How I crammed a hard engineering subject in 1 week (and got an A)

Main ideas, concepts, and lessons

• Personal result / context

  • In 2022, the speaker (in an Electrical Engineering degree) earned the highest grade (an A) in Embedded Systems Design, a core and difficult subject involving programming and robotics.
  • They did not attend any lectures and did no lecture revision for the whole term.
  • They focused on workshops, where they mainly designed/programmed robots, and lecture content was not required for workshop performance.
  • By week 12, they realized they hadn’t covered lecture material at all.
  • With less than a week remaining before the exam, they used a last-minute, structured study strategy.
  • They note the subject was less technical than other engineering courses, making a “1-week cram” more feasible.

• Core strategy structure

  • The speaker’s cram method has three parts:
    1. Understanding
    2. Doing questions
    3. Revising (including making/using retrieval-style practice)

• Key learning principles

  • Confusion is normal and expected in engineering learning
    • A concept might take multiple passes (even ~5–7) before it “clicks.”
    • Learning often gets stronger once understanding clicks.
  • Move on before you feel “fully ready”
    • Don’t force concepts until perfect clarity.
    • Some learning happens via time/sleep/returning later.
    • Over-memorizing creates false confidence without real learning.
  • Practice/testing is what creates learning
    • Questions reveal weaknesses and drive real progress.
    • Waiting until you feel 100% confident can produce fake confidence (similar to passive video watching).
  • Retrieval beats recognition
    • Recognition: looking at notes and thinking “I understand this.”
    • Retrieval: attempting to recall/explain from memory.
    • Retrieval is linked to the generation effect—generating knowledge strengthens learning.
  • Optimize for explanation/transfer, not only familiarity
    • The speaker tests themselves by imagining they must simplify and explain concepts to someone outside the degree.

• Important “mental/nervous system” caveat

  • If a “good” technique (like questioning or recall) triggers stress/confusion and doesn’t work, the issue may be fear/stress conditioning, not the study method.
  • Many students incorrectly conclude “the technique is bad,” when the better explanation is that their nervous system reacts to the technique.
  • Re-reading may feel easier (confidence-providing) but may be less effective overall.
  • The speaker suggests other content focused on nervous system/stress-resistance as the root bottleneck if techniques don’t work.

• Callouts / motivation

  • The speaker hesitates to share the method because people might copy it and fail—but emphasizes: don’t beat yourself up if it doesn’t work; it may be fear/resistance.
  • Encourages viewers to join a free community (first link in description) and to watch related videos for nervous system and resistance topics.

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Step-by-step methodology (detailed)

Part 1: Focus on understanding (first pass through the material)

• Step 1: Start by skimming lecture notes
  • For each lecture/topic:
    • Briefly skim slides/notes if the speaker believes they can grasp it directly from them.
    • If deeper understanding is needed, watch the actual lecture.
• Step 2: Maintain a mindset of “understanding only,” not memorization
  • Do not focus on recalling or memorizing at this stage.
  • Ask: “Can I understand what I’m reading on this slide?”
• Step 3: Normalize confusion
  • Expect the first look to be “what the hell am I looking at?”
  • Revisit concepts multiple times until they “click.”
  • Treat confusion as a sign you’re in the learning process.
• Step 4: Use a problem-solving frame
  • Imagine the lecture like puzzle pieces on a table without the full picture.
  • Stay curious: test whether pieces “match” logically.
• Step 5: Do a good attempt, then move on if it won’t click
  • If a slide/concept doesn’t become clear after reasonable effort:
    • Move on rather than forcing it.
    • Trust that later context or time (including sleep) may make it click.
• Step 6: Avoid memorizing every detail
  • Don’t try to memorize every slide word-for-word.
  • Prioritize core underlying concepts over exhaustive detail.
• Step 7: Watch out for “false confidence”
  • Feeling very confident can be misleading if it comes from passive rereading/over-memorization rather than real learning.
  • Learning discomfort is often part of the process (especially when questions cause confusion).

Part 2: Do questions (practice before feeling fully ready)

• Step 1: Start questions early—before full mastery
  • Don’t wait until you feel 100% confident.
  • The discomfort of getting things wrong is where learning happens.
• Step 2: Treat mistakes as valuable feedback
  • Use a mistake cheat sheet (or equivalent notes) to record what you got wrong.
  • Celebrate finding weaknesses:
    • “I found an area I can work on.”
• Step 3: Learn from question performance
  • Use the provided question pack if available.
  • The speaker notes that as engineering becomes deeper, question packs may shrink, so practice may need to be supplemented.

Part 3: Review using self-made questions + retrieval

• Step 1: Re-read lecture content while testing yourself
  • Go back over lecture material, but instead of passive reading:
    • Ask internal prompts such as “How does this system work?”
    • “What does this mean?”
• Step 2: Apply retrieval vs recognition
  • Recognition (feels good but is weaker learning):
    • If you can recognize answers/sentences instantly while rereading.
  • Retrieval (the target):
    • Attempt to recreate/explain the concept from memory without immediately relying on the slide.
• Step 3: Optimize for the ability to explain
  • Practice simplifying the concept as if explaining to someone outside the degree.
  • If you can explain clearly/simplified, you likely truly understand it.
• Step 4: Fill gaps as you notice misunderstandings
  • Use the self-testing results to identify where you need more study.

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“Technique doesn’t work” troubleshooting principle (nervous system / stress response)

• If doing recall/questions makes you:
  • feel stressed,
  • feel dumb,
  • feel behind,
  • or unable to concentrate,
• then the issue might be your conditioned fear response, not the technique.

In that case:

• Avoid concluding the method is wrong.
• Consider that your body’s stress reaction may be blocking the technique from working.
• Seek related guidance/content focused on resistance/nervous system bottlenecks.

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Speakers / sources featured

• Speaker: The YouTube video narrator (an electrical engineering student/graduate from the speaker’s account).
• Sources referenced: None external are directly quoted by name (the speaker only references their own other videos and community links).