Learning How to Learn

The most effective, cutting-edge learning techniques that you can apply to your daily life. Learn more →

Woman with blonde hair, wearing a thick coat and knee high wellington boots, stands on a large rock looking into the distance

The main problem with education

Whether it's at school or university, the one thing no one ever teaches you is how to teach yourself. We often just end up drilling specific exercises and mindlessly memorizing information so that when exam time comes around, we pass the test. But once the test is over, that information has outlived its usefulness, and there's no guarantee that information will be retained. In the end, we're really just learning how to pass our tests.

Here's the real question: does this approach of repetition and memorization help us truly understand the subject material? The academic consensus nowadays is that it doesn't. In fact, what's more important than any individual topic is knowing how to study, but for some reason, this point is often overlooked. So, what can we do to remedy this?

Well, there are various techniques and exercises that can be applied to the educational process to help make it more efficient and engaging. Keep scrolling to uncover some of the secrets of effective learning.

Learning Techniques

Five Strategies from Barbara Oakley

  • White book being held up on dark background, with title 101 Essays That Will Change The Way You Think by Brianna Wiest

    Two Ways of Thinking

    Deep understanding comes from being able to toggle back and forth between focused and diffused thinking.

  • White statue of boy with curly hair, thining with pencil in mouth, on pale green background

    Recall

    Improving your ability to remember key bits of information help to connect different parts of the brain.

  • Busy station or hall in black and white fisheye view, with arches on each side, stairs in front, and people walking around

    Interleaving

    When you learn multiple skills at the same time, they reinforce each other.

  • Lone man stands in a high-ceilinged white room with many windows, looking at the wall, in black and white

    Questions

    When listening to your teacher, think up a good question, something you're really itching to know.

  • Person holding stack of educational and multi-coloured books aloft, on white background

    Illusion of Competence

    Test yourself, write it down, tell other people, and repeat the process in different settings. Only then can you be truly certain you've understood something.

TED Talks

For lovers of procrastination

Barbara Oakley's story.

Math didn't come naturally to Barbara in childhood. She thought of herself as more of a humanities person, and not a brilliant one at that. With an eye to becoming a linguist, after school she enlisted in the army, who sent her to learn Russian. After several years of service, during which she rose to the rank of Captain, Barbara left the army and decided to study engineering. It was during this time that she developed her learning methodology as she was forced to reprogram her brain for a different kind of learning. It turns out that when something doesn't come naturally to you, having to work hard to gain knowledge that other people may get at first glance gives you a deeper, more comprehensive understanding of the subject matter.

The Feynman Technique

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Learn without forgetting

Facts and figures

On learning and the brain

  • 86 billion

    The number of neurons in the human brain

  • 73%

    The percentage of adults in the US who consider themselves lifelong learners

    Pew Research Center

  • 1,000 terabytes

    The information storage capacity of a human

  • 500 trillion

    The number of nerve synapses responsible for learning in the average adult human

  • 420 million

    The number of adults under 25 with insufficient education for finding employment

    World Bank, 2017

  • 26 years old

    The age at which Albert Einstein published his groundbreaking paper on special relativity

  • 1885

    Development of the forgetting curve

  • 1897

    Publication of Ivan Pavlov's research on classical conditioning

Salman Khan

The One World Schoolhouse

Sal Khan's passion and innovation is transforming learning for millions of students worldwide. The One World Schoolhouse is a must-read for all who are committed to improving education so students everywhere can gain the skills and knowledge to be successful in school, careers and life.

George Lucas

Filmmaker

Book by Salman Khan, The One World Schoolhouse: An Education Reimagined, wood-effect border with worn orange thread trim, with the tite in white on a black background, with leaf decorations Buy book →
A blue rotating triangle, over which Josh Kaufman claims ownership

Ten principles of rapid skill acquisition

by Josh Kaufman

  • 1

    Choose a lovable project.

  • 2

    Focus your energy on one skill at a time.

  • 3

    Define your target performance level.

  • 4

    Deconstruct the skill into sub-skills.

  • 5

    Obtain critical tools.

  • 6

    Eliminate barriers to practice.

  • 7

    Make dedicated time for practice.

  • 8

    Create fast feedback loops.

  • 9

    Practice by the clock in short bursts.

  • 10

    Emphasize quantity and speed.

Useful resources

Further materials on learning techniques and hacks.