/learning

I detest the way I have been taught how to approach learning throughout my life. This is a list of principles and steps to fight against this widespread problem in education systems around the globe.

Ijueputa

Puta1 puta.

Principles

  1. First try to get across the major idea: do not get stuck in the details (they will come later)
  2. Solve problems (test yourself): Large part of learning is problem solving (make mistakes)
  3. Go back and forth between different things: do not get stuck in one thing over and over agian
  4. Set aside to fully study something and some time to freely explore it.
  5. Review notes for 5-10 minutes and catch doubts and ambiguities
  6. Learn, Present, Critique and correct errors (repeat) (and make exercises).

Other sources

  1. Learning Sources
  2. La Vie Efficace blog

Assessment

Seems to work Does not seem to work
Switching between focused mode and diffuse mode: setting a quitting time. Reading tired (or without caffeine) as I end up falling asleep or not understanding anything
Spaced repetition (SR): 3 correct recalls during initial learning, and relearning 3 times at widely spaced intervals Focusing on the process not the product. What exactly does that mean?
Notetaking: Having my (own) notes on the topics to search for them later (e.g. 2SLS in Econometrics 2) Notetaking: writing everything down in my notebook - A note is a container of thought that has meaning for the person who made it. - Sequential notes have the limitation that they follow the teacher's logical explanation, instead of a holistic and conceptual approach.
Feynman Technique: 1. Study X 2. Try to teach X in the most basic way possible (without notes) 3. Idenfity gaps in knowlede of X and go back and understand better 4. Repeat a
Doing more than 1 draft when solving exercises, to be able to go over them 2 or 3 times epa

Experimenting

Currently

  1. Reading all the course material before the actual class
  2. Reviewing notes and creating flash cards afterwards on most complicated topics

Yet to experiment

  • Reading all the course material before the actual class
  • Plan, Preview, View (go to class), Review, Practice Test, Repeat (How I Take 0 Notes in Medical School )
  • Figure out what my weakest links are (macroeconomics, time series, diminished chords) and improve them: "If the exam were tomorrow, what topic would I be the most pissed off about?
  • Testing myself inside the "FLOW" area: where my knowledge/skill on the topic matches linearly the difficulty level

Footnotes

  1. For more na here. ↩