This is a valuable lists of learning techniques and advice. That being said, my experience has been that systems for implementing such techniques, and considering friction of habits, can be significantly more important than any of these techniques. I read and get useful knowledge orders of magnitude more when I don’t track my reading or don’t have to make space repetition cards than otherwise, because having to take constant notes or doing a time consuming and effortful tracking reduces by order of magnitude how much I read.
Absolutely; what’s the least effective learning technique? Not learning!
However, we still think there are ways to improve your learning (provided you already do it). We are working on reducing the friction across the whole learning process, such as effective card creation being a chore, hence the embedded flashcards.
That is an interesting perspective to consider, the trade-off that you could be reducing the amount of time people spend learning even if it’s more effective! A quick back of the napkin says that even if it does reduce the amount you read drastically it’s still worthwhile, as long as you don’t reduce it by more than the forgetting curve!
Say you normally read 10 hours/week then you start using SRS and it drops it down to 5 hours/week. But you remember 10x the amount of what you would have previously remembered. Thus it ends up being the equivalent of reading 50 hours/week.
That is an interesting perspective to consider, the trade-off that you could be reducing the amount of time people spend learning even if it’s more effective! A quick back of the napkin says that even if it does reduce the amount you read drastically it’s still worthwhile, as long as you don’t reduce it by more than the forgetting curve!
Say you normally read 10 hours/week then you start using SRS and it drops it down to 5 hours/week. But you remember 10x the amount of what you would have previously remembered. Thus it ends up being the equivalent of reading 50 hours/week.
I would say that it depends on what you want out of your reading. Most of the time I’m reading for extending my breadth, and so partial memories are completely fine, and covering more ground matters more. Would be different if I was studying in details a new maths subfield for example.
This is a valuable lists of learning techniques and advice. That being said, my experience has been that systems for implementing such techniques, and considering friction of habits, can be significantly more important than any of these techniques. I read and get useful knowledge orders of magnitude more when I don’t track my reading or don’t have to make space repetition cards than otherwise, because having to take constant notes or doing a time consuming and effortful tracking reduces by order of magnitude how much I read.
Hi Adam!
Absolutely; what’s the least effective learning technique? Not learning!
However, we still think there are ways to improve your learning (provided you already do it). We are working on reducing the friction across the whole learning process, such as effective card creation being a chore, hence the embedded flashcards.
That is an interesting perspective to consider, the trade-off that you could be reducing the amount of time people spend learning even if it’s more effective! A quick back of the napkin says that even if it does reduce the amount you read drastically it’s still worthwhile, as long as you don’t reduce it by more than the forgetting curve!
Say you normally read 10 hours/week then you start using SRS and it drops it down to 5 hours/week. But you remember 10x the amount of what you would have previously remembered. Thus it ends up being the equivalent of reading 50 hours/week.
Thanks for the answer!
I would say that it depends on what you want out of your reading. Most of the time I’m reading for extending my breadth, and so partial memories are completely fine, and covering more ground matters more. Would be different if I was studying in details a new maths subfield for example.