One idea that I have had, which I have tried to press upon a few Brothers going through the degrees is the whole thing of TAKE YOUR TIME while studying with your instructor. That there is absolutely no rush. There are three reasons I like to see them slow down and intentionally take their time learning the work:
1- It gives them more time to grow and enjoy that bond with their instructor. I don't know about ya'll, but the two instructors that I had have a significant influence on my life (both Masonic and non). Not matter how many years pass or how many Brothers that I have the privelage of shaking hands with, I will never forget either of them or that time I spent with them. I also believe that bond helps to lock the work into the memory.
2- It gives more time for whoever is instructing the candidate to break things down and explain them. Sure, it is pretty awesome to learn and remember each and ever word, but I love to see candidates being able to do more that just reciting words that they have no idea what they mean, much less how to apply them to their lives and better that temple.
3- The longer a candidate takes to learn the work, the better chance they have of spending more time at the lodge and getting to know the Brothers. The better the candidate knows the Brothers that will be sitting around him, there is usually less anxiety. I mean, if a candidate rushes through and learns all his work for a specific degree in two weeks, how many opportunities has he really had to be up at the lodge visiting with the Brothers and getting to know anyone? When he ends up turning in his work at the Stated Meeting, a lot of the folks are still new to him or he doesn't know them very well.
This is just my opinion, and I have to admit that I haven't wanted to instruct candidates yet. However, as much as I think this would help a candidate lose a lot of that anxiety and also help them to learn more than words to recite like a robot, I see the habit (possibly bad or just old???) that everyone wants to hurry the candidates through with their work. I have even seen where my lodge had a candidate that was rushing through his work and the lodge in the next town had a young candidate doing the same thing, and it came to almost be a competition of "our candidate is getting done faster than yours". I'm just not fond of that. I wouldn't mind at all if a candidate literally took 300 days to turn in his EA proficiency. Especially if he was just eating up the mountain of knowledge that surroundsthe EA degree alone that seems to get left behind when we focus on getting the candidate through.
Lol I digressed a little bit there at the end, but I think the first part answered the question lol