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How University Students Use Claude

(www.anthropic.com)
401 points pseudolus | 3 comments | 09 Apr 25 15:41 UTC | HN request time: 0.638s | source
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pugio ◴[09 Apr 25 19:39 UTC] No.43636789[source]▶
I've used AI for one of the best studying experiences I've had in a long time:

1. Dump the whole textbook into Gemini, along with various syllabi/learning goals.

2. (Carefully) Prompt it to create Anki flashcards to meet each goal.

3. Use Anki (duh).

4. Dump the day's flashcards into a ChatGPT session, turn on voice mode, and ask it to quiz me.

Then I can go about my day answering questions. The best part is that if I don't understand something, or am having a hard time retaining some information, I can immediately ask it to explain - I can start a whole side tangent conversation deepening my understanding of the knowledge unit in the card, and then go right back to quizzing on the next card when I'm ready.

It feels like a learning superpower.

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azemetre ◴[10 Apr 25 04:12 UTC] No.43640551[source]▶
Flash cards are some of the least effective ways to learn FYI and retain info.
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ramblerman ◴[10 Apr 25 04:52 UTC] No.43640728[source]▶
I'll bite. Would you care to back that up somehow? Or at least elaborate.

Spaced repetition as it's more commonly known has been quite studied, and is anecdotally very popular on HN and reddit. Albeit more for some subject than others

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1. azemetre ◴[11 Apr 25 02:06 UTC] No.43649802[source]▶
Give me another day and I'll respond in full; but my thesis is taken from the book "Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning" which was written by a group of neuro- and cognitive scientists on what are the most effective ways to learn.

The one chapter that stood out very clear, especially in a college setting, was how inefficient flash cards were compare to other methods like taking a practice exam instead.

There are a lot of executive summaries on the book and I've posted comments in support of their science backed methods as well.

It's also something I'm personally testing myself this year regarding programming since I've had great success doing their methods in other facets of my life.

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2. m10i ◴[24 Apr 25 16:24 UTC] No.43784567[source]▶
> The one chapter that stood out very clear, especially in a college setting, was how inefficient flash cards were compare to other methods like taking a practice exam instead.

In order to take a practice exam, you need to understand the terms being used in the exam ahead of time. That's where flash cards come into play.

That said, to achieve mastery, I think you probably need both.

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3. azemetre ◴[30 Apr 25 23:25 UTC] No.43851850[source]▶
You might really like the book, because method they espouse for mastery is to have space varied practice where you reinforce retrieval of concepts during practice. Retrieval here meaning being able to correctly use information that you learned.

That's basically the core tenant of the book, it's basically trying to instill that the best pedagogy.

There was an interesting section IIRC about airline pilots and how they intersperse learning the various protocols compared to getting them in simulators ASAP.

I thought I still had the book but I think I read it from a library now as it's not in my library. I feel bad for wanting to post a youtube summary, but this reddit thread is more concise:

https://www.reddit.com/r/step1/comments/ebpl5a/few_principle...

edit: after reading everything I think I took flash cards under the wrong context and really wish I had the book now.