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Ask HN: What are your best learning methods/hacks/tips?

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Re: Ask HN: What are your best learning methods/hacks/tips?

#31

Post by titanix2 »

Depends on the domain. For languages, having learnt or being learning a few (including Japanese & Chinese) my approach is to first learn about the phonology. Then basic vocabulary and grammar, searching words I don’t know in the street (not everything) and having input from authentic material. I prefer learning from books using multiple one at the same time and cherry picking on what pick my interest. Having a few friends in the target language is a huge help to understand some concept or learn about cultural point. Also Wikipedia.

For other things, reading accessible research papers, reference books and searching for unknown concepts when I encounter them, sometimes ask people about a thing or two.

Re: Ask HN: What are your best learning methods/hacks/tips?

#32

Post by titanix2 »

alexpetralia wrote: post #27

I often make an explicit effort to convert frequent actions from "System 2" to "System 1" (in the language of Daniel Kahneman) as soon as I can. For example, if I'm learning a foreign language, I commit common expressions (not words) to memory as soon as possible. If I'm learning a new software (say Adobe Illustrator or emacs), I commit the common shortcuts to memory as well. It's often one of the first things I do.…

I upvote the rot learning thing. It is hates by most people because it requires efforts but for things including basic words of a language and other writing systems it is what makes the difference between making real progress or not.

Re: Ask HN: What are your best learning methods/hacks/tips?

#33

Post by hodder »

WhompingWindows wrote: post #17
justaguyhere wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Practice is what separates most people who are good things from those who aren't. Yes, but mindless practice doesn't help, isn't it? Is there a deliberate method to your practice? How do you keep track of your weak areas, and how do you specifically practice those weak areas?

Prevention of autopilot during practicing is a key aim of practice. When you autopilot, you allow muscle memory/habit to take over, when the entire point of practice is to improve upon your capabilities, not just repeat them over and over with no further thought.

Sometimes, but sometimes muscle memory is what you want. Do you want to learn to play a fast guitar solo? Learn it slow, then play it incrementally faster a hundred times or more over a week.

Do you want to get good at doing squats? Follow a program that makes the motion second nature by squatting multiple times a week and incrementally adding weight.

Muscle memory is really extremely useful for physical motions. Just be careful you are not cementing incorrect motions in your brain. This is why instructors, books, and videos can be very useful.

Re: Ask HN: What are your best learning methods/hacks/tips?

#34

Post by stronglikedan »

For me personally, I tend to remember things better if I write them down.

If I'm at a lecture, I take notes. If I'm reading a textbook (e.g., studying), I take notes. If I'm in a meeting, I take notes. And once I'm done taking notes, I transcribe those notes into more structured notes, since they were taken hastily, and I probably wouldn't be able to decode them later if I didn't do it right away.

Anyway, that's my process. Hope it helps.

Re: Ask HN: What are your best learning methods/hacks/tips?

#35

Post by caseyscottmckay »

barry-cotter wrote: post #22
caseyscottmckay wrote: post #9

Best way to learn is to read the necessary information once or twice, then just do it. If you're taking an exam, learn it by taking practice exams and looking up what you get wrong. If you're building an application, build it, mess up, then rebuild it. If you're learning a language, memorize the basic nouns and verbs, then jump in and start writing and speaking in that language. Look up what you don't know, then jump…

> If you're taking an exam, learn it by taking practice exams and looking up what you get wrong. Nothing exposes the fact that you don’t know a damned thing like attempting past or specimen exam papers, or answering the questions in a textbook.

Ha yeah, but after the first run at least you know what you don't know.

Re: Ask HN: What are your best learning methods/hacks/tips?

#36

Post by synthmeat »

1. Produce learning artefacts. Scribbles, notes, flash cards, mind-maps, drawings, projects, whatever. Don't let that overtake you or break your ingestion flow, and don't worry about that being usable in the future. Act of structuring that information is the key here.

2. Avoid learning what you won't put in practice immediately after. This is also useful to cull effectively infinite space of what you may want to learn next.

3. Learn the basics. Do not worry about this being marketable skill or knowledge - it'll pay dividends later on. "Basics" is not quantum physics, it's whatever's layer below the layer you're comfortable with.

4. Keep using what you learned, even if it's a toy project. Don't worry about making it public or useful to others.

Re: Ask HN: What are your best learning methods/hacks/tips?

#37

Post by larrydag »

synthmeat wrote: post #36

1. Produce learning artefacts. Scribbles, notes, flash cards, mind-maps, drawings, projects, whatever. Don't let that overtake you or break your ingestion flow, and don't worry about that being usable in the future. Act of structuring that information is the key here. 2. Avoid learning what you won't put in practice immediately after. This is also useful to cull effectively infinite space of what you may want to lear…

I can't stress how important 2. is to learning. I don't think I learned anything well unless I used what I learned in practice. Reciprocal don't add anything to your learning if you won't use it on a regular basis.
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