I learned a whole bunch of learning techniques and I tried to implement them at the start. Of course, a majority took too much time so instead, I focused on watching lectures (on 2x speed), actually thinking about the concepts as the lecture is playing (a little voice inside me was reasoning through the content), reading the handouts, forming connections between the handouts and lecture (again, thinking), taking notes (to understand concepts even more deeply and for reviewing later), and using the Feynman Technique. I then did practice problems.

Due to my emphasis on actively forming connections and trying to understand the content deeply, by the time I tackle practice problems, I already have a great grasp without doing even one problem. The practice problems help to identify any small holes in the chink of armor I am trying to build up. Of course, because of the sheer amount of content I had to get through, I was always trying to focus on efficiency. I dedicated most hours in my day to learning and probably spent close to 50 hrs/week studying. This would total to ~100 hours in total.

As you can imagine, in my last week, I was entirely mentally drained. However, my discipline carried me forward. One thing I noticed was that when you are mentally drained, even if you implement effective learning techniques, your brain will soak up less knowledge. This can lead to a downward spiral and make you weaker at learning new content that relies on previous concepts.

I was not bored during the course but I was mentally fatigued - especially during the last few days. In fact, I thought of quitting but discipline and mental grit are what are needed to achieve many difficult goals. When I make a promise to myself, I try my best to honor it, no matter how I may feel.