In 2017, I studied really really hard for a college exam.

I spent dozens of hours in the library reading, highlighting, trying to understand the topics, memorizing random facts, and summarizing the text on paper... I was as ready for that test as I could ever hope to be.

I failed that test anyway 😅

About two years into studying software engineering, I realized that effort wasn't going to be enough from now on to pass tests. I mean, effort is great! But it's only half of the component of what you need to succeed in college.

The other component is to learn how to "work smart". Also known as meta-learning or "learning how to learn".

What I think bothered me the most at that moment was noticing there were a few classmates who worked only 10% of what I was putting in and yet got way higher grades than I was. Which made me crazy jealous.

Then after many hours of googling, started realizing why that was.

How you learn is way more important than how much effort you put into learning

I found out about people like Scott Young, Cal Newport, and Justin Sung who wrote wonderful articles, videos, and books on learning. Specifically on how others prepared for tests, studied, and also did it in the least amount of time possible. So in that period of my life, I learned a lot about the whole meta-learning thing.

Which I will teach you in my new course: Exceptional Learning for devs, only $97.99

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Here's everything I know about meta-learning in bullet-list form:

For college or class environments where tests are involved:

• When it comes to classes, it's more effective for you to pre-read what the class will go over before the actual class.

  • You get a sense of the material before experiencing it all for the first time in class.

• After class, take 15 minutes to stay a while and write down what you learned in the class.

  • Just a quick summary of the major beats. If you can relate it to the main topic you're learning, even better.

-> Highlighting is useless. Don't even bother.

• Learning is a 3 step process.

  • Encode: You process and encode information for storage.
  • Storage: You store and retain that information.
  • Recall: You retrieve and recall the information that you stored.

-> Studying is about rehearsing and practicing all 3 parts of the process.

• Recall is super important for tests.

  • It's also the step most people practice the least.

• It's possible to fail an exam because even though you have the information in your head...

  • if you can't recall it, you fail.

• Flash cards are a solid tactic for memorization.

  • But if it's your only tool, it will fail you at some point.

-> You have 100% permission from me to study the class topics completely out of order.

• Knowledge isn't linear. Even though the way we have to write it and present it is linear.

  • You can reorder topics in a way that makes the most sense to you.

• Teachers think students are the ones responsible for their learning.

  • Students think teachers are responsible for their learning.
  • The truth is... you're going to have bad teachers.
  • At the end of the day, it doesn't matter.
  • Become responsible for your learning so you learn despite the teacher.

-> When it comes to courses that are exercise or math-heavy, these rules still apply... but practicing test-like questions matters a lot more.

• Practicing a lot is also a big factor.

  • Recall + speed is a huge component to getting your test done in time and well.

• Test nerves have made many of my friends fail in the past.

  • The secret is to practice and re-create test-like conditions so you're ready.

• Do that by giving yourself x amount of minutes to solve practice tests.

  • No peeking, no cheating - treat this like a test.

-> Bonus to this: you can find out where gaps in your knowledge lie when you do this.

• A good way to find gaps in your knowledge is to talk and explain the topic as if you're talking to somebody else.

  • That's the Feynman technique.

• Sometimes teachers suck and don't give you any practice questions or tests.

  • In those cases, create your own. (Or I guess nowadays, use AI 😅)

• A popular note-taking strategy is called NQAT (Notetaking Question and Answering Technique).

  • During classes, just constantly ask yourself questions and write down the answers.

-> In math-like courses, you usually solve by starting from the problem and getting to the solution. I've had breakthroughs in learning by going backward from starting with the solution and going to the problem. Logic is bi-directional.

• Practice writing things down in class less. Don't just write down everything that the teacher says.

  • Focus on fully understanding and absorbing the class.
  • Organize and understand how the topics presented relate to the big picture of the course.

• To do this, do something similar to NQAT (but in your head).

  • Keep asking yourself questions about what the teacher talks about and force yourself to find any gaps in knowledge right in the class.
  • This, unsurprisingly, makes you a super-active participant because you'll be engaged and trying to help yourself understand during class time.

• This forces you into a stage of cognitive load, which is a requirement for effective learning.

  • Learning doesn't have to feel impossible but racking your brain to make things make sense helps you remember it more in the long-term.

-> Research different points of view from different authors on the same topic to understand it from different angles.

General learning principles for rapid learning:

-> Learning has little to do with memorization and more to do with relationships between things.

-> To start learning something completely new, find ways to relate the unknown with things you do know.

-> Notice how when you're using a computer, terms like "folders", "pages", and "windows" are used.

• The icon of a folder on your desktop isn't a folder.

  • But we use the concept to understand better how they work.

• Given a huge list of topics, it's helpful to divide them by their similarities and their differences.

  • This makes it easier to bundle them together in our heads and categorize them.

• When you're learning completely from scratch, a helpful idea is to think of it as owning an empty library.

  • Your job is to understand the high-level topics just enough to categorize the "books" (topics or ideas) and get a sense of which goes where.
  • This helps you organize the information in your head faster.

• There are levels of abstraction to learning.

  • Go from super high-level and generic and then slowly go to the nitty-gritty.
  • Learn from top to bottom.

• Mind maps are a wonderful way to think about how our brains work.

  • They showcase how knowledge isn't linear, can be bi-directional, and can have dozens of connections with many topics.
  • Use them to outline the big picture idea of the thing you're learning, as well as how it relates to everything else you know.

• If you do create mind maps, avoid writing words.

  • Use symbols and icons instead.
  • They're way more memorable and easier to recall than just a collection of letters.

I'm forgetting a few so as I remember them I'll be updating this list. Share this article with somebody who you think could benefit (I sure as heck know I would have loved it when I was in Uni)

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