Ali studies inefficiently in his first year of medical school, then finds efficient study techniques that free up his time
story · status: told 4× · last event: retold (2025-08-30) · owner: Ali
About: University of Cambridge
| date | event | what | video |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020-02-27 | first in the videos (retold; it began earlier) | In his first year at medical school Ali struggled with exams, using inefficient techniques such as rereading, highlighting and summarising; in his second year he found the evidence on learning and his grades massively improved. | How to Study for Exams - An Evidence-Based Masterclass 00:00:29 |
| 2023-04-19 | told | No one teaches students how to learn at school or university, Ali says; in his second year of medical school he discovered a vast body of research on the most effective study methods. | If I Was a Student Again, I'd Do This 00:02:26 |
| 2025-07-18 | retold | A lecture on efficient study techniques in his second year of medical school changed Ali's life: he saw that the right methods would let him study less, get better grades and free up time to build a business. | I’m Starting a New Series About Financial & Time Freedom 00:13:10 |
| 2025-08-30 | retold | In his first year of medical school Ali wasted a lot of time studying inefficiently, working hard just to get through the exams, and did not do particularly well; that summer he found effective study techniques that freed up much more of his time. | Why Studying Hard Was Making Me Fail 00:00:00 |
What is said about it
8 statements, by date (the events above are the turns of the thread; these are the details).
- 2020-02-27 · How to Study for Exams - An Evidence-Based Masterclass — Ali: Studying effectively left Ali loads of free time at university, which he used to hang out with friends, start his first business and start his YouTube channel. — 00:00:29
- 2025-08-30 · Why Studying Hard Was Making Me Fail — Ali found that the more he applied productivity techniques such as time blocking and the Pomodoro method, the more free time he had for his friends and for building a business alongside medical school. — 00:00:29
- 2025-08-30 · Why Studying Hard Was Making Me Fail — Ali says his productivity began by accident, as a way of creating more time in his day, and he does not know how he became a productivity expert. — 00:00:29
- 2020-02-27 · How to Study for Exams - An Evidence-Based Masterclass — announcement: Ali: In 2023 Ali puts his evidence-based study masterclass, which over 100,000 people had taken on Skillshare, on YouTube for free as a thank-you to the students who support his channel. — 00:00:58
- 2023-04-19 · If I Was a Student Again, I'd Do This — recommendation: Ali's second strategy is to learn how to learn: of two students with the same two-hour block, the one who knows the effective study techniques gets more done, has more fun and does far better in exams. — 00:02:55
- 2023-04-19 · If I Was a Student Again, I'd Do This — recommendation: Ali's third strategy is to study with friends, which makes study time more efficient, effective and enjoyable, and so sustainable and fun. — 00:03:24
- 2025-07-18 · I’m Starting a New Series About Financial & Time Freedom — Ali's first moderately successful business ran courses helping students get into medical school and made about £3,000 a month; it taught him personal productivity and how money is made. — 00:13:37
- 2025-07-18 · I’m Starting a New Series About Financial & Time Freedom — Ali says school teaches nothing about how money works: not what a mortgage is, not how to invest, maybe one class on budgeting, and no sense that you can generate income independently. — 00:13:37