Personally, how do you study?

How do the rest of you study chess?

I've been studying different openings through courses, videos, etc. I like to go through different variations over and over again for memorization and then test them out practically during bot matches before moving on to real people. That being said, I only like to study one opening at a time before moving on to something new.

Do you study one thing at a time, or approach multiple things at once? Do you prepare before going into matches, or do you go for a trial by fire approach? Share your personal methods, tips, and tricks below. Happy learning!

That would be a pretty reasonable approach to studying... if you were rated about 1000 points higher

(new players spend too much time on openings)

Let's make that "WAY too much time".

If you and your opponent stay in book for 10 moves, and you have a bad position on move 12...  and if this happens fairly often, then sure, it's time to get some books / videos and memorize openings.

But if you're rated 1200 I have a hard time believing this is how your games go.

To answer your question I got a book (like Pachman's Modern Chess Strategy) and I'd set up a board, and have a notebook. I'd play over every line of analysis on the board, and anything I thought was interesting I'd write it down in the notebook. After I finished reading the book I'd review my notes to revisit the parts of the book I found particularly interesting or instructive. I think that's a good way to study.

Also don't just mindlessly move the pieces. Pause at interesting moments and pretend it's a game you're playing. Who do you think is better, why, and what move(s) would you make? Then keep reading.

To kids this probably sounds hard... because yeah, it's not easy... but watching a video isn't going to make you better. You have to find ways to engage yourself. You should take notes and pause the video at interesting moments, etc.

Also many videos are by weak players, and even when they're by titled players (and not for entertainment) they don't give a lot of information. A 250 page book would be something like 20 to 80 1 hour videos

90% tactics 10% openings, I try to do 2 hours of tactics daily if I can.  If not, just play rapid/blitz and go over [missed] tactics in games to make sure I understand what's going on.