Forums IMPORTANT: PLEASE READ PhotoReading, Memory Optimizer From A+ to an A-

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Originally posted by Cremio:
Hi Hermionics

Could you please tell me more about Green's study method? What is the secret, how does your plan look when you study?

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The core of his method is to review a little notes day by day. Review 3 times. First time, refresh. Second time, recall. Third time, recite.

15 minutes each day for me to review all the notes using his method. I always master all the information with it.

With the "notes-mastery", I get A+ easily. Also, the more I read my notes on a quotidian basis, the less the time I will have to spend to comprehensively review for tests and exams.

Also, with this mastery, I can think about my materials much more deeply. Hence, I ace all analysis/interpretation/evaluation, as well as recitation (fill in the blank, multiple-choice, describe and explain, etc.), on tests in difficult classes, AP Politics, for example.

However, I never read notes for maths. The more I read maths formulae, the more they elude me. I ace my AP Calculus BC class with A+'s because I theorise on tests to get the satisfactory formulae or methods. Hence, I conclude that Green's method doesn't work for mathematics and applied science (quantum phyiscs calculations, quarks and anti-quarks, wave particles calculations, for example).

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Originally posted by Mayflower:
Hi. I was reading this thread and even though I just started the course, I found it very interesting.

I wanted to tell Hermionics that going from 4 hours of study to about 15 minutes of photoreading and her grade only came down a point is an incredible display of photoreading since she just learned it. I would be excited if I were her. Photoreading like everything else takes practice. I think she's being hard on the system, and she didn't answer anyones questions either which tends to make me suspicious.

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A perfectionist like me never gets satisfied with anything. In school, I learn the basic materials. At home, I do extensive research to further my knowledge. As you may have noticed, my username is "Hermionics", which is the invented term for "the study of how to perfect your grades following Hermione Granger's studying method".

I read many books. I do research online. I write essays about different things in my spare time. I debate on prominently intellectual discussion boards such as http://forums.philosophyforums.com/ and http://www.galilean-library.org/.

In short, perfection is similar to torture but this torture brings pleasure afterward.

I apologise that I did not reply to some of the posts. I simply did not have enough time. I hope you understand my tight schedule.

You tell me in MSN you only applied PhotoReading for 2 weeks. That means you went to using PhotoReading on textbooks without first learning the system on other material.

PhotoReading is for faster reading not eliminating reviewing, We suggest mind mapping because it only takes 2 to 3 minutes to review. As with all things use it or lose it.

It appears to me you have unrelistic expectations and considering you are learning from the book alone 2 weeks is not enough time to develop the skill that some people have as an natural ability. It can be learned but not overnight.

Alex

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Originally posted by Alex K. Viefhaus:
You tell me in MSN you only applied PhotoReading for 2 weeks. That means you went to using PhotoReading on textbooks without first learning the system on other material.

PhotoReading is for faster reading not eliminating reviewing, We suggest mind mapping because it only takes 2 to 3 minutes to review. As with all things use it or lose it.

It appears to me you have unrelistic expectations and considering you are learning from the book alone 2 weeks is not enough time to develop the skill that some people have as an natural ability. It can be learned but not overnight.

Alex

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I will take your words, especially your last seemingly convincing statement, and start practicing PRing again. Summer is coming so I will have a lot of time to practice PRing.

I'll try on magazines and newspapers first because I consider them the easiest materials to read, not counting comic books and their ilk.

Afterward, I will try light novels and then page-turners and eventually difficult novels such as Crime and Punishment.

I hope this works. Otherwise, my passion for perfection will not let me have enough sleep in the future.

Dear Hermionics, wow!
nice to finally meet someone with truly high ambitions. And I especially appreciate your "perfectionist" tone
I, too, have perceived this wish throughout my life and the attitude other people often complain about as eccentrism or narcism is a feeling, an automatic feeling they get when hearing other speaking in such "perfectionist" tone. For me at least, when alone with myself, when studying, etc. that has remained the best solution. What others perceive as exaggerated or "boastful" may not be the true thing we feel.
I say this because ever since I learned all this stuff, PR, etc. I've also partially lost that feeling, which is another reason I prefer postponing the learning of it.
I also used to get A+ by doing more or less what you did and indeed, it is efficient, and maybe for us highschool students is more time-saving than doing/or learning PR.
I don't completely agree with you on the fact that it is "innate", since - at least my knowledge on neuroscientific level (not neurolinguistic) - tells me that there are indeed things that are set in your brain from the moment you are born, and the stronger they get, the better they express themselves as what is called personality or behaviour, habits, etc. The genetic information doesn't directly interfere much with personality as far as I learned. So maybe there's more research to do on this.
I think that we as "perfectionists" who had the opportunity of "setting good learning behaviours strongly" since our birth (speaking in NLP terminology) has supported our world view and our passions, our dreams, which probably - as Alex said - are already fixed and through certain methods can have different effects on us.
When I say "us" and "they" I may be misunderstood: it's often accepted that people are all the same on neurological level, but I this equality is only at birth.
Think simply of the system of prejudice-mindedness: what's the interaction between a person who has prejudice and a person who doesn't?
Does a person convinced of being a genius have more [material!] success than a person trying to imitate Jesus? Debateable, but think of concrete examples.
Ever saw or read Beautiful Mind, the biography of the John Nash Forbes?
He was eccentric, maybe even very eccentric, which made him maybe less popular, but a great mathematician.
Beyond note-taking, methods, techniques, etc. the best way to really get an A+ could be our own belief, which so often is called perfectionism. I call it heroism, passion, devotion and pure, natual confidence and hope.
For others it can be different, and this is caused by different world-views, different perception of "normality", etc.
For some, perfection is something that implies being better than everyone and everything existing in this world, for others, it's the constant growth, constant having opportunity (an average A+ gets you to Oxford with scholarship )
For others, "perfection is something to be avoided". That much society has been brainwashed

Dear Alex,
regarding my reading much: I think I, too, had such an impression when I started learning a lot. Your argument is very good, so maybe I should start limiting myself again to the school material, although I do it with great remorse. Usually, a person who is able to manage all information well, understand everything read also beyond school - and not only in mathematics - should be able to get A+ et laude etc. but apparently... it's not that way.
A person who has a broader view on things, and "feels more successful" should be able to express this feeling also in grades. I quote from you (and I've actually heard it millions of times before, even from my own parents)
"True success is not measured in a grade. It's how you feel about yourself."
I'm able to FEEL however I want in any moment, but very often feelings don't correspond to a reality tending more towards objectivity. The latter can be done only with grades.
If a person is good and genial as Jesus, this automatically implies that he gets A+
Otherwise it's only an illusory feeling to satisfy oneself of something one can't get.
I can feel like God and have friends, a girlfriend, etc. but be poor in knowledge, with lots of Ds in my report. Grades say concrete things about a persons knowledge, not about a persons feelings.
And, maybe this is only for a restricted group of people, including myself, feeling like God without having anything concrete is comparable to the happiness achieved through drugs and nicotine.
I don't find any excuse to the fact that I've currently failed learning well PhotoReading, and inspite of my "diversity" from "normal" people, I repeat, I will start doing simple books, newspapers, etc. with PR during summer holidays

I will not start with self-improvement, inspirational books as they make me worse, but simple elementary books like learning a language, small hisory excerpts, martial arts manuals, etc.

Warmest regards and have a nice day

I absolutely agree with being well read and having a broad view. But focusing on your goal learning for school it will affect your grade and not necessarily for the best. When you think outside the box you can get graded outside the box. And some teachers may never have achieved an A to become teachers. Know why? You only need to pass.

Alex

Dear Alex,

Did you tell me that KW has given up the desire to get a First before he got it eventually? If so, would it contradict the thought 'You won't get sth unless you desire to get it'?

Michael

He gave up studying for the first and instead focused on learning. Knowing what he needed to know to get his best passing grade. It was always within his skills and potential to be his best passing grade.

Yes I argued with him also. I pointed out to him that he may well ger a first but for the past five years others have been getting a first and for the next 5 years there will be others all eligable to apply for the same job. A first does not guarantee that you will get a great job. And a suprising number who enjoy a successful career apply the 80/20 rule to studying and their grades. If you can get 80% (a passing grade) using 20% of your study time...

Alex

Dear Alex,
check out following biographies...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Clinton http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Thatcher http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Hawking http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._R._R._Tolkien http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_Wilde http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rowan_Atkinson (Mr. Bean) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Smith

If you don't have time, I'll explain you: those are just some of the TRULY successful people, and not just successful because they "found a good job". They entered history. And all of them have attended Oxford University.

Now read this: http://www.admissions.ox.ac.uk/courses/enreq.shtml

Considering the large, very, very, large amount of people yearly applying there, all having A averages, and the large number of people rejected (they admit only the very best), what can you say?

That those mentioned above were only exceptions? What if I want to be an exception? What if I'm seeking more than a good career? Not all people just want a job and a family and a happy life. I'm not of that stereotype. See, we have different ways of conceiving "success".

I learned "outside of the box" for a long time, and I try to make this outside bigger. But if becoming better outside (learning PR, other material, broader view of subjects, etc.) makes me worse inside (as you said two posts ago), and consequently I cannot enter a good university, what other choice do I have if not working hard on getting A+ in every subject, with every possible way?

I hope you understand my situation...

Hello

I am the KW that Michael brought up. Before I comment on your post, kindly note that I graduated from the University of Cambridge, and speak from first hand experience of the process you outlined.

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Originally posted by Deadlife:
If you don't have time, I'll explain you: those are just some of the TRULY successful people, and not just successful because they "found a good job". They entered history. And all of them have attended Oxford University.

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And I also note that some of my colleagues, in spite of their prestigious degrees, have not been quite as successful. The people make the University, not the opposite.

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Originally posted by Deadlife:
Considering the large, very, very, large amount of people yearly applying there, all having A averages, and the large number of people rejected (they admit only the very best), what can you say?

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That it's very competitive, but that's not the point. The point is that you get the As when you produce answers that they want to see. I argued long and hard with Alex about this one, and Alex turned out to be right. When I quit trying to study everything and just used lecture notes, I got my first class in Cambridge. In my first year, I spent tons of time reading round the subject. No first. And I actually blame that on my knowing too much and not agreeing with the professors on too many things. It didn't matter that I knew more than my colleagues. You don't give them what they want, they don't give you the A. Simple. It's a matter of reflecting beliefs. In fact, a lot of what Alex posted on this thread were key insights that fundamentally changed my grade and approach. If you're planning on doing well, my advice would be to heed what Alex says.

KWLee