Learning How To Learn

Have you ever wondered why you read and re-read a bunch of words in a textbook and they just never seem to stick? I myself have always found it even more frustrating that I will remember what I had for breakfast 3 days ago but not the really interesting important fact I read 3 minutes ago!

There is now a tonne of evidence and data out there that the best way to learn is through practising active recall. Active recall is the process by which you test yourself or ask yourself a question and try to recall the answer as best as you can.

Got that? Great! Try it now - what is the definition of Active Recall?

If you found that when you were trying to remember the definition, you couldn`t quite get it right the first time, or that there were certain bits of the definition you missed out, that is absolutely normal. To fix this issue, we can use two different techniques - the Feynman Method, and Spaced Repetition.

The Feynman Method is where you explain a concept, idea or definition out loud to yourself, in this case the idea of `Active Recall`, through memory. This helps you identify which bits of the concept you don`t properly understand - so you go back, and research a bit more about this, or re-read the definition, and try to understand it better. Then, you try to explain it to yourself out loud again. Continue to do this until you have a strong grasp on the concept

The way to really make a concept, idea or definition stick is to use something called Spaced Repetition. This is where, once you`ve understood the concept, idea or definition, you review it multiple times at spaced out times (say every other day) until it`s embedded in your long term memory.

And so there you have it - Practise Active Recall through the Feynman Method, or by doing practise tests, and then repeat via Spaced Repetition.

Boom! Wasn`t that easy! Keep smashing it out there, and let me know if you need any help :))

All the best, Shahzaib