How To Learn And Never Forget Anything

Main Points: How To Learn And Never Forget Anything

• You can use the SQ3R study method to comprehend and absorb all information you come across.
• The Feynman study technique helps you to learn faster by making complex concepts easier.
• Your full attention is required when learning, with that, your brain can keep information without distractions.
• Mnemonics are required if you want your brain to keep lots of information.
• Spaced repetition helps information to be kept in your long term memory.
• Mind mapping can be used to associate information to things that can help you to easily recall information.

Have you ever found yourself spending hours studying only to forget everything a few days later? Do you want to be an A+ student and be among the high ranking or top students? Do you know there are well proven and scientifically backed study methods you can use to always get A1 in your exams?

After you have discovered these strategies, share them with your colleagues to also benefit. Use the comments section to tell us your favorite strategy. 

Learning Techniques – How To Learn And Never Forget

Here are the proven and scientifically backed methods to learn and never forget anything:

1. The SQ3R Study Method

SQ3R stands for “Survey, Question, Read, Recite, and Review.” This study technique will help you to understand and retain all information you come across. Let’s show you how you can use the SQ3R study method effectively, and score higher in exams.

The first step is to take a quick look at the material you want to study, not reading everything in detail but rather taking an overview of the content (textbook, note, or other study materials you have). This is equally known as scanning. Think of this step as looking at a map before entering into a new country.

The second step is to turn headings and subheadings into questions. This step is critical because it turns reading into a more active activity. For example, if the title is photosynthesis, you may ask how does photosynthesis work, and what are the stages of photosynthesis? You are not just passively reading but you are looking for answers. When you find the answers to your questions, it’s as if your brain clicks and fixes the information better.

The third step is to read the text (textbook, note, or study material) with the goal of answering the questions you asked yourself in the previous step (step 2). After that, close the book and summarize in words what you have just read. You can use your jotter to do this until you can perfectly answer everything.

2. The Feynman Study Technique

The Feynman study technique helps you to learn faster. The Nobel Prize-winning physicist, Richard Feynman, used this method to explain complex concepts in simple terms.

The Feynman’s technique works like this: you take a topic, study it and then explain it as if you were talking to a 6-year-old. Does it sounds strange? Maybe, but that’s where the trick is!

When you try to simplify something and get stuck, that’s when you realize you haven’t really understood it. You then go back and review the part you don’t understand until you can explain it in a simple way. Repeat this process until you can make it flow smoothly.

If you can explain it in a simple way, it means you have really internalize the concept. It also helps you to remove irrelevant details by making you focus on the fundamental concepts that underlay any complex topic effectively.

3. Spaced Repetition

According to many academic researches, the most powerful learning strategy is the spaced repetition. This method involves breaking up your study sessions and revisiting the material over spaced intervals. Trust me, your brain will thank you! Here is how spaced repetition works and how you can apply it:

As mentioned earlier, this strategy uses repetition of information at increasing intervals of time. In order to avoid the natural tendency of forgetting information, spaced repetition is based on the forgetting curve, the first scientific theory describing the structure of remembering things over time, compiled by German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus. Mostly, every time you study, your brain starts to forget the material more precisely after 20 minutes. We remember only 58 % of what we have learned after an hour, and after a day about 33%.

This is why cramming is so ineffective! Studying for 8 hours spread over 2 weeks will generally results in higher brain performance than studying for 8 hours in one sitting. Let’s take a practical example of how I apply this strategy when I have finished studying the topic that same day. I repeat it the first time the next day, and then repeat it again. The next repetition, I will do it 3 days later and then 7 days later and so on.

What happens is that every time we study, we forget most of it but by repeating it over time, we consolidate the memory in order not to forget. When you have to repeat the subject, I recommend that you write down the date on your note or jotter. You can also use an Excel sheet if you have a computer.

There is only one thing that separates those who study and forget from those who study and remember; the right approaches you have just discovered are powerful strategies but the real change begins when you decide to put them into practice.