The background processing can still happen while sleeping too (which is useful to use).
I went through the Navy's Nuclear Power program a lifetime ago and that was often 16-18 hours of instruction and study (and exercise) per day to do well. When you recognize that you're at that point of mental exhaustion you can sneak in something like a 30 minute nap to power through the remainder of what you need to achieve that day...
My general approach was to physically write down and do some checks to verify that I understand all of the material (reinforced memorization) and get as much in per day like a sponge.. and then sleep on it. The retention was nuts (was top of my class) and it kind of just becomes habit at some point.
I think the odder thing is that if you just keep doing it for decades you notice the missing information too. Those loose associations are still there for sure but the brain can only pack in so much at a given time or some such.
I went through the Navy's Nuclear Power program a lifetime ago and that was often 16-18 hours of instruction and study (and exercise) per day to do well. When you recognize that you're at that point of mental exhaustion you can sneak in something like a 30 minute nap to power through the remainder of what you need to achieve that day...
My general approach was to physically write down and do some checks to verify that I understand all of the material (reinforced memorization) and get as much in per day like a sponge.. and then sleep on it. The retention was nuts (was top of my class) and it kind of just becomes habit at some point.
I think the odder thing is that if you just keep doing it for decades you notice the missing information too. Those loose associations are still there for sure but the brain can only pack in so much at a given time or some such.