Hello @all,
As we are here to study algorithms and, as a great way of doing it is by reading books/editorials, knowing how to read them in “the correct way” can sometimes be the difference between understanding a concept or struggling very hard to grasp it.
This is something I struggle with a lot myself and after some digging on Quora I came across this text!
It seems to be very interesting and I hope it might help some of you as it will certainly help me 
Best,
Bruno
I learn by solving problems. The result I want to achieve is being able to solve problems (quickly and correctly), and not being able to understand the theory from books, and I take the most straightforward path to the goal.
I don’t ever learn from theory. If I try learning theory, it’s always after being unable to solve some problem involving it. I also prefer trying to think about the problems by myself and only resort to editorials after being completely clueless; the same with trying to implement new ideas - I try to do this by myself first. That way, I learn how to think and code in general and without external help.
I noticed how it often happens that when solving a problem, I relate the solution to similar ones in other problems I’ve solved, or even random short ideas (even incorrect ones) I’ve heard somewhere. This is a good measure of how well you can pick the right solution from what you’ve learned
Of course, everyone has their own way to study. It’s well possible that you’re unable to think the way I do, which renders this post useless In that sense, any “how to study” text can sound as bullshit.
Sometimes, the problem with that approach for me is that I can’t even start off on the right direction without having some theoretical background 
Yes, that’s the situation where I read the editorials. If you solved some problem and can’t solve a very similar problem later, no amount of studying can fix it. It takes experience.