We live in a world, where everything seems to be moving fast. There’s so much to learn and so little time. Knowing the most effective learning methods can help you get the most out of your time.
But here’s the thing:
Most of what you were taught in school about learning is wrong.
Let’s take a look at some methods and techniques that can help you to learn anything effectively.
1. Distributed Practice
When we want to learn something well, it’s critical to review the information or practice at the right time. In this learning technique, you’re supposed to distribute your learning sessions in a way that a considerable amount of time passes before you start learning again.
It switches your mind from focused to diffused mode of thinking. In the focused mode, you’re actively learning. But in the diffused mode, you’re waiting until the next session and thinking about what you learned in the last one.
Learning with DuoCards is based on the exactly same principle and it’s called the Spaced Repetition. It’s a powerful technique that will help you remember things in much less time than it would take otherwise.
2. Practice Testing
In this method, you’re challenging yourself to recall what you’ve learned without any aid.
A lot of people don’t like this method because they’re afraid of making mistakes, but that’s the whole point of practice testing! To make mistakes and be able to learn from them.
3. Interleaved Practice
When you are learning two or more related concepts or skills, instead of focusing exclusively on one concept or skill at a time, it can be helpful to alternate between them.
Let’s say you want to learn two languages. On a particular day, you won’t only practice one of them. Instead, you’ll study a bit of one language and then divert your attention towards the second one before you get back to studying the first one.
Mixing material increases interference during the performance of a task, which improves the ability to retain information and transfer skills effectively across contexts and domains.
4. Retrieval Practice
With retrieval practice, struggling is a good thing for learning.
The whole concept of flashcards is built on retrieval practice. You try to recall information without having it in front of you. This challenges your mind to recover whatever info it has on the topic without an actual practice or testing environment.
We learn much better when being quizzed, instead of just reviewing the content we’ve learned.
Which learning styles work for you?
Nothing can be generalized. Try to understand which learning styles work for you and create your own “mix”. Find you way to become a more efficient learner!
