Shadowing Practice: Stop Overcomplicating Studying - Learn English Speaking with Video
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This is just noise and you need to learn to drown it out
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because the more time you spend trying to find the perfect way to study the less time you actually spend studying.
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Today you're going to learn how you learn because it is a superpower.
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I feel somewhat qualified to explain this because I'm going into year 13
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and studying 4A levels at GCSE I got 10 Grade 9s, the highest mark in the world in maths, 100% in English literature, the highest mark in Europe in physics,
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the highest mark in Greece in biology and chemistry and I don't even I really think I'm going to go to physics.
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So, these tips, I think, work.
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My first question is, why do students in study tip videos even include long lists like this?
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Is it because they genuinely want to help, or because at some level they want to show off what they've achieved?
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Results like that have an opportunity cost, and I think that that does not fit quite neatly in the certificate that they come with.
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That being said, an impressive set of GCSEs can be important and is a very large part of your application to university.
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So, a study method is only actually useful that gets information into your brain,
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a in a form that you can understand well enough to then apply it to past paper questions, and b in a reasonably time efficient way.
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The obsession with optimising studying means that there is always somebody online claiming that the method that you are using is wrong.
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But the supposedly imperfect method, if it actually gets you studying, is about 100 times better than trying to find a perfect method and procrastinating actually studying.
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Flashcards, blurting, Feynman technique, AI tools,
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revision websites, and the approximately million study apps that exist are simply tools and not study systems.
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A hammer is useful, but you would be slightly concerned if somebody told you it was their entire architectural strategy.
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Each tool simply helps your brain perform a particular job.
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For example, flashcards help you memorize information.
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The Feynman technique exposes your true understanding of a concept, and blurting reveals exactly what you can remember without any of your notes.
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AI can explain concepts in simpler words than your textbooks
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and past papers will test you in the exact same format that the exam will.
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So the real question is not what is the perfect study method but when and how can I use these tools?
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I think that effective studying occurs in three stages.
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Understand, remember, apply.
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Step one is understand.
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Because you cannot revise something unless you fundamentally understand it.
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I am a self-proclaimed annoying student who asks a lot of questions
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and sometimes I might realise halfway through the question that what I'm asking has been answered 30 seconds ago by my teacher, but asking that question is much less embarrassing than pretending
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that I understand something for three months and then realising the night before my exam that I actually don't.
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The reason is that teachers know the course so use them.
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And for introverts you can use AI with prompts such as explain and then ask me questions rather than just saying explain.
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And always fact check information that it spits out.
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But I promise you that the most embarrassing question that you ask in your class, in front of your whole class, is the mistake that you will not make in the exam,
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purely because of how memorable it will be to you that you asked that question and got it wrong.
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Then you should produce some form of output.
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This includes, but is not limited to, closing your notes and writing down exactly what you understood, or writing your notes in your own words,
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or recording a video of yourself explaining what you just understood
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or a voice message or acting out what you've just learned
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or creating a mind map or explaining what you've learned to somebody else.
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Step two is remember.
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The forgetting curve here which I'm sure you've seen
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if you've watched about maybe five videos about how to study
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illustrates how information is forgotten unless it is retrieved from your
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brain frequently basically aka study influences favorite coin terms active recall and spaced repetition.
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I'm here to offer a different tip because I'm sure
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that we all know by now that this is how our brain works.
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If we don't constantly retrieve information then, well, we're going to forget it.
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The problem is that we have been taught to revise what we do know, but not to revise what exactly we don't know.
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Your mistakes in your past papers show you exactly what you don't remember, which is what is being forgotten every time this graph goes down.
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Because as you can see, it's not like the graph is going to zero.
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You still do remember a fundamental proportion of what you've studied you're just forgetting a couple of things
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and gradually over time your scores decrease.
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So, consistently practicing what you remember keeps your scores stagnant.
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Improvement actually comes from figuring out why you got certain questions wrong.
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My solution to this was keeping a word document or a notebook
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if you're a pen to paper kind of person with all of my mistakes.
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Essentially a personal textbook of everything that I got wrong whenever I was doing past papers, whenever I was answering questions in class that I got wrong, etc. You get the point.
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In this document you can have it for two reasons.
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First of all, in math you can take a screenshot of the past paper question that you got wrong, paste in the word document,
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on the next page paste the mark scheme answer and leave yourself space to answer the question.
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Next to the question I would write myself margin notes.
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So for example, remember to, I don't know, factorise or remember to not do whatever it is here based on the mistake that I made.
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These margin notes I explicitly wrote with very large fonts and ridiculous colours because the more colourful the margin notes were, the more likely I was to remember them.
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I know it sounds ridiculous, but trust me, it works.
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You will remember the mistakes that you have made.
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The reason that you can put the mark seam on the next page is that the night before your exam, and this works particularly well for subjects like maths or physics, where there's a lot of,
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like, problem-solving questions and there's not as much essay writing, is that you can then go through and print your mistake word document
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and then just resolve every single question that you've done wrong.
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This bit you're not looking at a mistake document
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that is the question that you got wrong
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and the answer right underneath it because that's not really going to help you in the exam, is it?
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Because in the exam you're not going to have the answer in front of you.
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But if you can solve the questions again, you've proven to yourself that now you actually know how to do them.
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I want to say that facing your mistakes is very uncomfortable
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and this was one of my least favorite things to do when I was studying.
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I would always procrastinate reviewing my mistakes because it is very boring and it takes a very long time.
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But trust me, if you are spending as much time on doing the past
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paper as you are reviewing the past paper then you are doing something right
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and that discomfort is the difference between revising and actually learning and improving your scores.
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Step three apply you may have heard of the word neuroplasticity usually in a youtube video with extremely dramatic music
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and a brain that is glowing pink and green.
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Essentially your brain in simple terms gets better at recognizing information and using it the more often you retrieve and apply it.
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This happens through strengthening and forming neural connections.
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This is what neuroplasticity is.
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Past papers are the clearest example and the best way
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that you can apply your knowledge after you've studied
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because they replicate the exact environment that you're going to be tested in during your exam.
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At first every question feels unfamiliar and painfully slow to answer.
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However with practice you begin answering questions before you have even finished reading them, particularly in subjects that have a lot of repeated questions.
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And this doesn't happen because papers get easier but
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because your brain builds these neural connections for recognizing the question patterns that are asked and retrieving the information that's required.
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So instead of searching through all of the knowledge
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that you've learned to find the correct answer you can immediately
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recognize what it is based on your past experience with of doing similar questions.
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Understand, remember, apply, then start for goodness sake.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “Stop Overcomplicating Studying”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: paper, mistake, study, exam, studying. This video has 97 sentences and 1489 words to shadow. The speech runs for 7:37. The speaker talks fast, about 195 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 83% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| revise verb | /ɹɪˈvaɪz/ | To review, alter and amend, especially of written material. |
| retrieve verb | /ɹɪˈtɹiːv/ | To regain or get back something. |
| mathematics noun | /mæθ(.ə)ˈmæt.ɪks/ | An abstract representational system studying numbers, shapes, structures, quantitative change and relationships between them. |
| blurt verb | /ˈblɝt/ | To utter suddenly and unadvisedly; to speak quickly or without thought; to divulge inconsiderately — commonly with out. |
| embarrass verb | /ɪmˈbæɹəs/ | To disrupt someone's composure or comfort with acting publicly or freely. |
| flashcard noun | /ˈflæʃˌkɑɹd/ | A card used to aid rote memorization. One side of the card contains data of one kind, or a question, and the other side contains the associated response which… |
| neuroplasticity noun | The state or quality of being neuroplastic, of having a brain that adapts to experience. | |
| procrastinate verb | /pɹoʊˈkɹæs.tə.neɪt/ | To delay taking action; to wait until later. |
| neural adjective | /ˈnʊɹəl/ | Of, or relating to the nerves, neurons or the nervous system. |
| textbook noun | /ˈtɛkst.bʊk/ | A coursebook, a formal manual of instruction in a specific subject, especially one for use in schools or colleges. |
| pasta noun | /ˈpɑ.stə/ | Dough made from wheat and water and sometimes mixed with egg and formed into various shapes; often sold in dried form and typically boiled for eating. |
| graph noun | /ɡɹæf/ | A data chart (graphical representation of data) intended to illustrate the relationship between a set (or sets) of numbers (quantities, measurements or… |
| factorize verb | /ˈfæktəɹaiz/ | To create a list of the factors of. |
| imperfect adjective | /ɪmˈpɜː(ɹ)fɪkt/ | Not perfect. |
| introvert noun | /ˈɪn.tɹə.vɝt/ | An organ or other body part that is or can be turned inside out, especially an anterior portion of some annelid worms capable of retraction. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| act out verb | /ˌækt ˈaʊ̯t/ | To perform something specific. |
| figure out verb | To come to understand; to discover or find a solution; to deduce. | |
| go down verb | To descend; to move from a higher place to a lower one. | |
| go through verb | To travel from one end of something to the other. | |
| show off verb | To exhibit the best attributes of something. | |
| write down verb | To produce or set (something) down in writing; to record something. |
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | they've achieved · has been answered · you've just learned |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | being said · has been answered · is forgotten |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | student who asks · remember, which is |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 30 contractions and reduced forms, such as you've, don't, I'm. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: mathematics /mæθ(.ə)ˈmæt.ɪks/, strengthen /ˈstɹɛŋ(k)θən/, underneath /ˌʌndɚˈniθ/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: flashcard /ˈflæʃˌkɑɹd/, repetition /ˌɹɛp.əˈtɪʃ.ən/, screenshot /ˈskriːn.ʃɑt/, revision /ɹəˈvɪʒ.ən/, obsession /əbˈsɛʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: mathematics /mæθ(.ə)ˈmæt.ɪks/, procrastinate /pɹoʊˈkɹæs.tə.neɪt/, repetition /ˌɹɛp.əˈtɪʃ.ən/, unfamiliar /ˌʌnfəˈmɪli.ə(ɹ)/, supposedly /səˈpoʊ̯.zɪd.li/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like revise, retrieve, mathematics.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.