By now you already know that you can’t just optimize a single element, put more of it/add more input, and get more results. The “weakest link in the chain” changes a lot, and you’ll see diminishing returns quickly.
But before I introduce to you the 3 core elements, I want to show you how I came up with this, so you know I’m not bullsh*tting you.
Your memory works as a system, too — so, it has a bunch of elements that work together to make sense of & remember information.
The Foundation: How does memory really work?
Based on my understanding of the Atkinson-Shiffrin (Multistore) Model of Memory, I’m presenting you the model which I came up with — which also integrate my own understanding of related concepts below:
- Baddeley’s Working Memory Model
- Melton’s Encoding-Storage-Retrieval Model of Information Storage
- Levels of Processing Model
- Ebbinghaus’ Forgetting Curve
(Translation: I’m not an expert on memory, so I rely on experts to understand the world.)
Now, if you look at the diagram, we can start to figure out a couple of insights about memory and quickly see how the Download Speed Model falls apart:
- You can only encode what you can pay your full attention to. Attention plays a significant role in memory, and yet, most students don’t pay attention to attention — they “sacrifice” sleep to work longer, they don’t have a trusted place to hold their tasks, they just say yes to everything.
- What you know determines what you can learn. The Working Memory is your “mental workbench” where you ‘mold’ new understanding based on what you can retrieve from your Long-Term Memory. Just imagine not knowing an alphabet, or learning Physics in Japanese without learning Japanese language. That’s how long-term memory helps.
- You can only retrieve what you’ve encoded. Which means when you encode information poorly, you’ll end up retrieving poorly encoded information, too — if at all.
- Forgetting can be prevented. The good news is that forgetting has several causes, and now that we know this, we can start to find ways to influence it (i.e. Anki) — so we can avoid filling a leaky bucket.
- You know a lot more than you think. When people think that “the memory is limited,” they’re talking about the Working Memory, not the Long-term Memory.
(If that didn’t “click,” you can look at the image thoroughly by clicking here.)
So effective studying — not to mention learning — is NOT about the number of hacks or “how hard you work.”
Rather, it’s about pulling the right levers every single time.
These are just the few MOST important things I’d like to address and obviously, there’s plenty more nuances on memory & learning that we don’t see in this model…but it doesn’t mean that they don’t exist!
Anyway, things brings me to an important point:
This model reveals how the brain learns from a cause-and-effect perspective
This model reveals how the brain learns from a cause-and-effect perspective. So it’s not anymore about “Oh, installing air filters increased students’ grades by 17%” or “hey you should eAt dArK chOcoLatEs while studying.” STOP. Let’s not pretend that they produce predictable results.
They just don’t help you create a repeatable, optimize-able study process at all.
So according to this model — if you want to become efficient AND effective at learning, then you have to do three things in the right sequence:
- Manage your LIMITED attention, because working memory is gravely limited
- Encode information the right way, so they remain useful in your memory (mainly through elaborative encoding1)
- Maintain encoded information through retrieval, because they’re subject to fading to inaccessibility and yet they directly determine how fast you learn
So from this sequence, I introduce to you the 3 core elements of your study system.
The 3 Core Elements of an Effective Study System
In order to study effectively (i.e. remember more while studying less), you need these 3 major elements:
- Productivity. You can only encode what you can pay attention to. So your productivity system/a simple tracking system would fit into this bucket. The goal is to free up your attention for processing information.
- Processing. You can only retrieve what you have encoded. Non-verbatim note-taking, Memory techniques, the so-called “Feynman Technique” — basically the mental processes that make you integrate new knowledge into your prior knowledge falls under Processing. The goal is to encode new information and gain coherence, because without coherence, all you’ve got is useless retention.
- Permanence. You can only make sense of new information based on your prior knowledge. So all retrieval & practice falls under this element. (Anki, again!)
Using this framework as your starting point, you can basically DIY your own effective study system.
That is, so long as you respect that…
- You can only encode what you can pay attention to
- You can only retrieve what you’ve encoded
- The rate at which you learn is directly determined by your prior knowledge
Personal Example: The system I used to finish at top percentile in my Board Exams (equiv. to PE exams)
To show you how to use each element, let me show you the system I used to help me rank as a top student in my Engineering Board Exams:
It’s looks a bit complex, but it’s not complicated — after all, it’s just 3 elements that I’ve expanded!
Let me break it down for ya…
Productivity — free up attention, eliminate overwhelm, design behaviors/habits
- Creating your “autodidact curriculum” (basically, everything you need to self-study) so you know exactly what materials you’re using for each subject
- Having a master list where you could track your progress in each material, so you’re not overwhelmed and you always know exactly where to start
- Ensuring that you’re studying at a pace where you’re not burning out (Minimum Viable Effort)
- Making your execution list and master list work together so you are confident not just about what you’re doing, but also what you’re not doing
- Capturing “stuff” (a la David Allen’s GTD) so you can “tell” your brain to worry about it later — basically, having a “things to remember” list and processing it later at a specific cadence
- Design behaviors based on Fogg’s Behavior Model
Processing — integrate different kinds of information into prior knowledge
- Using different processing strategies for different types of knowledge
- For factual knowledge: Either you learn more about the facts, or you add more elaborations for facts (memory techniques or root words, for example)
- For conceptual knowledge: Recognize distinction between main ideas and supporting ideas, and then fitting them in a kind of “bento box” manner
- For procedural knowledge (problem-solving): Using the processing skills above to learn the basic idea, seeing an example that applies the learn concepts, and doing as many non-straightforward variations as possible with a quick feedback loop (Learn – DIY – Check – Repeat)
- Flexibly using note-taking methods and focusing on note-taking paradigms so you know exactly what to put in your notes and how to take them properly
- Formulating questions from your insights so you can use them as cognitive scaffolds to create flashcards faster (convert non-atomic questions into flashcards that I can answer in under 8 seconds)
Permanence — maintain encoded knowledge
- Use Anki to reduce my study time drastically (no more re-reading!) But that required that I structure my flashcards properly, in a way that eliminates the need to go back to old material once it’s processed already
- Distributing practice on many levels throughout the day to avoid review burnout. (Simple Anki settings + pressing only “Good” solves the problem if you have processed material properly)
- Iteratively formulate my cards so formulation skills and my cards improve over time
- Forming a review habit — because hey, forgetting doesn’t stop just because it’s a weekend, and knowledge is often cumulative
- Using my master problem sets consisting of only my filtered high-return problems so I can do interleaved practice for my problem-solving exams
One thing to note here:
You don’t HAVE TO copy the exact same thing. This is the system that worked for me.
Always start with a simple system — keep the 3 core elements in mind, find out where you’re weak at, and address that bottleneck.
There’s no need to start with hacks — you start with the problem you need to address, and using the lens of the memory model I showed you above, you then create solutions that fit into the system.
Put another way, you make your tools/hacks/techniques fit the system, not the other way around!
The good news is that if you feel like there’s not enough time to study, you can directly see where you’ve gone wrong.
All you have to do is find waste, and then eliminate it!
Time isn’t just limited into a single portion of your life. You can think bigger! 🙂
Now, before you go…
This concludes the mini-course to help you study efficiently as an Anki learner — so congrats on finishing this material!
If you want to hear more from me, you can choose to join my free newsletter where I share more free stuff on studying efficiently with Anki.
I promise that applying my experience-based advice will help you remember more in the long-term while studying less 🙂
To smarter studying,
Al Khan