harisrid Tech News

“They have hunted like this for countless generations” – David Attenborough, The Intense 8 Hour Hunt, on the San Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert

How I Ran a Marathon

Hi all,

I want to write another blog post – this time, on effective study habits ( because I’ve actually been asked this before by a couple other folks ).

Ok, so let’s begin. When I practiced Leetcode/Algorithmic problems, I kept consistency with a predicate, regimented routine of 15-minutes to 30-minutes daily, every day of the week ( yep that often included Saturday and Sundays ). Now of course, there were days or weeks where I didn’t do problems ( trust me, I did not solve problems on days when I was sick, the days I spent on vacation with family, my hiking weekend day trips, or family quality time ).

But here’s the thing.

I’ve never sprinted and crammed!

I’ve never been like other engineers out there in the world who talked loudly about spending three intense months of practicing 3-4 hours per day. I could never see myself doing that. I am the type who burns out after around the 30-minute to 45-minute mark ( except on a good day, where I give two fragmented 30-minute sessions , or the days I’ve done technical onsite, which operates differently). Everyone is “wired and build differently”, and to be candid, I am not built for this type of intensity.

But I am good at being persistent. And I think there’s benefits to the slow-burning approach over the intensity. I’m confident that my volume is the same – to quickly tabulate the equivalencies, 3-hours over 2 months = 1 hour over six months = 30 minutes over 12 months ( of daily practice, assuming a month is 30 days ).

And I think this approach actually turned out much better. Let me review them!

The Benefits

1. Leverages Spaced Repetition – There’s more days of practice and there’s more time in between each practice sessions to review and go over concepts. You’re less likely to forget what you learned if you have more time to learn material ( versus learning it all at once )
2. Accrue More Thinking Time – if you space out your studying, you get more thinking time. All that other subconscious daily time – the shower, on a walk, talking to friends – also makes it way available over a long-term horizon. You get to leverage more time in your life, ironically, to finding solutions to your problems – subconscious and conscious.
3. Reduced burnout probability – studying for concepts intensely typically leads to burnout. Spaced repetition and small units of practice are less mentally-taxing on the individual, so keep persistent is easier.
4. Higher Success Rate – the more time you have at your disposal, the higher your probability of finding a solution to a problem. You’re also more likely to solve 1-2 problems in a day than solve five-six problems in three hours ( they used to do this in competitive programming, and it’s why I probably thought I was bad at in my first year of college )
5. Builds up Healthy Studying/Practice Habits – studying and practicing interview skills isn’t something everyone in the world “naturally does” – most of us ( because there are exceptions ) are not born like this ; it takes time build the habits and the muscle memory to get into the groove of practicing problems. I think it’s because I spaced out my practice patterns over the long run that I always found it easy to immediately “get back into the zone”, as they say, and bust out a problem if I needed to practice again for interviews ( or do them for fun ).

The Drawbacks ( which aren’t much IMHO )

1. You ( may ) have to study ( a bit ) over weekends or holidays – the approach doesn’t give the most headway for “free days”. But think about the other benefits ( and I’m not asking that much time from you – trust me, I’m just as hedonistic and I want you to enjoy living. ) Also I took my approach to include spaced repetition practice on weekends, but I could’ve stuck and enforced boundaries on Mondays-Fridays only.
2. You’re going to start thinking more analytically – which is a good thing in the hiding. I mean, the more time you spend doing smart things, the smarter you get ( seems to be the right adage )?