[danielmarkbruce]

It's not just for you. It's the most effective way. I know several people who all crushed college etc and only later realized maybe they aren't so smart, maybe they just stumbled into the right way(by an order of magnitude) to study... hell, I'd redo problems and find depth or nuance in the same problem that I didn't see the first time.

[fiddlerwoaroof]

I think a lot of people do college too young: if you can find a reasonable “real” job, a gap year or two will give you some life experience and a chance to mature a bit, which puts you in a much better place for actually learning.

[gowld]

A real job is usually not learning academics, so it won't make people better at the raw learning. It might help in other, social ways.