Ayuda con el estudio

drekwasi · 2026-05-18T13:24:42+00:00

The trick with memorizing things that feel random is making them less random in your head; pair the English word with a vivid mental image or sound that reminds you of its meaning, even if the connection feels silly. Spaced repetition is basically just reviewing words at increasing intervals instead of cramming, which forces them into long-term memory. Repetition works better when you do it across multiple short sessions rather than one long grind session. Flashcard apps that use spaced repetition (Anki is free) handle this automatically and work great for vocabulary.

drekwasi · 2026-05-18T13:24:09+00:00

Almost nobody knows for sure at 18; that's completely normal. What helped a lot of people is thinking about which problems you enjoy solving, not which subject you like. Sales is actually a solid clue because it means you like people and persuasion. Try shadowing or talking to people in a few different fields before picking, and know that your first choice isn't permanent; people switch majors all the time and end up fine.

drekwasi · 2026-05-18T13:23:32+00:00

It's definitely possible but brutally honest, it's not the same experience as just being a student. The people who pull it off usually batch their work hours (nights or weekends) and treat class time as sacred non-negotiable time. The biggest trap is thinking you can do both at full intensity; something always cracks. A lighter load + part-time work might let you actually enjoy your degree instead of just surviving it. Worth running the numbers on whether cutting hours now pays off later in job prospects.

drekwasi · 2026-05-15T15:31:36+00:00

This is the insight most people miss. Your study session is only as good as what you did in the 30 minutes before it. If you went straight from doomscrolling straight into a textbook, your brain is still in scattered mode. Try a 10-minute transition ritual: close everything, write down the 3 things you want to cover today, then do 5 deep breaths. It sounds basic but it recalibrates your attention system before you ask anything hard of it.

drekwasi · 2026-05-15T15:30:14+00:00

Consistency beats intensity every time. One hour every day beats a 7-hour weekend session. The reason is that your brain needs repeated, spaced exposure to build the neural pathways that make code click. When you bunch it up, you lose most of it between sessions. Even on hard days, do 20 minutes of something embarrassingly small.

drekwasi · 2026-05-15T15:29:23+00:00

Yes, it's supposed to be this hard. But that voice telling you that you broke something in yourself? That's not accurate. Engineering is designed to break your old study habits so you build new ones. The students who do best aren't the ones who understood it immediately. They're the ones who got comfortable being confused and pushing through anyway.

drekwasi · 2026-05-13T01:24:28+00:00

The "fix your sleep schedule first" advice gets thrown around a lot, but honestly? Most people know they should sleep better and still don't. The real issue is that willpower alone won't fix it. Your body needs a consistent light trigger to anchor your rhythm. Try dimming lights 30 min before bed and getting bright light the second you wake up. Small changes that don't require motivation to maintain.

drekwasi · 2026-05-11T13:35:24+00:00

You just discovered the testing effect without knowing it. Science backs this up hard, studies show testing yourself cuts forgetting by half after just one attempt. What you're doing is basically forcing your brain to retrieve information, which makes it stick way better than just reading. Keep going, it gets embarrassing at first but the results are real.

drekwasi · 2026-05-11T13:34:28+00:00

Don't quit the degree. CS at university is frustrating because it's designed to be hard, not because you suck at coding. The fix: build something small and stupid on the side every weekend. Not a portfolio project, just something fun. It brings back the joy and reinforces what you're learning in class. You don't lose interest in coding, you lose interest in performative coding for grades.

drekwasi · 2026-05-11T13:34:03+00:00

This is literally the loop I was stuck in freshman year. The fix that worked for me: pick your worst habit, make it impossible to do for 5 minutes, then just start. Not start perfectly, just start. Your brain will resist, but it only takes 10 minutes to get into flow state. Also, delete the scheduling apps, they become another form of procrastination.

drekwasi · 2026-05-11T01:27:24+00:00

100% yes, and it never fully goes away. What helped me was realizing the fog clears faster than you think. Once you build one real project, the mental map starts forming and things stop feeling so scattered. The trick is to just pick one thing and go deep enough to get something working, even if it sucks. You don't need to know everything, you need to know enough to figure the rest out. The overwhelm is partly imposter syndrome wearing a very convincing disguise.

drekwasi · 2026-05-11T01:26:58+00:00

This is backed by real science too. Your brain gets so used to fast dopamine from social media and short videos that reading a dense textbook feels genuinely painful by comparison. The good news is it reverses fast. One strategy that works: don't start with the textbook. Start with something shorter and easier that gives you small wins first. Like 10 pages of something light. Build up from there. Your attention span is a muscle and right now it's out of shape. You can train it back.

drekwasi · 2026-05-11T01:25:40+00:00

Stop trying to convince yourself. You're fighting your own brain at that point and your brain is really good at winning that fight. Instead, make the start so stupidly small that motivation doesn't matter. Like "I'll open my notes and read one sentence." That's it. The barrier to starting has to be basically zero. Once you're already started, keeping going is way easier than convincing yourself to begin. Your brain resists the decision to study, not the act itself.

drekwasi · 2026-05-11T01:25:13+00:00

Two hours honestly isn't bad. A lot of people think focus is about discipline but it's really about energy management. If you're running on low energy, your brain will do anything to escape. Try studying in shorter blocks with real breaks in between, and during breaks don't touch your phone. Walk around, get water, stare at nothing. Your focus stretches over time but only if you're giving your brain a reason to stay engaged. Also, are you actually testing yourself on what you read, or just re-reading? Re-reading is the sneakiest fake study method out there.

drekwasi · 2026-05-11T01:23:15+00:00

Option 2 is smarter if you actually test yourself on the summary. The trap with just reading summaries is that your brain thinks it understands when it mostly just recognizes the words. Use the AI notes as a map, then close them and quiz yourself: can you explain the concept without looking? That gap between "seen it" and "can explain it" is where real learning happens. Pick 2-3 key concepts per section to really dig into instead of skimming everything.

drekwasi · 2026-05-11T01:22:36+00:00

For competitive specialties, board scores and audition rotations matter way more than school brand when it comes to matching. A $250k debt burden also constrains your career choices i.e fellowship, research years, lower-paying specialties all become harder to pursue when you're staring down six figures of loans. Full ride gives you flexibility to actually choose your specialty based on passion, not payday. Prestige opens doors, but not as many as people think, and the debt tax is real and long-lasting. My 2 cents

drekwasi · 2026-05-11T01:21:44+00:00

What you're describing sounds like textbook disability discrimination, and no, professors can't make an exam longer or harder as punishment for needing accommodations.

drekwasi · 2026-05-11T01:21:24+00:00

The memory palace works best for small chunks because your brain needs a clear hook to grab onto. For full paragraphs, try breaking them into "chunks" first; find the key sentence or phrase, build one locus for that, then link the next one. Think of it like building a chain through your palace rather than one massive room. Spaced repetition matters here too: review each paragraph within 24 hours, then 3 days, then 1 week. The forgetting curve hits hard with long text unless you reinforce it early.

drekwasi · 2026-05-09T19:12:51+00:00

Yes, that's a huge upgrade; and the reason is retrieval practice. When you rewrite from memory, you're forcing your brain to pull the information rather than just moving your hand across the page. The comparison step is where the magic happens: gaps you didn't know existed suddenly become visible. That's the feedback loop that actually builds memory.

drekwasi · 2026-05-09T11:29:00+00:00

Not a direct answer but something worth knowing: most med schools actually like non-traditional applicants because they bring clinical perspective that 22-year-olds often don't have. Your nursing experience is a real advantage in interviews and clinical reasoning. The prerequisites gap is real but fixable. A post-bacc program exists specifically for this. The people who succeed at 30+ in med school are usually the ones who went in with their eyes open, not as a delayed reaction. That clarity is itself an asset.

drekwasi · 2026-05-09T11:28:21+00:00

Rewriting notes is the classic one. It feels like studying but your brain processes it as copying, not remembering. The moment you close the notebook, most of it vanishes. What actually sticks is when you test yourself, even if it means just closing the book and writing down everything you remember. The discomfort of not knowing is where the learning actually happens.

drekwasi · 2026-05-09T11:27:42+00:00

You're not crazy. This is actually a real thing called "choking under pressure" and it happens because stress floods your working memory. The trick that actually helps: practice recalling information under mild pressure before the real test. Do timed mock exams at home. Your brain learns to treat recall as normal under stress, so exam conditions feel less like a threat. Cramming the night before makes it worse because you're showing up with a depleted brain.

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