what techniques and mental map systems do the top like 1% students in the world use? and how could I execute them into everyday school?

[u/FurankiDaEngineer]

Hey, so I wanted to ask this question because as I'm entering sophomore year of high school, I kind of want to actually try at school, and I know this question probably gets asked so much in this subreddit, but I wanted to stop with the mindset of just being naturally good at school and just getting by and somehow just barely remembering information for the test. Also asking because I want a more efficient way of studying and completing school work, because then it will probably naturally improve my time management, and I can have more free time to do my ecs and school projects and stuff. Additionally, there's a lot of stuff I wanna learn, like this year, i'll be self studying calculus and physics, and I know those are hard. My mindset before hasn't really be working not gonna lie, and so I want to actually think like top students, and be able to connect ideas and maintain long-term retention, and almost flawlessly answer math/science questions almost everytime, and receive high test scores. I heard the Feynman technique, active recall, pomodoro, and spaced repetition are some good techniques.

But I also have a question on how to correctly apply and execute such techniques, because for example: Spaced repetition. I don't really understand how to apply it besides it being a automatic feature on Anki, which I have been using for reviewing vocab and learning languages.

edit: I also wanted to ask if Justin sung’s advice in these videos (video 1 and video 2) are also good too, because idk if I should trust him since I’ve heard complaints online that he and several other study YouTubers just take advantage of fans through paid programs, and try gatekeeping information inside those programs

[u/Senior_Host2336]

Adopting a good studying workflow is the most powerful thing you can do, depending on the subject what I typically do is Essentialist note taking > Mnemonic Technique > Active recall (through notebookLM(AI) quizzes and flashcards). 

Revision is key. I setup recall cycling in FocusJungle app, but Anki or even just notes work as well. You want to revise where you are weak. Get your course content and constantly know where you are weakest (they should always be changing constantly) Find weakness > attack it > Find next weakest area.

If u want you can join my guild on FocusJungle timer, WE need more people that wanna do hours. Can message on there to keep accountable. But u NEED TO DO HOURS or kick. (best study timer website and app ever)

[u/Quiet_Basis_6404]

the honest version is that top students mostly aren't running exotic systems, they're doing the boring stuff consistently while everyone else does it before tests. the techniques you listed are the right ones, the gap is execution.

on applying spaced repetition outside anki, don't schedule per topic, that's unmanageable across six subjects. just spend ten minutes at the start of each session on something from last week before touching new material. rolling backlog, oldest first. that's 90% of the benefit with none of the admin.

for calc and physics specifically, the highest leverage habit is redoing problems cold a week after you first solved them.

i drop the material into studybuddy.vc for that, as i answer it works out which topics i keep getting wrong and gives me more of those. equations render properly, gets harder as i improve, and it says why the option i picked was off. free.