Scientific Way to Learn 15x Faster (from a Med Student)
Summary
TLDRThis video script introduces the Feynman technique, a learning method that simplifies complex subjects for efficient understanding. The speaker, a med school student, demonstrates the technique with a step-by-step guide on understanding cancer, emphasizing the importance of breaking down concepts and refining knowledge with 'why' and 'how' questions. The script also highlights the use of AI for personalized feedback and knowledge base expansion, suggesting tools like ChatGPT for enhanced learning. The video concludes with a promotion for Brilliant, an interactive learning platform, and a call to action for developing top student habits.
Takeaways
- đ The Feynman technique is a reliable system for understanding difficult subjects efficiently, allowing for faster learning and time for other interests.
- đ€ The first step in the technique is to identify what you want to understand and express it simply, as if explaining to a child.
- đ Turn the topic into a question and start by writing down your current understanding, which can reveal gaps in knowledge.
- đ Analyze your initial explanation to identify oversimplified areas and unclear definitions that need further exploration.
- đ§ Break down your analysis into key questions to find answers, which helps in building a foundational understanding of the topic.
- đ The technique involves building layers of understanding by questioning and interrogating your knowledge with 'how' and 'why' questions.
- đŹ Use the Feynman technique to delve into the details of a subject, which is applicable to any field, including physics as demonstrated by Feynman himself.
- 𧏠For example, understanding cancer involves learning about abnormal cell growth, the threat it poses due to its destructive nature, and the variety of treatments available.
- đ The process of refining your understanding involves repeating the 'why' and 'how' questions until you can explain the fundamentals thoroughly.
- đšâđ« AI can enhance the Feynman technique by providing personalized feedback and acting as a knowledge base to direct you to the right resources or explanations.
- đš Visualization is crucial for easier learning; platforms like Brilliant offer interactive lessons that can complement the Feynman technique by providing hands-on exercises.
- đ The script also promotes the use of Brilliant for a 30-day free trial and mentions a discount for the first 200 users, highlighting its utility for students.
Q & A
What is the Feynman technique mentioned in the script?
-The Feynman technique is a learning method used to understand complex subjects efficiently by breaking them down into simple, understandable concepts that even a child could grasp.
How does the script suggest starting the Feynman technique?
-The script suggests starting by choosing exactly what you want to understand and writing your current idea of it as simply as possible, ideally in the form of a question.
Why is it important to simplify the explanation of a topic to a level a child could understand?
-Simplifying the explanation helps to identify gaps in understanding and ensures that the fundamental concepts are clear, which is crucial for building a strong foundation of knowledge.
What is the purpose of analyzing your initial explanation in the Feynman technique?
-Analyzing your initial explanation helps to identify areas that have been oversimplified or are not specific enough, which are then targeted for further research and clarification.
How does the script propose to improve understanding of a topic?
-The script proposes improving understanding by breaking down the analysis into key questions and searching for answers to those questions, thus building a stronger web of connections around the topic.
What is the role of questioning 'how' and 'why' in the Feynman technique?
-Questioning 'how' and 'why' helps to build a deeper level of understanding that is personalized to the individual's knowledge foundation, allowing for a more detailed and nuanced comprehension of the subject.
How does the script relate the Feynman technique to the process of refining understanding?
-The script relates the technique to refining understanding by suggesting that one should keep repeating the 'why' and 'how' questions for their explanations until they can answer any question on the fundamentals of the topic.
What is the benefit of visualizing concepts in the context of the Feynman technique?
-Visualizing concepts makes learning easier as it helps to understand abstract ideas better than just thinking of words or numbers, thus enhancing the overall learning process.
How does the script suggest using AI to enhance the Feynman technique?
-The script suggests using AI for personalized feedback by asking it questions related to the topic and using it as a knowledge base to direct to the right resources or explain concepts that might be unclear.
What is the script's stance on the effectiveness of the Feynman technique for studying?
-The script posits that the Feynman technique is highly effective for studying as it helps in understanding and remembering topics for longer, making it easier to tackle difficult subjects.
How does the script relate the Feynman technique to the broader context of student life and habits?
-The script relates the technique to student life by suggesting that while understanding topics is crucial for exam performance, it is also important to develop top student habits for a productive student life, which includes effective studying and working on personal goals.
Outlines
đ Mastering the Feynman Technique for Effective Learning
This paragraph introduces the Feynman technique as an efficient method for understanding complex subjects, particularly adapted for students. The speaker shares personal experience using this technique throughout their academic journey and offers a step-by-step guide on its application. The initial step involves identifying a topic and explaining it in simple terms as if teaching a child. The example used is 'what is cancer and why is it difficult to treat?' The speaker emphasizes the importance of refining this initial understanding by identifying gaps and seeking answers to key questions, thus building a stronger conceptual framework.
đŹ Deepening Understanding with the Feynman Technique and AI
The second paragraph delves deeper into the Feynman technique, focusing on the refinement of understanding through iterative questioning ('why' and 'how'). It illustrates how this process can be applied to the example of cancer, exploring the reasons behind different treatments and the nature of uncontrolled cell growth. The speaker introduces the concept of using AI to enhance the technique by providing personalized feedback and acting as a knowledge base, which can direct learners to relevant resources or clarify concepts. The paragraph concludes with a mention of the importance of visualization in learning and a promotion of Brilliant, an online learning platform that offers interactive lessons in various subjects.
Mindmap
Keywords
đĄFeynman Technique
đĄUnderstand
đĄCancer
đĄTreatments
đĄMutations
đĄReceptors
đĄAI (Artificial Intelligence)
đĄBrilliant
đĄConceptual Understanding
đĄPersonalized Feedback
đĄKnowledge Base
Highlights
Introduction to the Feynman technique as a reliable system for understanding difficult subjects.
Adaptation of the Feynman technique specifically for students to learn faster and more efficiently.
The importance of choosing exactly what you want to understand and expressing it simply, even for a child.
The process of turning a topic into a question as a starting point for understanding, exemplified by 'what is cancer and why is it difficult to treat?'.
Initial understanding of cancer as a deadly disease with treatments that don't always work.
Analyzing and improving understanding by focusing on oversimplified explanations and identifying key questions.
Breaking down the analysis into key questions to find answers and deepen understanding of cancer.
Learning that cancer is a collection of diseases with abnormal cell growth and its life-threatening nature.
Understanding the variety of common cancers and the different treatments available.
Building a second level of understanding by exploring details and asking 'how' and 'why' questions.
The discovery of DNA's role in controlling cell growth and the mutations leading to cancer.
Explanation of how medications attach to cancer cell receptors and the specificity of treatments.
The iterative process of refining understanding through repeated questioning until a fundamental grasp is achieved.
The use of visualization in learning to make concepts easier to understand.
Introduction of Brilliant as an online learning platform for interactive science, maths, and computer science lessons.
Personal experience with Brilliant for learning programming with Python and its hands-on approach.
Offering a free trial of Brilliant and a discount for the first 200 users through a special link.
Using AI for personalized feedback on understanding by asking specific prompts.
Utilizing AI as a knowledge base to direct to the right resources or explain concepts.
The benefit of understanding topics properly for long-term retention and easier navigation through difficult subjects.
Link to a video on developing top 1% student habits for a productive student life.
Transcripts
If you want a reliable system to make any difficult subject easy to Â
understand, then you're in the right place Coz throughout my undergrad and postgraduate Â
degrees, and now at med school, Iâve been using the Feynman technique to understand topics Â
efficiently, so that I can learn faster and still have time for more of the things that I care aboutÂ
And iâve adapted this technique specifically for students, so Iâll go through a step by step Â
example of how to use this, and I have an extra point at the end on how to use AI to understand Â
things even faster with this technique So to start i have a question - if youâre Â
struggling to understand something, what do you usually do? A lot of students rush Â
to research the topic in detail, hoping that it would help them understand better. Â
but they just end up with more unanswered questions as they randomly read new thingsÂ
So the first part of this technique is choosing exactly what you want to understand, Â
and writing your current idea of it as simply as possible that even a child would understandÂ
Wwhat i do, is make the topic i want to understand into a question - so for our Â
worked example, weâll answer the question âwhat is cancer, and why is it difficult to treat?âÂ
Feel free to pause this video and answer this question or follow along Â
with your own question - and to make it as realistic as possible, a non medical Â
friend of mine answered this worked example So, my friends answer for this first part of Â
the method was that, cancer is a deadly disease that can affect almost any part Â
of the body, and that there are some treatments but they donât always workÂ
So this shows us a limited understanding of the topic right now, and leads onto Â
the next part of the technique, which is to analyse and improve your understanding - and Â
thereâs a specific way to do this To build your first level of Â
understanding, analyse your explanation by focusing on what you oversimplifiedÂ
You can figure this out by seeing whether you understand the definition of words, and Â
seeing whether some bits arenât specific enough Like in the example, life-threatening disease Â
doesnât explain why cancerâs so bad, âany part of the bodyâ isnât specific, Â
and saying âthere are some treatmentsâ doesnât explain why itâs difficult to treatÂ
So to improve understanding, break down your analysis into key questions to find Â
the answers - so for this example, thatâs searching for what cancer is, Â
why itâs life threatening, what treatments there are and why itâs difficult to treatÂ
From this, my friend learnt that cancer is a collection Â
of diseases where abnormal cells grow and divide uncontrollablyÂ
And itâs life threatening because cells are the building blocks of all living Â
things - and cancer cells destroy normal cells, so itâs effectively destroying youÂ
They also found that the most common cancers are breast, lung, and colorectalÂ
And that thereâs different treatments depending on the type of cancer Â
including surgery, and drug treatments So now you have an understanding that's Â
one level higher - and compared to the initial understanding, Â
you can see there's a stronger web of connections - which is part of the idea of this techniqueÂ
But itâs still surface level, so the next part of the Feynman technique is building your second Â
level of understanding by exploring the details This is by breaking your new understanding Â
down by questioning and interrogating your knowledge - and thatâs by asking how and whyÂ
And look it works for any subject - like it did for Feynman, a physicist - because these questions Â
give you a slightly deeper level of understanding thatâs personalised to the foundations you built Â
from the first part of this technique So for the updated example on cancer, Â
that could be asking why are there different treatments for cancer, Â
how do they work, and why is cancer uncontrolled And from a simple search my friend found that, Â
normal cells have bits of DNA that stops them from growing too much, whereas Â
cancerous cells have mutations in the DNA resulting in uncontrolled growthÂ
They also learnt that some medications attach onto things on the cancer cells called receptors, Â
and that can lead to either death of the cancer cell- and thereâs specific Â
treatments for different cancers because they can have different receptors on themÂ
This is just the first cycle of this technique and itâs still very simplified, but you can see the Â
massive difference in understanding from less than 10 minutes of systematically searching for answersÂ
And you might notice that there are still some gaps - like what is DNA, what causes these Â
mutations, or why are there receptors on the cells But that leads to the final part of Â
the Feynman technique, which is where you refine your understandingÂ
The good thing is, since understanding is effectively being able to answer why and how, Â
just keep repeating the whys and hows for your explanations until you can answer any question Â
on the fundamentals of the topic - and using AI which Iâll properly get to at the end helps you Â
get the right level of understanding but generally for difficult topics, Â
this takes me about 4 or 5 repetitions, which doesnât take that longÂ
because unlike cancer, this is a controlled way to grow your knowledge through a systematic Â
process so that you donât waste time researching random and irrelevant things, Â
you start at the centre and work your way out So before the last point on maximising Â
this technique with AI, being able to visualise concepts makes learning easier, Â
because itâs difficult to understand by just thinking of words or numbersÂ
And look, you can trust what iâm about to say, because Iâve been learning visually Â
for the past 2 months to understand complicated subjects - and the free Â
and easy way you can do this too is through our quick sponsor of the video, Brilliant, the best Â
online learning platform to learn sciences, maths, and computer science interactivelyÂ
Iâve used Brilliant every day for 60 days now, and Iâve genuinely enjoyed learning how to Â
programme with python, because Brilliant taught me the basics of programming through a hands-on Â
approach so that i had my foundations built like when i was doing the programming in Â
python course, I had to manipulate a math problem through coding which at Â
first felt like something i couldnât do, but because Brilliant built my core knowledge of Â
programming through an engaging process, I had a good enough understanding to pass the problemÂ
and programming or not, thereâs something for everyone - because thereâs thousands of Â
lessons covering basic to advanced topics in maths, sciences, engineering and more, Â
with new lessons added every month And itâs a fun and modern way to apply Â
Feynmenâs technique - like the guided lessons helped me understand concepts through exercises, Â
with helpful hints that filled gaps in my understanding to get me back on trackÂ
And you can learn a lot in just 10 minutes a day of using it, whether thatâs on your phone, laptop Â
or tablet, so itâs perfect for busy students So to try everything Brilliant has to Â
offer - free - for a full 30 days, visit brilliant.org/salimahmed or click the link Â
in the description. The first 200 of you will get 20% off Brilliantâs annual premium subscriptionÂ
So now you know how to use the Feynman technique for studying, Â
but i said that you can use AI to make it even more effective, and thatâs in two waysÂ
The first way is using AI software like ChatGPT for personalised feedbackÂ
All you have to do is copy your understanding of a topic, and ask it one of the following promptsÂ
And to make it even more personalised, make it aware of your education grade so that it knows Â
the level of detail you need to know, so that you donât go down an endless spiral of the last part Â
Feynmanâs technique, constantly asking why and how The second way is to use it as a knowledge base, Â
and thatâs by using any of the following prompts hereÂ
this is gonna save you time by directing you to the right resources, or just directly explaining Â
things you might be missing out and again, make sure to personalise Â
it to your education grade So understanding topics properly Â
helps you remember for longer and makes it easier to get through difficult subjectsÂ
But understanding to perform better in exams is just one part of studying as a student, Â
and just one part of your student life - so in this video here, I talk about how Iâve Â
developed top 1% student habits to help me live a productive student life, so that I can study Â
effectively and work on more of my personal goals - and you can do this too, by watching the video
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