How I Started to Learn More Efficiently

During the grade 9 year, I switched schools (In November) after having to move countries. As the year came to an end I thought “Hey, I came in late, so I probably won’t have to do any mid-terms”. But boy was I wrong. Let’s just say that one of the heads of the school said something along the lines of “Yeah… You still have to do it”- A few days before December break.

So…

I became stressed, and that stress drove me to work the hardest I had (at that age). I worked every day during the whole break, around 12 hours a day studying, except one or two nights.

But then, several weeks later having taken the tests, I was shocked to see the results (back when I cared a lot about that).

I nearly failed all the classes.

And in all honesty, I had no clue why- I thought I did quite well, especially after having studied so much.

In hindsight, everything is 20/20. But reflecting on this experience the issues were clear.

Here was my strategy (Which I would never recommend)

1. Read the textbook multiple times

2. Copy the information from the textbook

3. Memorize formulas and apply them when necessary

It’s clear that this wasn’t a good way to go about it, but then what would be the alternative?

The alternative would be to start using techniques that make you process the information you’re consuming as opposed to reading, copying, and rote memorizing because learning happens in the processing.

Think about it.

Consider the following two pictures that represent a person’s understanding.

Which person do you think has a better understanding of the material?

Hopefully, you said the second one. This is because you can see that the second person processed the information (found similarities, made connections, etc…)

In what follows, I want to show you one approach that will help you do just that.

Here’s the idea.

Idea: Start asking better questions as you go through the material (I’ll give you a list of them in just a moment)

Here’s the reasoning behind why this works.

“When we ask ourselves questions it directs our attention to certain aspects of our experience and ignores others. If I’m at a restaurant, and it is time to order a meal, I could ask myself a wide variety of questions, and each one would point my mind in a different direction.

What’s the most delicious item?

What’s the cheapest item?

What’s the fastest-to-eat item?

etc… ”

Asking the right questions can point our minds in the direction of deeper processing.

Here’s a list:

How does this connect to what I know?

Why is this important?

How are these different concepts related to each other?

How can I visually represent this idea/use other modes of learning to represent it?

Once you ask these questions I want you to think about the answers.

And as you start to come up with answers, try to challenge yourself to find different answers- the more answers you have the deeper you will process the information.

This perspective completely changed how I learn to this day — and I hope that it does the same for you. Until next time.