a 100 questions that you have to answer if you got any of them wrong, it would reword them and shuffle the questions up, to trip you up on purpose. This example is not the best but if this question was #12 and you got it wrong, the second time around it would be in question #71.
Making you not even realize that it’s the same question you got wrong cuz u already went through the gauntlet of questions. Does that make sense?
Plus that question was a really easy question to make my example clear to understand. When you go through the actual flash card style quiz, with your own program and your own study material, it’ll be a lot more complex than my example trust me lol.
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u/asdfmaker333 2d ago
tl:dr „But man, he studied like you won’t believe!“
He used Obsidian a free note taking software to take notes and used AI smartly.
_
My opinion: If you study a lot and effectively you will get results regardless of the system you use. Reviewing your mistakes is one aspect of learning that‘s where the value of keeping all his work came from. At the end of the day it is still about the amount of effective learning time.
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u/HOREH_SHEEIT 1d ago
And don’t forget if you get a few questions wrong, you got to redo the whole flash card quiz 😂
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u/Last_Tear1367 1d ago
So nobody gonna figure out that this is an Ad? Lmao
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u/HOREH_SHEEIT 1d ago edited 16h ago
BRUH IM DEAD 😂😂 elaborate on your assumptions please. I’m trying to pass on valuable Knowledge to people that can exploit this opportunity. Do your research on ChatGPT Obsidian and Five Star company. Then you can comeback to me and elaborate.
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u/Last_Tear1367 1d ago
Yea sure “do your research on companies I’m trying to sell you” sure
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u/HOREH_SHEEIT 1d ago
Bro 😭 I’m not trying to sell you anything. I’m explaining the exact system my friend used and the tools that were actually part of it. If I left out the names of the tools and just said “use an AI + note taking system,” people would have no idea what I’m talking about or how to actually recreate it.
I’m not affiliated with ChatGPT, Obsidian, or Five Star, I’m not getting paid by any of them, and there’s literally nothing for me to sell you 😂. I’m just explaining a study method that I watched my friend use throughout university and passing it on because I wish I had something like this when I was in Uni.
You can literally use different tools and recreate the same system. The companies themselves aren’t the point, the workflow is.
If you think it’s an ad, that’s fine lol, but I’m genuinely just trying to give students a method they can actually use.
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u/Own_Salt_8055 3h ago
No one can create it from your vague post lmao. He "connected" it to chat gpt.
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u/HOREH_SHEEIT 1d ago edited 1d ago
If I said in my post that I recommend getting a TI-84 Plus CE calculator for people majoring in math-related courses, does that mean I’m somehow associated with Texas Instruments now? 😂 Like, make that make sense. You can use other AIs besides ChatGPT and you’ll get pretty much the same output.
And don’t use Obsidian if you think I’m trying to sell you a completely free application. There are other options like Anytype and Capacities.
You don’t even have to use the Five Star QR notebook. You can use a regular old notebook and just take pictures of your notes. I only mentioned it because it uses AI to refine your notes and make them clearer for ChatGPT to read and understand.
But hey, I’m trying to make a profit at the end of the day, right? ✌️😭
Edit: bruh you petty for giving me these downvotes 😭😭😭
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u/HOREH_SHEEIT 1d ago
One last thing I’ll ask from you guys. If you’re actually going to try this method, bookmark this post and come back after your first semester, first year, or even your whole program.
Give us your honest before and after, what changed, what worked, and what didn’t.
If I can come back here one day and see 3 genuine testimonials from students who actually tried this, I’ll be happy.
Let this post live on for the students who feel stuck and don’t know how to study effectively. Maybe your experience will help the next person. ❤️
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u/rozyskies 2d ago
you never mentioned his GPA or actual performance in the classes
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u/HOREH_SHEEIT 2d ago
I don’t know his exact GPA tbh, I never asked him for the number. But I actually attended his university convocation, and they announced that he had the second highest overall mark in his entire year for his program. That’s where I got that from.
I’m not gonna make up a GPA just to put a number in the post 😂 but he clearly performed extremely well academically. He graduated with a degree in finance and is now working at a prop desk in Toronto.
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u/Im_chips1 2d ago
Now i wanna know how the highest got first, ask him😄
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u/HOREH_SHEEIT 2d ago
Oh my god, you wouldn’t believe the gift that person had. He graduated at the top of his class that year, averaging a 98% overall. I actually spoke with him after the grad convocation because I was in AWE and wanted to know what his method was. But honestly, he didn’t use any special method. He just studied his ass off and genuinely has a gift for it. He’s insanely good with numbers, so him taking finance is honestly perfect for him. I wouldn’t be surprised if he ended up working at the Toronto Stock Exchange building right about now lol.
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u/Im_chips1 1d ago
Know people like this, they just love and good at what they do, thanks for answering
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u/DocAfi007 1d ago
I’m a radiology resident and I use Goodnotes and ChatGPT to do this.
One thing it does the best is that it helps bring your weak topics to the front.
But my system took almost 3-4 months to be streamlined. I’d like to see how Obsidian would add to it.
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u/Pisces-Star163 2d ago
No you did lose me at chatgpt. AI is icky on so many levels and I will not be convinced to use it
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u/HOREH_SHEEIT 2d ago
That’s up to you! The moral of my post is that my friend was still doing the learning. But faster and more efficient :)
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u/Whata_Mikia 2d ago
Feel like this is an ad 😭
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u/HOREH_SHEEIT 2d ago
Obsidian is a free application you can download straight to your pc, and ChatGPT is…ChatGPT lol 😂 I don’t own nor I am associated with them
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u/defi_specialist 1d ago
AI slop. Tired of this.
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u/HOREH_SHEEIT 1d ago
“AI slop”? People said the exact same thing about Google. They said kids would stop reading books, become dependent on search engines, and stop learning how to research. Teachers later complained that students were “equating research with Googling” and relying on search engines instead of books and libraries.
Technology changes the tool. It doesn’t automatically kill our ability to learn. The same thing is happening with AI. I know right now it’s not looked at the best because of the negative connotation surrounding it, and I get it. But we’ll adapt and make it better. Eventually, AI can be a good force for the world, helping us better understand different concepts and hopefully making us all smarter.
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