“We have university at home”

Introduction

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When, unfortunately, I failed to attend university entrance exams because of my migraines – for the second admission campaign in row, meaning that I’ve spent two years trying to get enrolled, but in the end wasn’t able to even sit the entrance exams twice – I’ve decided that I’ve had enough.

I don’t really regret spending two years like that. I’ve learnt a lot during this period (which was quite emotionally intense) both about myself and the ways to teach myself. However, spending so much time preparing for exams intended for high schoolers isn’t the most exciting nor career-improving way to live my life.

June’25: The Beginning

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Around the same time I’ve also decided to reread “Ultralearning” by Scott Young and, I believe, it was the exact kind of luck that can be called “serendipity”. The thing is: Scott Young, among other things, got famous because he managed to finish the 4-year MIT Computer Science program in just one year.

I’m no Scott Young, so I don’t even bother trying to fit four years of studying into one. However, I realized that this is my chance to prepare for university to achieve two goals at the same time:

• passing my exams (I need at least 60/100 – the more the better, ovviamente)
• studying at least some first-year subjects before actually enrolling to make my university years a bit easier and to get some actually useful non-exam-related knowledge.

Of course, my goals directly affected the “programs” I chose for this experiment:

• Computer Science degree by Open Source Society University
• Biology course by НОО (taught in Russian)
• Math textbooks by OpenStax (recommended in the “Readings” from Open Source Society University’s Pre-college math)

Another important change was that I’ve stopped trying to do everything that I think has to be done. In July-October 2024 I tried to “get it right from the start”: solve all the ~160-200 test questions and write answers for ~10 open questions, watch 2 lectures and 2 practice sessions, take notes, make Anki cards… And that was just biology, leaving me almost no time and energy for other subjects nor fulfilling rest.

I feel like I still haven’t overcome the resulting burnout, therefore for the first time in my learning practice I’ve decided to focus not on grinding study-dedicated hours every single day, but on following the schedule. All I have to do is to watch six lectures per week, no matter how many hours it takes or whether I’m able to do homework. Obviously, it would be better to have more practical self-assignment, ask more questions, read extra sources, etc. etc., but I just can’t anymore.

Therefore the overall approach is more passive, but it’s better than nothing. At the very least I’ll get neural connections; it’s way easier to learn something new from “aha, I’ve already heard about that somewhere” than from the scratch.

Another thing worth mentioning is a study technique called interleaving. Interleaving is about not studying only one subject at a time, but rotating subjects. Given that I happen to dislike daily streaks (these are wayyyy too restrictive), it feels nice to change things that I work on from time to time. In my case, rotation happens on daily basis: math-bio-CS, math-bio-CS, day off.

July’25: The Heatwave

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In summer of 2025 Europe was struck by an intense heatwave which took lives across several countries. Only looking at 35°C (95°F) heat prediction in my weather app I’ve realized that I indeed live not so far from Europe. Well, not this far to be not affected by global climate change anyway.

It certainly didn’t help that my anti-migraine meds make me more vulnerable to high temperatures, forcing me to take a week and a half break. My brain felt like it’s melting, the fatigue and dehydration also felt worse than usual.

And you know what? I needed a break anyway, and the heatwave allowed me to explore my other interests like music and pixel art. Moreover, I believe that in long-term projects like this one being able to return after a break is more important than to work on the same project every single day.

(that’s why I dislike daily streaks – they don’t work for me!)

Another important thing was that I finally kinda got my shit together. My partner suggested to abandon my idea of getting into university and to study by myself and get a job – but this path was unclear to me despite tons of instructions on how to get into data science in 202X.

OSSU self-taught Computer Science degree inspired me to create my own curriculum, and it feels so liberating to realize that I can choose literally anything I want. Even Haskell, even category theory, even psychology of insight – all these shiny distractions have become a part of the curriculum. And it’s totally fine as long as I stick to the plan and take one course at a time instead of ten.

Study Report: July‘2025

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August’25: Let It Go

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In short, I’ve realized two things:

• I shouldn’t rush my formal education, since my health issues won’t go anywhere making it way more difficult to achieve the goals because of which I want formal education in the first place…
• It’s difficult to study several subjects at once because I get extremely confused and start switching study resources every few days.

Study Report: August’25

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I also tried switching from pre-algebra to calculus, but couldn’t make myself study past the first subchapter (?) of chapter 1. While studying pre-algebra is mostly about review of, honestly, basic concepts, studying calculus intensifies overall perceived difficulty and increases friction. At a university I wouldn’t have a choice what & when I need to study, but in self-paced environment I constantly have to solve motivation issues while dealing with burnout and chronic exhaustion. Sigh.

September’25: Mostly Chillin’

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In the last days of August I somehow managed to realize that most of my needs are actually already covered. It made me surprisingly relaxed, therefore a significant part of September was dedicated to rest and following “what is interesting” instead of “what my future career might need”.

Study Report

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