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PaperclipPerfector  4mo ago (text post)   1990 thread views

Wellness Wednesday for May 8, 2024

The Wednesday Wellness threads are meant to encourage users to ask for and provide advice and motivation to improve their lives. It isn't intended as a 'containment thread' and any content which could go here could instead be posted in its own thread. You could post:

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Do I have an unrealistic expectation in the sense that to be able to do well in exams I can just read and "understand" text but not solve as many problems? The answer is of course, yes, I bombed the exam I prepared for by mostly just reading. (microecon and math)

I just need some feedback on how you guys might study for tests, I can ask my friends but I might embarass myself. This was a competitive exam, so solving lots of questions is the standard way to prepare.

Edit: More broadly, how do you feel smart? In this context I started fairly late knowing little to no econ, I only could make myself study a month and a half before the test. I honestly I thought if I could pull it off it'd feel nice. But ofc, I now feel the very opposite. Besides overestimating my ability to study under pressure - where else have I gone wrong? I feel a third person, even with limited context, would be able to point out some obvious flaws I'm not willing to accept.

but not solve as many problems

This is a common issue, solving problems tends to be effortful, and people tend to avoid it when they don't "have to" do it for homework.

If you can't solve problems you have a child's understanding. Children understand things fall down under gravity, that doesn't make them experts on general relativity.

I don't think I have ever met someone in a technical field that is both good and hasn't taken the time to do a bunch of calculation, even bona fide geniuses (like Putnam Fellow level).

From Grant Sanderson on self teaching:

I think where a lot of self learners shoot themselves in the foot is by skipping calculations by thinking that that's incidental to the core understanding. But actually, I do think you build a lot of intuition just by putting in the reps of certain calculations. Some of them maybe turn out not to be all that important and in that case, so be it, but sometimes that's what maybe shapes your sense of where the substance of a result really came from.

If you want to feel smart join Mensa. If you want to get something out of being smart, you have to put in the work.

Why not just solve the related problems? Do practice exercises until you perform well consistently.

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