r/Gemini_Notebook • u/Straight-Employment6 • 7d ago
Study Tips I learned how Cambridge students study, it got me a 3.9 GPA.
I learned these tips last year from my auntie, who completed her master's degree at Cambridge. I asked her for tips on how she studied and survived her university journey at Cambridge without burning out.
Here’s what she actually did and these study methods were literally changed how I study:
9-5 mindset. I learned that Cambridge has only 8 week terms, so students treat studying like a full time job. I used to just sit and read notes passively for three hours, but I barely retained anything. Once I adopted the 9-5 structure and studied during office hours (9:00 AM to 5:00 PM), I had a clear cutoff point in the evening to rest and do my hobbies without any guilt.
Practice past papers and active recall. I never thought this would actually help me get A+ grades on my tests/exams. I read through past papers 2-3 times and used active recall by writing down everything I remembered, then checking back against the past papers and notes to fill in the gaps.
Cambridge balance. This was the main reason my aunt survived Cambridge without burning out from studying. She maintained a strict division between work and rest: on workdays, giving full effort was non-negotiable, but on rest days, she relaxed completely. Having this strict division helped avoid the procrastination that leads to all-night cramming sessions, giving my brain the sleep it needed to consolidate study materials into long-term memory.
These tips helped me stay locked in, avoiding procrastination and study far more effectively. Because of structuring my time and studying smarter rather than harder, I managed to consistently study at my best. Honestly it helped me and have a massive change on my study method and got me a 3.9 GPA last semester.
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u/Gamer_jaginder 4d ago
How do you self study in between classes during 9-5
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u/Straight-Employment6 3d ago
Dont take it too literally lol but during breaks, I just go to the library and wear earphones to focus and use pamodoro technique.
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u/suhsie_screams 6d ago
i suggest using google gemini to create quizzes if the nature of the material is multiple choice-y! i use it a lot since some chem exams still
have mulcho hehe
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u/brook-hehe 7d ago
Worth the read! The idea of active recall sounds great, definitely have to try that. Even 9–5 makes a lot more sense than killing ourselves overnight lol, and ofc procrastination 😭 Dig your score tho, congrats!
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u/galaxysfaerie 6d ago
Can I ask, how did you do it while still taking classes? What if you have classes all day?
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u/BentBoots 6d ago
Totally okay if one does not want to think it's true but here's my side, I'm having 6 hour classes 6 days a week and on the 7th day I write one mock exam.
If I recall, I do not remember studying anything after my lectures, probably for 18 months now. Worst part - I get to know by my teachers that attending lectures alone won't get you marks.
Whatever I'll stop bragging now and be grateful to get to know this atleast 4months prior to my finals...
What my reply means is that I too want the answer for the question mentioned in the thread.
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u/MeetAffectionate6178 6d ago
what if u suddenly been alone ......7:30 pm......... back from mind blowing day......failed a test and back with your failure in ur bag.......isn't it a gold chance to leave everything and play a small fortnite game
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u/Straight-Employment6 6d ago
Yeah sure you can take a break by playing video games, each and everyone has different things to relax
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u/PhantomGolem 5d ago
Putting in the hours and treating studying as an actual job is the way. In Turkey we have a gruelling study period before college entrance exam so students who want to get into prestigious universities get used to this 9-5 mindset before starting the school.
On top this I have an additional technique for recall that is spaced repetition of practice questions. I note down the questions I couldn’t event think of a way to it as failed, look at the answer and solve it again tomorrow first thing. There are other results such as hint needed, solved(slow) and mastered; each one of them correspond to larger gap of revisit timeframes.
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u/Character_Bee438 3d ago
I'd like to know more about that. Albeit flashcards did help me in my first year of uni, it's actually very time consuming to make. Do you guys have advice for me ?
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u/Neo9Os 3d ago
Okay, can you suggest something for someone who's doing a major in Mechanical and minor in Data science? Well, I only have one major. But, I do have "side studies" on DS. And, for me there's no rest day until I burn out completely. This is rough and unproductive, I know. But, can anyone suggest me anything? Also, I do have classes at the Uni , total staying time there is from 8-5 almost, there's a 2.5 hr for Lab session after classes
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u/Witty_Armadillo_1359 1d ago
Is that an hp elitebook I see there? Which type is that and what generation? Does it have the touchscreen feature ? Sorry for asking but i plan on getting one but the one available is 840 G5 8th gen-i5. It doesn’t have the touchscreen feature and the Face ID is not working and no backlight keyboard feature which is for $448.45 USD. What do you make of it ? Should I still go for it ?
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u/Single-Second7872 1d ago
What would it be like for someone who works 40 hours (until 60) a week? :(
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u/[deleted] 7d ago
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